I’d never heard of Pigeon Pit before about 5:15 in the morning, August 9th, 2022 when Aaron Wrixon told me I needed to get my ass to Mars (Denver) that evening to check them out.
I spent the next half an hour listening to their unique brand of bluegrassy, punky, stickin’ it to the man music and I must say, they are pretty kickass.
Now, why am I sharing this with all of you here? Several reasons:
- They frequently tour, so you might want to check out their schedule so you can check them out live.
- I think it’s always good to expand one’s horizons, listen to new things, and take in some culture that might be a bit off the beaten path or “new to you”.
- I believe authenticity is one of the least-often flexed muscles for many in the business world and the Pigeon Pit crew, by all appearances, is living their lives authentically.
Now here’s the thing about my relationship with authenticity.
Growing up, I was a pretty good kid. And by that, I mean I didn’t get into much trouble, I did what I was “supposed” to do, I followed the path I was “supposed” to follow. But I wasn’t necessarily living an authentic life.
At a fairly young age, I decided I wanted to be a physician. Broken bones (yeah, plural – I still don’t always stay within the bumpers when it comes to sending it) brought me into proximity to orthopedists on a regular basis and I decided that was what I wanted to do when I grew up. So I got serious. I stopped being creative. I started studying a lot. I got good grades and made sure teachers liked me so I could get good recommendations and go to a good college and eventually go to med school.
My motivations were mostly authentic. To this day I am driven by my desire to help people. But I wasn’t really being true to myself. I was BEing the Stu that I thought people wanted me to be rather than BEing authentic.
For years, I hid behind this veneer in fear of pissing someone off, rubbing someone the wrong way, or getting in trouble that would derail this journey I was on. I wore my hair short, didn’t do anything that might draw negative attention to myself, and really wasn’t a particularly happy person.
And here’s the deal… Not only was I robbing myself of an opportunity to be my best, but I was also robbing others of the opportunity to have a relationship with the real Stu.
See, when one is not being their true self, they are living life as a character. People may like that particular character, but there’s a REAL person in there somewhere faking it – living inauthentically – that might be even MORE fun to be around. One who could contribute even more to the world if they were only able to be set free.
And this is what I dig about Pigeon Pit. They are standing up and sharing their view of the world – by all appearances in a very authentic way – to try to make things better.
And that’s a lesson we could all benefit from hearing.
If you want to hear how you can build an authentic relationship with your customers and establish brand loyalty, feel free to get in touch with us.
