"There's no trick to it, it's just a simple trick!"

Posted By Daniel W. Drezner Monday, December 29, 2008 - 2:49 PM Share

That line from The Simpsons came to my mind when I read this Financial Times essay by Jonathan Guthrie:

If you can fake authenticity in the new year, you will have it made. Authenticity was already a buzzword in business and politics before the credit crunch. It will become an essential virtue following the curtain twitch that revealed so many Masters of the Universe to be Wizards of Oz. At one executive leadership seminar I attended recently, the trainer explained that authenticity was the main attribute delegates needed to radiate, including “different types of authenticity for different audiences”. This means being a technocrat in the boardroom, a pragmatist among middle managers and an Average Joe on the shop floor.

One does wonder if this increases the likelihood of bloggers -- who were in on the ground floor of this whole "constructed authenticity" deal -- making it in the corporate world.

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JDMCKAY

10:58 AM ET

December 30, 2008

including “different types of

including “different types of authenticity for different audiences”.

sheesh... reminds of Colbert: "John, people don't understand there is a principle for every situation."

I'd be curious to know what "executive leadership seminar" the author referred to. On first bite, sounds like nothing but style to me, not much substance.

DON STADLER

11:52 AM ET

December 30, 2008

Reminds me of a tune from the

Reminds me of a tune from the Broadway musical 'Bye Bye Birdie - "Honestly Sincere":

In ev'rything I do,
My sincerity shows thro'
I looked you in the eye,
Don't even have to try,
It's automatic!
I'm sincere!

DAVID BLUMGART

3:02 PM ET

December 30, 2008

I'm astonished that fully a

I'm astonished that fully a day after the original post, no one has noted that the cited essay draws directly from George Burns:

"The secret of acting is sincerity.

[Beat. Pull on cigar.]

"If you can fake that, you've got it made."

JOHNQENIAC

3:01 AM ET

January 1, 2009

"One does wonder if this

"One does wonder if this increases the likelihood of bloggers — who were in on the ground floor of this whole “constructed authenticity” deal — making it in the corporate world."

Does one? So, your main problem with 'bloggers' is that their attitude isn't always one of 'authentic' unmitigated cynicism like yours? They are passionate about something so they must be disingenuous? For you cynicism equals sophistication.

But anyway, anyone who expresses an opinion to the world is a 'blogger', so you are railing against most of the rest of the world. Are you truly so unperceptive that you do not recognize the irrelevance of the medium (internet, television, radio, print)? Anyone pushing their opinion is still a 'mere blogger'. For example, you are a blogger. Dick Cheney is a blogger. He blogs (bloviates) on Meet the Press. George Bush is a blogger. He blogs through his press secretary. Bill O'Reilly is a blogger. He blogs the most insufferable pap on Fox. The only difference among bloggers is how large of an audience they have access to. The thing that infuriates the corporate media, and apparently you, is that up until recently only their half-baked or infantile or superficial or self-serving opinions and analyses were broadcast to the world. Now the unwashed masses are allowed to hold forth, and the 'intelligentsia' is forced to share the stage with them. All the world's now a web page, and men and women merely bloggers upon it. It's the first chance in history for true democracy and you can't stand it. As Little Donny Rumsfeld once said (the one time he got anything right), 'Democracy is messy'. Get used to it. Or rather, embrace it.