‘Your Capacity for Change’
Go slowly. Makes it easier if you take this one line at a time:
Authenticity is equal to your unique voice,
multiplied by truthfulness,
plus your capacity for change,
multiplied by range of emotional impact,
raised to the power of imagination.
This is the “Authenticity Formula.”
It opens designer and author Marc Eckō’s book Unlabel: Selling You Without Selling Out.
I’m looking forward to Eckō’s keynote at the HOW Live event in May. HOW is a big conference. More than 4,000 attendees. And it’s not about publishing. Not about the industry! the industry! It’s about another industry! another industry!—design. I’ve spent some of my 418-year career near design. I know “design thinking.” When it comes to design thinkers, Eckō is a Rodin.
Look at his formula again, through your author-eyes:
Authenticity is equal to your unique voice,
multiplied by truthfulness,
plus your capacity for change,
multiplied by range of emotional impact,
raised to the power of imagination.
Which line is the most important? Let me ask that another way: Which line is the hardest to achieve?
In his book, Eckō takes apart the traditional artsy lies about “brand.” He nails it: “I am a brand, but I’m also a creator.” Here’s one way he spins this:
When you unlabel and create an authentic personal brand, you will broadcast yourself differently to the world. You will think of yourself more actively, not passively. You won’t just use the social network, you’ll become the social network.
McLuhan-esque. Message and medium. And complex, to borrow a term important to Eckō. A branding artist if ever there was one. He makes it clear that Unlabel “is not a how-to business book about how to make millions.” He’s made those millions. But Eckō is into process, principle, selfhood.
And the line that’s most important?—the second one: “multiplied by truthfulness.”
How good are you at truthfulness? That’s my provocation for you today.
Why don’t we tell the truth more in publishing? And especially in writing?
