Day 16: Acquired identities

In Frankfurt I had a conversation with a woman who once worked as a massage therapist in a brothel. She told me that there is a very subtle yet powerful competition amongst prostitutes expressed as ostentatious consumption. It seems that the more expensive the things you can buy, the more appealing you are as a product. And the more appealing you are as a product, the more expensive the things you can buy. This self perpetuating cycle will see women sleeping with upwards of ten men a day, securing that Gucci with that coochie.

Iaan, in his infinite wisdom once captured this succinctly: "the better you look, the more you'll see." (and the age old cliche: "don't dress for the job you have, dress for the job you want")
These purchased identities, that allow acceptance and access to desirable clubs, social groups and that promotion you so desperately need to pay your credit card debt, come at a very steep price. By modulating what we think others see as desirable, we often destroy what is authentic and unique; paradoxically killing the thing that makes us stand out and get attention. The catch is, by demonstrating that we are up to date with current trends we also show that we have social currency. Being 'in the know' denotes a social status that aligns a person with what is vital and dynamic. In the clubby world of CEO's, not being in on the latest fad is tantamount to social castration. But honestly, what is the price of the CEO d**k measuring contest (I have more twitter followers than you)?

In the large companies I worked for it was a bit of a game to see how quickly the new memes spread through the company (blue ocean, black swan and LOHA's none the less). A buzzword that the CEO stumbled upon in the latest HBR (or the golf course) could be seen in division head presentations within weeks... the country managers needed about a month or two to assimilate the new code. None of this of course has anything to do with the real behavior of the company or the resultant "real" strategy (action on the battlefield) that consumers experience as the "brand". The socialization of the memes simply demonstrates how well the structure and culture transmits information. What is the churn rate of jargon in your company?

The real question though is, like the prostitutes, what are these companies doing to themselves in the blind process of devouring the latest trends, fads and management 'wisdom'.  Authenticity actually carries far more value in the long run but as the oldest profession teaches, you just don't see as much action in play. Is there a way of re-expressing the value of integrity without it becoming a fad?