"Those people with the most polished false selves, those adhering most closely to the imaged organizational ideal, are 'successful.' People who are unable to meet the false-self evaluations may feel worthless largely because their authentic (and more valuable) selves have not been developed sufficiently as fallback when they experience failure of their false (imaged) selves." (p. 59)
"Aspiring managers begin early to adhere to managers' norms by developing a false self—a mask that hides their shame and their lack of knowledge of details for which they may be held responsible. The mask gives the external impression of an internal sense of authority that is most often nonexistent. Managers' meetings are usually stressful exhibitions of the enforcement of false-self norms—always a test for new managers. In these meetings, managers compete with each other in giving a believable false-self performance: each must discuss creditably what few present know anything about." (p. 103)
"Our society teaches us to be open to receiving communication as long as that communication is nonthreatening. However, because we are always in competition with one another, the communication is usually threatening. This leads us to forms of protection such as facades and interpersonal isolation, both of which promote depression....
Each cover-up or facade makes us more unreal to ourselves. Eventually we are out of touch with some areas of ourselves." (p. 89)