Remember when you were in junior high, sitting at the lunch table, listening to all the kids laughing about a movie they had just seen but you hadn't? Remember when you tried laughing to fit in so you wouldn't bring attention to the fact that your mom didn't allow you to see that movie...it was just too adult in her opinion. You wanted to cover up your apparent lack of 'coolness'. What if someone found out you were that lame? No one could know. Welcome to the art of pretending to be something you are not; the art of posing.

So maybe I'm alone in that particular experience (and by the way, the movie was Wayne's World). But the point is universal – none of us want to expose ourselves for who we truly are and find out no one likes that person, or that its laughable, or pathetic. We like to puff ourselves up, create the illusion of someone who's got it all together and well spoken. Someone with perfect timing and cleverness. Someone you will like.

Company image can be much the same. Are we good enough just on our own merit? Is what we do truly valuable and good enough to shine through brightly and wholly and actually be attractive and desirable to people?

As humans are prone to do, the response to this is usually to inflate – a method that is becoming increasingly unsuccessful thanks to social media and an over saturation of advertising.

Take Comcast; or rather, Xfinity? Comcast is projecting improved customer service and experience, but I don't believe it. At least not yet. It doesn't feel real. It feels more like a pitch.

As a Comcast customer I am hopeful it is true. But the attempt to convince me of their dedication to customer service via changing their name to Xfinity is not convincing at all. It feels more like Comcast is hoping to make me forget about who they *really* are so I will quietly give them another chance. But consumers are way too smart for that. And my perception of Comcast as a frustrating and difficult company to work with is only heightened by this advertising response to customer dissatisfaction.

I'd much preferred that they had saved all the money spent on their name change and subsequent rebrand and spent it on their service staff, processes, and experience instead. Give me some of that Zappos happiness. Make the experience unbelievable. Surprise me.

Sadly, Xfinity just reminds me of the junior high kid who tried to convince his friends he was cool.

Give me something real. I want authenticity first. Then maybe I'll be willing to believe Xfinity is more than just another empty promise.

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