Importance of Authenticity in Business: LawyerFair Daily Podcast #59

Lawyerfair.co.uk Business podcast

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https://youtu.be/o0-XwFyfZzU

Yiuwin Tsang is a Publisher at Sift Media, with a focus on small business. He is also involved in The Pitch – an annual competition for small businesses, early stage companies.

It’s primarily through this experience with The Pitch that Yiuwin has seen how much authenticity matters in modern business and how the entrepreneurs that get it, tend to inspire and prosper.

It’s a fascinating subject and one that continues to evolve as business (large and small) grapple with how to transfer face2face authenticity into the online world.

Our chat covers a range of publications and talks – all of which are listed below;

Simon Sinek’s TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/speakers/simon_sinek

CEB research piece: http://www.cebglobal.com/exbd/sales-service/challenger/b2b-loyalty-drivers/index.page

The Challenger Sale: http://www.insightsquared.com/2013/12/the-challenger-sale-in-8-minutes/

The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz: https://medium.com/book-summaries/the-hard-thing-about-hard-things-82dd119d5b86

Podcast Transcript

Andrew: So welcome again, I tend to forget that Penny does this lovely voiceover introduction to the daily podcast, and I like to say thank you to Penny for that introduction to The LawyerFair daily podcast. My name is Andrew Weaver and I am the CEO at LawyerFair.co.uk. Now, today’s guest and today’s subject are really fascinating. Because there is a reason why Jeremy Corben has risen to the top of The Labour Party, whether you like his policies or not, the groundswell of support that he’s generated is pretty much agreed that it’s down to his authenticity. And that authenticity has allowed him to win this competition and it’s a really interesting subject to discuss around the issue of business, and entrepreneurs, and joining me today to discuss this and a few other things, is Yiuwin Tsang, Sift Media. Welcome Yiuwin.

Yiuwin: Andrew thank you very much for having me.

Andrew: Not at all, great to speak to you and, as I say, we will get to the issue of authenticity because it’s linked to your own experiences with The Pitch. Now, just explain a little bit more about what The Pitch is.

Yiuwin: So The Pitch is a competition that we’ve been running at Sift Media since 2008, it was originally an extension of and external event that we partnered with, way back in 2008, and its grown from a little regional event into a National Event where we really try and shine a spotlight on some of the brightest entrepreneurial talent that’s coming out of the UK.

Andrew: Now I need to say something here, in the interests of disclosure, because LawyerFair has made it to the boot camp this year, The Pitch Bootcamp, so in this era of authenticity and transparency, Yiuwin, let there be no one accusing me of not declaring that. So that’s partly why you and I have started liaising as well. But it was interesting that from the e-mails that we exchanged that Yiuwin mentioned that his experience, or your experience, we should say, with The Pitch, is the businesses that are really standing out are those that come across as authentic, and it’s that hook that I’ve really picked up on. So just explain a little bit more about what you mean by that.

Yiuwin: Yeah, absolutely. We are digital publishers by trade so we publishe websites. B to B websites, its typically online, The Pitch and a couple of other things is what we are doing in real life, as it were. I think in this day and age of twitter, emails, facebook and all the rest of it, there is a real danger of becoming too digital, and the stand out quality, I think that certainly I’ve seen with the entrepreneurs that we’ve met through The Pitch, over the years, the ones that really stick in your mind are the ones that come across as being really authentic, both in terms of what they are about as individuals and what their businesses are about as well. Be they huge, really successful big turnover, fast growing businesses, or indeed part of some of the more modest, early stage or even pre-start businesses. It’s those entrepreneurs which really show their authenticity, they listen to what you have to say, they are genuinely interested in what you do as well as letting you know what they do. They’re the ones that really stick in your mind.

Andrew: And I think what’s interesting, particularly bearing in mind what your experience is, that I can completely get that, I mean I think even in real life you meet people and they come across as authentic, you’re warmer towards them, if they are showing some heart. I think the great challenge of course in the digital period is how do you reflect that within a digital platform, with content, within social media for example? I think that some people have struggled, or do struggle, in how to get that across. What do you think are the keys to showing authenticity online as opposed to face to face?

Yiuwin: I think a lot of it comes down to your purpose as a business and to be able to clearly articulate that. We did a lot of work, or based a lot of our strategic thinking around the work Simon Sinek has done around The Golden Circle and Starting with Why, and I think that is a very good starting point for many businesses, and many entrepreneurs, it’s really distilled down. What it is about your business, what it is that you do, and what your belief is in that business, and allowing that message to permeate through everything that you do. So again, for example with The Pitch, our belief is that if we are able to educate entrepreneurs, we can empower them to use the skills; we will play our part in enabling them to succeed. And so everything that we do, be it on social through twitter, through facebook, through our own website and indeed through our events, it’s based on the premise of; give practical advice, give entrepreneurs something that they can pick up, they can use straight away, or make a positive impact on their businesses. And that’s the barometer, if you like, of what you publish, or what you put out there, and its, as I say, I kind of benchmark. If you’re going to publish an article, or record a podcast or whatever that might be, if it’s doesn’t tick that box – if this isn’t delivering your purpose then you really need to question whether it is the right thing to put out there.

Andrew: It is a fascinating subject. I went to a book launch, a book called Mission, I don’t know if you’ve come across it? It was launched a month or two ago?

