Authenticity rules
People want realness, not empty promises.
Authenticity as “the ability to connect with oneself, and at the same time to be intimately concerned with others.” wrote Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book Good Business: Leadership, flow and the making of meaning.
Also in the same book, Robert Shapiro said “Authenticity is about the ability to connect deeply with yourself and to be able to express yourself in coherent, integrated … way that is consistent in all dimensions. … one’s motivation needs to be something beyond either greed or fear… Ideally there needs to be some sense of connection, at a minimum with the people who are engaged in the work, ideally with the people who will be affected by the work.”
- Authenticity is about connections. Deep connections with your people and customers build long term sustainability.
- Your business can become authentic by acting consistently across all aspects of your operations, in alignment with your brand values and promises.
- More often than not, authenticity is best exhibited by what that your business refuses to do. Not letting greed drive the agenda. Not using fear for gain. Not exploiting people…
Beware, customers generally have very good BS filters these days! In the Internet-powered transparent world, authenticity will always beat hollow advertising, glitzy PR, and empty brand promises.
Your business can build success on realness.
