I just finished reading an article in Time Magazine about authenticity relating to businesses. In fact authenticity was ranked number 7 in the top "10 Ideas that are Changing the World." I found it very interesting having spent the last 18 months with my co-founders forming Vera Fitness to be a truly "authentic business."
If I may paraphrase for a moment, the article explains three strategies for businesses to be authentic:
1. Transparancy - or "holier-than-thou" strategy. This is when a company strives to be exactly what they say they are, or truly transparent.
2. Fake It - This is when a company openly pokes fun at marketing excesses and admits inauthenticity
3. Fake-Real - Businesses are authentic when they openly acknowledge how fake they are.
Do you find it ironic that number 2 and 3 have the word "fake" in their title. Can a company achieve authenticity by merely poking fun at themselves or acknowledging that they are fake? To me this seems like a cop out and a way for any business to jump on the authenticity train while its gaining momentum.
I believe authenticity is fundamentaly about uncovering the human layers of doubt and self-conciousness in order to reveal a true person. Then to uplift that persons true self by building a community of support around them that continues to challenge and prune each others layers ultimately creating a business that blossoms.
Sound organic? Essentially it is. We try so hard to create structure, boundaries and experiences that control our actions and reponses that we end up losing touch with the most critical element uniting us all. We are all people. People run businesses and people are our customers. Let's bring it back to basics and start respecting people simply because they exist as human beings.
Vera Fitness was founded with this principle in mind, and today I was able to see it come to fruition. My wife made her first visit to Vera. She has birthed two beautiful boys in the last two years. Prior to that she was an accomplished runner, skier, and swimmer. If you are a mother you will understand.
She told me about her Vera experience tonight at dinner. She said she was immediately put at ease by the trainers and gently asked about her previous back issues. They moved into some slow stretching before moving to the Kinesis where she experienced a true interaction with the trainer when the trainer told her how beautiful and connected her body was with the earth for birthing two children and how strong and majestic she is at this place in her life where she has the freedom to shape herself in any way.
As she told me this we both felt a little teary-eyed. How great it was to have her be truly met in this space. How great for her to have all of her preconceived notions about working out with trainers squashed. How unbelievably honoring and rare to find a place of solace and rejuvination among complete strangers.
To me this was a real experience. Call it transparent. Call it "holier-than-thou." Call it whatever you want, but one thing is for certain; you can't call it fake. I am going to call it authentic and continue to let it guide my decisions and strategies as VP of Marketing.
Joel DeJong
VP Marketing, Vera Fitness
Read the time article:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1720049_1720050_1722070-1,00.html