Srini Rao: We Don't Want 100% Authenticity

Srini Rao hit a major rough patch after the success of his bestseller book. His relationship came to an end, he had to cancel the conference he was organizing, and financial troubles arose.

But he didn’t want to publicly share any of these failures with the world. He was too well known to do that.

Besides, did the world really want to know about his failures?

In this episode, Srini Rao and I chat about:

Why Srini believes being 100% authentic is inappropriate
How there’s a fine line between vulnerability and being a complete train wreck
How being in the public eye affects one’s ability to be authentic and vulnerable
The ways we are using vulnerability as a marketing tactic
The perspective his younger sister’s wedding gave him
What he learned from living with his parents for 8 years during his 30s
Why he doesn’t like listening to podcasts
Why he made a documentary about the women in his family
The dangers of using outliers as examples and inspiration for people