Authenticity is not a strategy

Are we not all bored of being told to be “authentic”?

Every other ‘how to grow online’ carousel or ‘top tips for founders’ article seems to be sharing this secret pass for how to be successful. Second only to the personal-branding gurus shouting it from their rooftops and even writing it in their Instagram bios. “Authentic storyteller” or “sharing my authentic life”. People who are so authentic that they have to tell us they are.

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Online coaches (a whole other topic) are discussing it as though it has become a strategy or a unique differentiator. And the internet has collectively decided that authenticity is the magic fairy dust that immediately makes you a more trustworthy human.

But the literal definition of ‘authentic’ is “not a copy”. So when someone is dishing out the advice for you to just “be authentic”, they’re literally just saying “please don’t copy other people”.

Is that the bar for us all now? Surely, not copying is the absolute bare minimum in business?

Oxford Dictionary definition of authentic.

Not being fake isn’t an achievement; it’s baseline human behaviour. It’s not something that can be performed or a specific style of talking, or god forbid, something you write on a pitch deck. It’s simply being yourself. And, given that every person is different, being yourself is a unique differentiator. But you have to dive a lot deeper than the word ‘authentic’ to understand what it is about yourself that makes you different.

So if ‘authentic’ is such empty advice, what should we actually be aiming for instead?

Where did authenticity come from?

Before “authenticity” became the internet’s favourite personality trait, it did actually have some weight to it.

As the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy more eloquently puts it, “being oneself is inescapable”. The modern word comes from the Greek word ‘authéntes’, which roughly translates to “the author of one’s own actions”. Centuries of philosophy have been built on that idea: that to be authentic was to live in line with your own values rather than merely absorbing whatever society handed you. I’m no philosopher, but this doesn’t seem groundbreaking stuff.

Historically, authenticity has never been about posting makeup-free selfies or sharing a messy office tour. It’s about being the author of your own life rather than echoing your audience’s expectations.

In more modern psychology, authenticity has been tied to well-being and self-esteem. Essentially, how aligned your inner world is with how you show up. Again, not entirely groundbreaking that the more true you are to yourself, the happier you are.

Lately online, we’ve seen this concept be flattened into a buzzword. Or a brand value that’s sandwiched between equally empty words like “transparent”. The kind of words that sound meaningful until you ask someone to define it. Which is exactly why recent research argues there is a “lack of definitional clarity” about authenticity.

And in fact, most research doesn’t even agree. This report proposed a “3C-view” (consistency, conformity, connection), plus a fourth “C” (continuity) to try to map it’s meaning. Whilst some psychologists now argue that a single “true self” might not even exist. We all shift across contexts, relationships, and seasons of life, making authenticity a moving target rather than a fixed style. I’m different with my Mum, just as I am with my best friend, and just as I am with my clients. But that doesn’t mean I’m not being my true self in any scenario.

Authenticity may have deep roots, but over the many years, the actual meaning has been lost, questioned and changed. Now being reduced to a marketing angle.

But why is authenticity having such a moment?

We’re living in a moment where almost everything online can be faked. We’ve had a toe in this era for a long time in the sense of facetunes and filters. But it’s in a whole new phase of “was this even created by a human” sense. I literally just saw an influencer have to write on their story that something wasn’t AI because that’s a default reaction we now seem to have when seeing something cool?

More and more influencers are having to disclaim that things ARE actually real. (source: @lucygeorgia)

A 2024 survey revealed that nearly 80% of people were concerned about whether the content they encounter online is trustworthy. And I am definitely in that 80%.

Social media influencers are the second least trusted profession questioned about, second only to politicians (no comment…).

Report showing the least and most trustworthy professionals. Advertising executives and social media influencers are near the bottom.

This is primarily down to deepfakes, cloned voices, AI images that are so realistic that entire news cycles have been derailed because no one could tell what was real. We all know that major institutions and even governments are scrambling for tighter regulation, and the average person simply cannot keep up. Even besides AI, decades of over-engineered marketing are finally catching up with us. We are collectively growing sceptical towards slick, overly polished brand behaviour. People are, of course, craving something that feels real because so much of what they see now isn’t.

However, the issue with authenticity is that no one is using the same definition. The beauty of everyone being unique is that everyone’s version of being their authentic self is different.

For one person, being authentic means posting a video with a full face of makeup, talking passionately about a latest music drop. For another, it’s sitting on their sofa in a hoodie with no makeup, crying and explaining how something has gone wrong. And someone else can be truly authentic when they’re breaking down a serious topic with research and a straight face.

All of these people are being authentic to themselves, but none of them look remotely the same.

So, when someone tells you to be authentic in your brand strategy, what exactly are they talking about? The word is too vague to be helpful, and too personal to ever become a universal strategy. And yet somehow, we’ve decided this is the advice everyone needs.

Is authenticity just consistency?

In case it’s not yet obvious, authenticity is something that’s taking up far too much of my headspace these last few weeks. But when I’m thinking about people whom I find authentic, I’m really just thinking of people who are consistent and, therefore, believable. I know what to expect from them, and it’s beneficial to me in some form.

But, given we’ve established I am not a philosopher, I’ve dug into what the actual signs of authenticity are. Most research is into influencers, and this shows audiences perceive them as authentic when creators show:

• Genuine expertise

• Visible consistency

• A distinct point of view

For brands, research findings are similar in the sense that we perceive brands to be authentic when:

• They are transparent about origins and processes

• Their behaviour matches any claimed values

• They’re consistent

There’s nothing I’ve found that is for or against specific ‘authentic’ traits, such as being vulnerable or crying online, or even just being positive. It’s simply whatever you can consistently be. And you can only maintain consistency by being true to yourself.

Being authentic is terrible advice.

Authenticity is the baseline of being a functioning adult. It’s not a strategy, it’s not your USP, and it’s not a compelling reason for someone to work with you. If your big brand differentiator is that you’re not copying another person, you need to raise the ambition level.

You shouldn’t have to try to be authentic because you already are. All you really need to do is think for yourself and put your thoughts out there about something you genuinely care about.

So if you are building a personal brand, these questions are far more helpful than anything involving the word authentic:

• What do I care about enough to think about and discuss repeatedly? (So you can be consistent)

• What can I reliably give people that is useful? (So you can be beneficial)

• What experience can I share that helps someone to make a better decision? (So you can be honest)

We don’t need founders to be authentic. We need them to be beneficial and consistent.

So if you’ve been spending months trying to prove that you’re authentic, please stop. That’s not the work. The work is becoming someone worth listening to. Then saying things that matter. Then showing up in a way that matches your values. Over and over again.

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