Leading with genuineness
In the business world where perfectly polished personas are the norm, one quality stands calmly and defiantly out of place: genuineness. It's not mentioned in quarterly reports, or next to ambitious mission statements, and rarely uttered by leaders. Yet, it's power leads to so many things businesses care about: speed, conversion, retention, and customer satisfaction.
I recently had an exchange with a customer that brought all this to mind. What felt good when writing to them was the comfort I had saying things most companies wouldn't dream of saying — e.g. I wasn't going to build his feature any time soon, I'm a small company, and I'm not even skilled enough (yet).
I have this freedom because I tell every single user what they're signing up for in my welcome email — good and bad — and am ok if they decide my app is not for them.
(If you want to read more about that specifically, here's a link: https://www.revereapp.com/blog/building-a-forever-app)
One way I look at leadership and building teams is creating the conditions for genuineness. There's so much upside to being genuine.
Speed — Writing, designing, everything is faster to do because no one in the company is second-guessing and over-thinking.
Conversion — When people find your product, it immediately "speaks to them" and they just buy it. You don't have to sell it as hard.
Retention — Expectations are clear from the start so people aren't any disappointments and people have no reasons to leave
Anti-fragility — You can't get caught in lies. Controversies don't find you, because there aren't any. And if they do, you can just speak honestly.
Not to mention: all the positive performance benefits you get from employees when they feel comfortable.
It's tempting to chase the seductive lure of a perfect image, but it's a path paved with anxiety and fragility. Building from a foundation of genuineness is not easy, and means closing certain doors, but on this path lies a profound reward: a trust, resilience, and calm that even the richest and most accomplished people envy. The world is hungry for realness. There's never been a better time to lead with your true voice.
I'll close with a quote from Doja Cat, because when traditional virtues start showing up in pop culture, you know people are hungry for them.
"If your only intent is to be seen, you’ll never be seen. If your intent is to be happy, comfortable, genuine, and true in craft, you’re destined to be noticed. People can smell when things aren’t genuine." — Doja Cat