Definition of Endorsement: noun
1. An act of giving one's public approval or support to someone or something.
2. A recommendation of a product in an advertisement.
The subject of endorsement has been nagging at me for awhile now.
As many of you who read the Sunday Stew are aware, I endorse people, books, music, websites, etc... through the Shameless Plug section each week. At one point in time, I had a feature here called "The Friday Frolic" in which I'd link to a site or something cool I'd just found on the internet. I've also been known to promote fundraisers for other people and people have donated money to those causes because of my advocacy. I even give an "Inspiring Pagan Award" to those people I believe display the best qualities of Paganism in our community.
I'd love to say that every single one of those examples were good choices on my part, but the truth is, I've made some serious mistakes, and it's affected other people as well as me, personally. My own "brand" or reputation is important to me. I want to be sure that I'm giving good information to those of you who trust me to do that.
My intentions were always good with my mistaken recommendations. I "knew" the people online, and thought they were decent, above-board kind of folks. I wanted to do what I could to help them get information out, promote their products/services, or even defend them when I thought they were being unfairly treated by others.
What I discovered through these errors in judgment was that facades began to crack,and that I had been duped by the very people I'd told others were so awesome. And, I felt awful; not because I was conned or that I'd been swindled out of money, etc... but, because other people made decisions based on their trust in me and my judgment- and I failed them.
In a more benign fashion, I see it happen a lot on Facebook in particular. How many times have we passed along a meme or article that someone we trust posted, only to find out it was a fake or riddled with errors? We normally would "Snopes-It" ourselves, but someone we know to be credible posted it, so this person must have checked it out. (It's okay- you don't need to raise your hand or comment.. we've all done it at least once.)
Another example: My bff owned a brick-and-mortar Pagan shop. This attracts all kinds of folks who want to use a shop owner to promote themselves in some way. She endorsed a particular person who turned out to be completely unethical and unreliable, and it really upset her, because she cares about her reputation in the Pagan world. She's ethical herself and would never want to lead others astray. I feel her pain, there.
I've been asked by many people to promote them through my blog. I've had television shows reach out to me, sex toy sites, .. the list goes on. I've had people offer to pay me for endorsements as well.
On what I consider to be a more dangerous note, people within our Pagan community have asked for my endorsement for their "life" or "soul" coaching businesses. These are people who've chosen to teach others how to live, yet they are now or were just recently in counseling themselves for serious emotional breakdowns or personal traumas, have no degrees in psychology, no ordinations, no counseling license, and almost zero life experience (a 20 year old is not prepared for life-coaching no matter how much they believe they are).
If you're going to coach someone, you have to have a working knowledge of the subject. This is true in sports, dance, business, and especially in life. Those who've been around the block for awhile have that kind of experience. In Western culture, we focus way too heavily on worshiping youth, rather than age/experience which is where wisdom is attained, and we'll pay the price for that if we're not careful. But, I digress.
While many of us many not see ourselves as 'leaders', there is always someone that you influence. Someone is looking up to you and will trust in your judgment.
I've posted in the past about "caveat emptor" (buyer beware). This is an "endorser beware" warning. While we may like people and they seem very credible at the time, we need to be more discerning as to whom or what we give our personal seal of approval. When these charlatans who want to use our "recommendation power" to further their own ends are revealed for who and what they really are, there will be fallout, and you can be sure that if you were a person who defended or affirmed them, your credibility could be affected.
Be wary of your online associations as well. If it doesn't feel right, don't. I've known many people who've told me, "You know, when I first started talking to (insert name here), he/she just gave me a bad vibe. But, everyone else seemed to like him/her, so I thought it was just me". Right there, your own intuition was trying to help you, but you went with the crowd (again, don't beat yourself up- we've all done it).
Don't let anyone sway you when you get those impressions. And, don't be afraid to speak up when something doesn't sit right with you. It's difficult, because human beings are social animals, and our nature is not to be loners.. we want acceptance and to be a part of a 'pack'- but, you can be choosy about the group to which you belong.
We want our heroes and our leaders. We need people whose lives and ethics and values are inspirational. There's nothing wrong with that. We need to ask ourselves:
What criteria have we set for those folks? Do they live up to those?
Does our "something's-not-right" radar go off?
Do they have what it takes to earn our approbation?
The relationship is symbiotic. These people need our endorsement as much as we need them to be credible. It's time for us to value our own sanction-power as much as they do, and to use it wisely.
