Telling the truth to your community is very, very important. Otherwise, something like this will happen:

Why did I delete my JPG Magazine account? Cofounders Derek Powazek and Heather Champ have been booted out because they didn’t want to lie.

In one evening, Paul removed issues 1-6 from the JPG website, removed Heather from the About page, and deleted the “Letter from the Editors” that had lived on the site since day one. Paul informed me that we were inventing a new story about how JPG came to be that was all about 8020. He told me not to speak of that walk in Buena Vista, my wife, or anything that came before 8020.

Here’s where the whole “not lying” thing comes in. I just could not agree to this new story. It didn’t, and still doesn’t, make any business sense to me. Good publishing companies embrace their founding editors and community, not erase them. Besides, we’d published six issues with participation from thousands of people. There’s no good reason to be anything but proud of that.

JPG Magazine has now lost its reputation, its much loved cofounders and people are starting to leave and be public about it. Think about that the next time you’re tempted to tell a lie to your community.

I love when a high placed, respected marketing person comes along and validates what I’ve told hundreds of companies over the last few few years. When they boil it down into a simple, inarguable point, it’s all the better. James Stengel, Global Marketing Officer at Procter and Gamble, recently said this brilliant little quote.

Market share is trust materialized.

This is something a lot of companies frankly are not prepared for. Earning and keeping people’s trust is not an easy job. You can’t do it with glossy marketing and a token Corporate Social Responsibility rep, it takes company-wide commitment to deserving people’s trust. Having a community manager or ambassador is just the start, they’re a membrane – not a magical antibody that creates a healthy organism.