Category: Authentic or Not?
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Tyson Foods lacks faith in its own identity.
When organizations are being authentic, they approach their problems by drawing on their identity. An organization that wants to be authentic must regularly find ways to translate its beliefs about ‘who we are’ into actions that demonstrate ‘who we are’. When an organization has faith in its own identity, it will strive to demonstrate this…
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Want Authenticity? Design Homophobia Out of the Organization
The System isn’t working at Omnicom. Omnicom says “we are committed to ensuring that we use our position to promote socially responsible policies and practices. Yet, Omnicom’s agency, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO (AMV/BBDO) , creates advertising that is anti-gay. Because Omnicom is not addressing the contradiction between who it says it is as an organization…
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Homophobia and (In)Authenticity at Omnicom: What can a leader do?
I am struggling to understand the pattern of reactions to a recent critique of an organization’s authenticity. Bob Garfield, writing in Monday’s (7/21) Advertising Age, has an Open Letter to Omnicom President-CEO John Wren, asking Wren to look at the contradiction between Omnicom’s public Statement on Corporate Responsibility and the homophobia represented in three recent…
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An Authentic News Organization Doesn’t Photoshop Pictures
Show me a liberal — heck , show me a thoughtful American — and I will show you a person who says that the name "Fox News" is an oxymoron. With their fake name, Fox News claims that it is a news organization. Fox News works very hard to make viewers think that what they…
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Fake Names for Authentic Organizations? Thornberg & Forester
Is this organization being authentic by giving itself a fake name? photofrom digitalcontnentproducer.com There’s a funny little news tidbit in Sunday’s New York Times Business section, right below Tommy Hilfiger’s engagement announcement (as if that’s business news?). It’s a paragraph about a design & communications firm, Thornberg & Forester . Neither Thornberg nor Forester exist…
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Authentic or Not?: A Men’s Organization with a woman member
Recently, I told you about an organizational situation that raises some interesting questions about whether the organization is being authentic. The organization, a Men’s Chorus, has up to 249 male members and 1 woman member, my neighbor Joan Garry. I proposed that this organization is either very special or very inauthentic” how else could the…
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Previous Authenticity Controversies re: Dove & Unilever
Can Dove / Unilever be thought of as ‘authentic’? 1. Dove makes and sells products to ‘fix’ women’s beauty problems, and contradicts the messages it intends to send in the "real beauty" campaign. These unreasonable standards of beauty hurt women and girls . CBC’s Street Cents "examines whether Dove wants to turn beauty standards/stereotypes on…
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3 Questions for a “Quick and Dirty” Assessment of Your Organization’s Authenticity
An authentic organization, very simply, is an organization whose identity, image and actions are congruent with each other. Identity is reflected in image and actions, Image accurately describes identity and actions, and actions express identity and image. How can you know whether and how your organization is authentic? It takes a deep inquiry and thoughtful…