Managing in public: the expectation of authenticity

The development of digital technology and tools continues to make the internet increasingly important and disruptive. “Important” because as a method of communication it eliminates time and distance and reduces costs to near-zero. “Disruptive” because not only can email easily be sent, there is an expectation that it will be received, read and get a response in near-real time.

 For people with the time and the passion, the technology and tools allow them to express themselves, identify like-minded fans and add another level of enthusiasm.
 For people with a new idea, the technology and tools allow them to find a market and fund its development.
 And for people with a desire to pass along what they know, what they’ve experienced or the best restaurant in Prague, the technology and tools gives them access to an audience beyond the sound of their own voices.

This last group of online advocates or bloggers will likely be the most significant agents of change. Their ability to lodge complaints, organize boycotts or point fingers at bad corporate actors without a check or filter has already begun to instigate a reaction from companies, institutions and individuals who are the subject of their web posts.

Some companies have sought to talk to these folks, to build a relationship that can be the check or balance that does not now exist. For these companies, creating their own blogs might be a key part of the program. Other companies are just now studying the landscape. Still others do not yet know what is about to (or already has) hit them.

What those already engaged know and what the companies studying will learn is that business today is increasingly being conducted in public. In a real way, the legal concept of transparency is being one-upped by what the digital technology and tools have done to free up information.

There is no way to say one thing to one audience segment and something else to another. There is no way to ensure that internal communications will not become public. And there is no way to command or control what is said about any company that sells anything. As a result of being exposed to everyone all the time, it has put a premium on the truth and presenting yourself as you are.

If natural resources were the coin of the industrial realm and it is not knowledge so much as authenticity that confers power in the information age; it is authenticity that is the basis for the authority to lead.

The evidence can be seen at every level. In politics, it explains why people seem to vote against their own self-interest; in sports, it leads to the size of the endorsement; and in business, it is the basis for product trial, brand loyalty and corporate second chances.

But rather than feeling we are being forced to live as if every word and action were being web cast (recall “The Truman Show”), it may be time to develop, reward and promote the skills that will allow people to take advantage of the need to “manage in public.”

If all information that can be shared, let it be shared. If behavior is consistent; if values are clea and mistakes admitted and addressed in full view, there is a real chance to not just find customers, but build a community.