I had a delightful meeting yesterday with David Boyle, author of "Authenticity: Brands, Fakes, Spin and the Lust for Real Life" a wonderful book published earlier this year (and now in a second edition for a bargain £7.99). David's also written The Tyranny of Numbers and it's not hard to see where he's coming from.

As Authenticity is my pet subject (that's what my chapter in Beyond Branding is about) we had a great conversation. Including sharing our experience that many people find the idea of authenticity frightening, even dangerous. Some seem to think fascism was a product of authenticity; others see it as a cloak for a puritanical agenda. For me, authenticity is not about either of these things, nor is it a counsel of perfection; it's largely based on my experience that in most relationships the truth is more interesting than the lie; it's usually more efficient... even though our "emotional truth" is not a fixed but a varied and often paradoxical thing.

Anyway, David's joining an informal meeting of friends interested in advancing the idea of authenticity at work on the evening of January 21st in Central London. If you're interested in joining us, email me.