The Agony of Authenticity: Why Chasing Trust Isn’t Winning Hearts
Why serving your customers matters more than being 'authentic'
In “Man’s Search for Meaning,” his memoir of his experience as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, Viktor Frankl laments what he sees as the modern obsession with pursuing success and happiness for their own sake.
“Don’t aim at success,” he says. “The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself.”
In agricultural marketing today, many of our conversations center around “authenticity.”
We know that we operate in a low-trust environment, so we try to combat that by “telling our side of the story” or “highlighting our commitment to transparency.” Maybe we even call in the big guns and give ourselves the “agvocate” label.
Sadly, none of this seems to be working; trust just continues to deteriorate.
Our response to date, unfortunately, has been to dig in our heels and push the same failing framework harder.
“Tell our story louder!”
“You can trust us!”
“Shut up, we’re feeding the world!”
I think it’s time for companies in agriculture to take a different approach.
Instead of asking “how can we get our side of the story heard?” Or “how can we prove that we are authentic to growers/retailers/consumers?” We should ask the question “what service can we deliver that would matter most for our customers?”
Just as Frankl argues that success and happiness cannot be pursued directly, authenticity and awareness in agriculture must emerge as a byproduct of meaningful action and service.
What meaningful change will you seek to create for your customers?
Make something different. Make people care. Make fans, not followers.