The term “Authenticity” get played out a lot. I mean – ALOT! It gets used to discuss personal branding issues like what kind of avatar should you use and how to disclose if you get paid to communicate a product or experience. Authenticity is used to discuss ethics in business including can you outsource moderation of your community or what if corp communications manages the CEO’s blog? Most of the discussion comes down to the distaste for people trying to be posers online. The fact is whether online or off, people are going to stretch the truth (or outright lie). It happens.
This week, we wanted to change up the conversation a bit and look at it from a personal perspective. Authenticity is a way of being and not something that can be attained by following some corporate policies. While there many people who start out being truly authentic it’s interesting what happens when some get a few wins under their belts. Somewhere they begin believing everything they hear and their ego gets in the way of what was once rational thinking. Kind of a “forgetting your roots” scenario.
Then we have the people who stay true to their character despite success or sometimes fame. Our moderator this week certainly fits the latter description. Rohit Bhargava is a SVP at Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence (which he was a founding member) and is the author of the award winning book Personality not Included. Despite his success, he remains truly authentic at every level. How does he do it? We”ll find out this Tuesday at noon EST.
Something a bit different this week as we will start out with everyone sharing their thoughts on who, today, exemplifies authenticity whether famous or not. Then as everyone joins we will start with Q1 that asks an interesting question. For businesses looking to get established in social media, do you need to task someone who has already built up their own personal brand or can you be successful in building a corporate brand even though your personal brand is not established? The next question should be a hot one. Let’s say you have social media success in the consumer packaged goods industry, are you qualified to lead a team from the healthcare industry? In other words, is social media the same across industries or do you have to specialize. Then Rohit will tackle a question that centers around the idea that some contend extensive personal branding can detract from a company’s branding efforts. This week’s topic and questions:
Topic: Twankers, Rock Stars & Gurus – Authenticity In A World of Exploding Ego
Pre Q1: Who do you feel lives up to being authentic in the digital world?
Q1: Do you have to ROCK your personal brand in SocMed before you try to ROCK your company’s?
Q2: Does Social Media expertise transcend industries?
Q3: Does personal branding compete with or add-to your Company’s market influence?
With Rohit, we are in for a fun chat that is sure the raise the bar for all of us. Plan on joining us Tuesday at noon EST by following the #sm34.l
Tags: authenticity, corporate branding, ethics, jason breed, marc meyer, neighborhood america, Ogilvy 360, personal branding, Personality not Included, Rohit Bhargava
[...] Twankers, Rock Stars & Gurus – Authenticity In A World of Exploding Egos [...]
I have worked with both types. One person I worked with was true to himself regardless of what position he had or how much notoriety he experienced. But I have worked with someone else who completely changed as the work of the project led him to be more noted in the field. It was interesting to see him eventually start putting down the project and the people involved in the project as meaningless. Now, after reading your post I realize he was probably trying to feed his ego’s need to think that it was his own effort that got him to where he was, not the project itself. Interesting post.
thanks for your feedback Marly. This is one of those interesting topics that really does not have a right answer but everyone has their own version of the authenticity of a person and it’s shaped mostly by your exposure and interaction with that person. The person you mention above was probably seen as authentic to his superiors (whom he was trying to impress) and not authentic to his collegues who got them there (after he dismissed all of you).