Yiuwin: Oh yeah, indeed.

Andrew: And there are other publications out there, not necessarily this one, but the focus of Mission is on business which had a purpose, and the fact that the businesses of the future that inspire and prosper would be the ones would be those that do have a purpose. I think one of the things that came across to me, and has come across to me in my business life, certainly recently. I think it’s about sharing inspiration about why, and not what. Why are you doing things, sharing information, rather than necessarily pushing it out there. And I think it’s that, almost charitable instinct, in a weird way, that sense that you are about giving, rather than taking, is such a crucial thing in terms of online content. And I think a lot of people get it wrong.

Yiuwin: I think you’re absolutely right. It’s the sort of thing we preach to a lot of our advertisers and a lot of our partners, that we work with across social media, not just in small businesses, but you get some organisations and commercial partners that we work with, who genuinely get it. They know that in order to win hearts and minds they need to influence people in the right way, and it links back to the authenticity piece. Well if anybody thinks that all you want to do is just to push your stuff onto them, then you’re not going to get the best of reactions, whereas if you are authentic in your approach, if you genuinely believe that your software, or your products or your technology will make a positive impact on small businesses in terms of what they do in their lives and their livelihood, then you can go into that dialogue with strong authenticity and with a strong purpose with there being a mutual benefit, it comes out the other end.

Andrew: I think that’s right, I always think its content that shows heart, content that shows the people behind what’s being written. I am not sure that it the best way to capture it, but that’s certainly how we try. And I thinks it’s really difficult, for smaller businesses, and businesses or entrepreneurs who are time poor, to think that; if I am not pushing the message of what I do, I am wasting my time, I am not utilising my time in the best way. And because I think authenticity and trying to get across content that is of value to the recipient, is a slow burner, the whole SEO the content marketing is a slow burner. I think its an easy instinct for the smaller businesses, the start-up businesses to perhaps try too quickly to go for the sale, and I think that does begin to shatter any sense that you are being authentic.

Yiuwin: Absolutely, I don’t think that there is any doubt in that, I think that there are a lot of studies out there. There’s one done by the, I think the CEO Structure Board, it’s been linked back to the book The Challenger Sale, and that that book specifies that a lot of the B space, the buying decisions are dictated by the sales experience that the buyer goes through, it’s not necessarily by price, by brand and I think how you engage with your potential customers plays a huge part in that whole process of that experience; because their experience starts from when you pick up the phone or when you go and see the for the first meeting, their experience of you starts from looking at your social profile, looking at you, and then your PR pieces they might seen of you, even your advert in the local paper, or whatever it might be, and that’s when their experience starts, it isn’t just when you have that first conversation.

Andrew: No that’s fascinating. What I might ask off the conversation, is to get a note of these books that you’ve mentioned and I’ll include them in the notes we attach to the podcast, because some of these books are really interesting and some of these pieces that we’ve mentioned. Listen, that’s really useful, I’m attending The Pitch Bootcamp in October, and I am going to ratchet up my authenticity, let me tell you. I am going to ensure its coming out of every pore. [Laughter]

Yiuwin: There’s another fantastic book that I read recently, it’s called The Hard Thing about Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz.

Andrew: I have just finished reading it, oh yeah, I love it.

Yiuwin: Did you enjoy it?

Andrew: Very much.

Yiuwin: I can’t remember, he said there were three CEO’s behaviours to look out for. One of them was about leadership, Steve Jobs typically, and the one that sticks out as a whole authenticity piece, I think it was the IBM CEO, off the top of my head, it’s been a couple of weeks since I read it, and he was talking about how when he spoke to with this CEO, it felt like Ben, the author, felt like Ben was the centre of the CEO’s world, it felt like this CEO would everything that he possible could to help Ben out, and that’s what authenticity is about, it’s about really believing whoever it is you are speaking to. It’s genuinely going to be a mutually beneficial outcome from it. And if you are able to portray that, if you are able do that in your behaviours then that is what good business comes out from. And as I say, the wonderful thing about The Pitch is that there is no shortage of authenticity, which you will get to see when you meet the other fifty at the boot camp you go to, there’s another fifty at either the London or the Manchester one depending on which one you are going to. And what stood out for me, last year, was just the number of connections and relationships that sprung out from getting a bunch of really authentic people together, talking about business, talking about the trials and tribulations that they’ve gone through. No necessary hidden agendas, or anything like that, there was a real level playing field and a mutual respect for each other to get to where they got to. And that endured beyond the competition itself; in fact we’ve got people still in touch with each other from last years’ competition, still meet up regularly, still support and challenge each other as well. And that comes from this really open really authentic approach to how they conduct business themselves and how they live their lives really.

Andrew: A pal of mine was in The Pitch, got to the thirty, last year, and he speaks incredibly warmly about the whole experience. Certainly, on a personal basis, I’m very much looking forward to that. Listen, the wider issue about authenticity, and the wider issue of how you do business in the future is fascinating and you’ve helped us cover some great points. Yiuwin, thank you so much for your time.

Yiuwin: No problem at all, it’s been a real pleasure, thank you.

Andrew: Thank you, great to speak to you. That was Yiuwin from Sift Media, that was also, the LawyerFair daily podcast. Thank you very much for listening.

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