Here’s an interesting story for a Friday afternoon.
After Chip Conley, CEO of Joie de Vivre, a chain of boutique hotels in California, attended the Burning Man festival, some photos of him shirtless (and in one, wearing a tutu) appeared on Facebook. His blog post about the contretemps that followed is a great study in authenticity.
To me, the photos show the real Chip, and he is proud to be that guy. Most CEOs would not be too comfortable with such candid photos on Facebook, but he is. What do you think?
After Chip Conley, CEO of Joie de Vivre, a chain of boutique hotels in California, attended the Burning Man festival, some photos of him shirtless (and in one, wearing a tutu) appeared on Facebook. His blog post about the contretemps that followed is a great study in authenticity.
To me, the photos show the real Chip, and he is proud to be that guy. Most CEOs would not be too comfortable with such candid photos on Facebook, but he is. What do you think?
I think it's awesome. It works well with what his store is all about "Joie de Vivre".
He seems to get it for sure :)
Posted by: twitter.com/PaulavoieAtDell | November 06, 2009 at 04:40 PM
Exactly! His attitude is compatible with the hotel brand. It ain't the Howard Johnson.
Posted by: Donna Papacosta | November 06, 2009 at 04:45 PM
The issue is no longer his shirtless pictures. Given Conley's reaction to his employees and choice to air the internal issues publicly, I think he has done damage to his company. He was transparent, but I think in the end he was inauthentic to his own ideals about the value of his employees' opinions.
If interested, my blog post on this situation: http://www.experiencetheblog.com/2009/11/chip-conley-and-authenticity-vs.html
Posted by: Augie Ray | November 07, 2009 at 10:24 AM
Augie, thanks for adding your opinion to this discussion. It's interesting that this whole affair has so many layers.
Posted by: Donna Papacosta | November 09, 2009 at 02:01 PM