Authenticity: There, Gone, and Back Again

Last week I enjoyed a vacation in Vermont.  If there was one word that came to mind over and over again, it was “authentic.”  No obnoxious billboards.  Lots of gorgeous farms.  Scarce fast food and retail chains.  Lots of quaint, if not quirky, inns and restaurants.  I felt almost transported to another country or a previous time, where things seem a little more genuine somehow.

A covered bridge on a Vermont road.

Today I returned not just to the visual cacophony of billboards and the sameness of chains but also to the U.S. stock market fall.  The Dow Jones lost 500 points.  Why such a tumble?  Though the answer has many facets, I think its core is lack of authenticity.  People invested in something that wasn’t really there….in the real estate sector where predatory loans gave people houses they couldn’t afford and earned profits that didn’t last.  And not just any people invested in this mirage of money.  Major financials did, bringing themselves down and bringing Wall Street down with them.  By this afternoon, I was quite distressed.

This evening I read a post on the analytics blog Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik.  It was an update on a “little book” he wrote called Web Analytics: An Hour a Day.  Like many of his posts, this one delivered its message in occasionally unidiomatic English peppered with enthusiastic asides, emoticons, and exclamation points.  Among the images was a flower and the cover from the Little Engine That Could.  Quirky, indeed.  This genuine style contrasts nicely with the intimidating subject of web analytics.  Today, for me, it contrasted with the spurious investments on Wall Street.  An even greater counterpoint was the post’s message.  It seems Kaushik is donating 100% of his book royalties to two charities, Doctors without Borders and The Smile Train.  So far he has donated $28,000.  Yes, he still enjoys indirect benefits of being a successful author and analytics expert.  But giving up the cash is literally putting your money where your mouth is.  Nothing fake about it.  Tonight, I feel a little more hopeful.

I can’t help but think authenticity is key to lasting influence and, ultimately, a winning experience for all.  In the case of Wall Street, what seemed to be a win-win-lose situation for predatory lendors, investors, and homeowners has devolved into a lose-lose-lose situation.  Web Analytics is a win-win-win situation for Kaushik, the readers, and the charities.  May it inspire more.