Authentic Organizational Partnerships: Organizational Brands, Names, the Columbus Children's Hospital, and the Abercrombie & Fitch Trauma Center
+ = ??? In an earlier post, I mentioned that authentic organizations might find it hard to find appropriate partner organizations, because the qualities of the company you keep are […]
5 (More) Reasons Why Being Authentic Can Be Bad for Your Organization
Being authentic limits who your organization can attract as partners. Not every organization wants to do business with an organization that’s authentic, because authentic organizations can be demanding partners. Authentic […]
5 Reasons Why Being Authentic Can Be Bad For Your Organization
Being authentic requires constant vigilance. Authentic organizations need constantly to monitor the relationship between their identity, their image, and their actions. Ideally, the organization wants to catch (and fix) any […]
Can an employee be “too authentic”?
“The guy was too authentic to do his job!” The employee in question worked for an organization that created “lifestyle” products for the action sports market. He worked as an […]
Every organization has an authenticity story. What's yours?
Every organization has an authenticity story. And, anyone who has worked in an organization has a story about authenticity. I am looking for interesting stories, illuminating examples, and intriguing dilemmas […]
You don’t have to ‘live the brand’ to give the brand
“Living the Brand”, an internally-focused branding strategy heralded by marketing gurus , is being touted in the March 2008 issue of the Harvard Business Review. HBR features a case discussion […]
It's not that hard to recognize an organization's authenticity. Even a child can do it.
“Mom, this company really shows their believingness.” So said my nine-year-old daughter. She had just noticed that the tag hanging from the T-shirt I gave her for Valentine’s Day was […]
The New York Junior League: To be more authentic, practice what you preach
If an organization wants to be seen as inauthentic, all it needs to do is to say one thing and do another. When an organization creates a gap between ‘who […]
An Authentic Response from Glamour Magazine
This past summer, a story about a Glamour magazine staffer who was giving a talk about ‘what to wear to work’ was making the rounds among feminists and fashionistas. During […]
Gilmore and Pine's Authenticity Paradox
The authenticity paradox, as defined by James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II in their book “Authenticity: What consumers really want”, contains the following axioms: If you are authentic, […]