1. An act of giving one's public approval or support to someone or something.
2. A recommendation of a product in an advertisement.
The subject of endorsement has been nagging at me for awhile now.
As many of you who read the Sunday Stew are aware, I endorse people, books, music, websites, etc... through the Shameless Plug section each week. At one point in time, I had a feature here called "The Friday Frolic" in which I'd link to a site or something cool I'd just found on the internet. I've also been known to promote fundraisers for other people and people have donated money to those causes because of my advocacy. I even give an "Inspiring Pagan Award" to those people I believe display the best qualities of Paganism in our community.
I'd love to say that every single one of those examples were good choices on my part, but the truth is, I've made some serious mistakes, and it's affected other people as well as me, personally. My own "brand" or reputation is important to me. I want to be sure that I'm giving good information to those of you who trust me to do that.
My intentions were always good with my mistaken recommendations. I "knew" the people online, and thought they were decent, above-board kind of folks. I wanted to do what I could to help them get information out, promote their products/services, or even defend them when I thought they were being unfairly treated by others.
What I discovered through these errors in judgment was that facades began to crack,and that I had been duped by the very people I'd told others were so awesome. And, I felt awful; not because I was conned or that I'd been swindled out of money, etc... but, because other people made decisions based on their trust in me and my judgment- and I failed them.
In a more benign fashion, I see it happen a lot on Facebook in particular. How many times have we passed along a meme or article that someone we trust posted, only to find out it was a fake or riddled with errors? We normally would "Snopes-It" ourselves, but someone we know to be credible posted it, so this person must have checked it out. (It's okay- you don't need to raise your hand or comment.. we've all done it at least once.)
Another example: My bff owned a brick-and-mortar Pagan shop. This attracts all kinds of folks who want to use a shop owner to promote themselves in some way. She endorsed a particular person who turned out to be completely unethical and unreliable, and it really upset her, because she cares about her reputation in the Pagan world. She's ethical herself and would never want to lead others astray. I feel her pain, there.
I've been asked by many people to promote them through my blog. I've had television shows reach out to me, sex toy sites, .. the list goes on. I've had people offer to pay me for endorsements as well.
On what I consider to be a more dangerous note, people within our Pagan community have asked for my endorsement for their "life" or "soul" coaching businesses. These are people who've chosen to teach others how to live, yet they are now or were just recently in counseling themselves for serious emotional breakdowns or personal traumas, have no degrees in psychology, no ordinations, no counseling license, and almost zero life experience (a 20 year old is not prepared for life-coaching no matter how much they believe they are).
If you're going to coach someone, you have to have a working knowledge of the subject. This is true in sports, dance, business, and especially in life. Those who've been around the block for awhile have that kind of experience. In Western culture, we focus way too heavily on worshiping youth, rather than age/experience which is where wisdom is attained, and we'll pay the price for that if we're not careful. But, I digress.
While many of us many not see ourselves as 'leaders', there is always someone that you influence. Someone is looking up to you and will trust in your judgment.
I've posted in the past about "caveat emptor" (buyer beware). This is an "endorser beware" warning. While we may like people and they seem very credible at the time, we need to be more discerning as to whom or what we give our personal seal of approval. When these charlatans who want to use our "recommendation power" to further their own ends are revealed for who and what they really are, there will be fallout, and you can be sure that if you were a person who defended or affirmed them, your credibility could be affected.
Be wary of your online associations as well. If it doesn't feel right, don't. I've known many people who've told me, "You know, when I first started talking to (insert name here), he/she just gave me a bad vibe. But, everyone else seemed to like him/her, so I thought it was just me". Right there, your own intuition was trying to help you, but you went with the crowd (again, don't beat yourself up- we've all done it).
Don't let anyone sway you when you get those impressions. And, don't be afraid to speak up when something doesn't sit right with you. It's difficult, because human beings are social animals, and our nature is not to be loners.. we want acceptance and to be a part of a 'pack'- but, you can be choosy about the group to which you belong.
We want our heroes and our leaders. We need people whose lives and ethics and values are inspirational. There's nothing wrong with that. We need to ask ourselves:
What criteria have we set for those folks? Do they live up to those?
Does our "something's-not-right" radar go off?
Do they have what it takes to earn our approbation?
The relationship is symbiotic. These people need our endorsement as much as we need them to be credible. It's time for us to value our own sanction-power as much as they do, and to use it wisely.