Presidential elections often produce useful communication lessons. Mitt Romney provided one in recent weeks as he struggled to address two big issues – his personal tax returns and Bain Capital’s jobs outsourcing. It’s an example of the risks that come with inauthentic communication.
Romney has labored to answer questions about his income tax returns, releasing just one year and staunchly resisting pressure to provide more. It has led 
to speculation about his use of offshore investment accounts, tax shelters and aggressive tax strategies.
Assuming his tax returns show he hasn’t done anything illegal, Romney should release several years worth and not make any apologies for being successful, rich and intimately familiar with the IRS tax code.
Authentic communication – speaking honestly from deeply held values and personal experience – appeals to people. They recognize when someone is forthright and open, and they are likely to remember what is said. Inauthentic communication on the other hand is hollow and forgettable, except for the bad taste it leaves with the audience.
Take the issue of whether Bain Capital-backed companies outsourced jobs. Romney’s camp tied itself in knots trying to draw distinctions between off-shoring and outsourcing in a weak attempt to divert the issue.
The better approach would have been to say that, yes, rebuilding businesses sometimes means jobs are lost, but that’s always been the way capitalism has worked, and it’s a necessary part of regenerating an economy.
A full throated defense of capitalism’s ‘creative destruction’ would have been clearer, easier to understand and a sharper contrast with President Obama. (It would have fired up the conservative base, too.)
If Romney is going to present himself as a successful businessman who as president would apply his hard-nosed management skills to the government, then he should embrace that persona in its entirety, and not edit the parts that are difficult or controversial. (This approach recalls the “Let Reagan be Reagan” strategy that galvanized the Republicans during the 1980s.)
This way, a clearer picture of who Romney is could emerge. While he might become a more polarizing figure as a result (financiers aren’t too popular these days), it would clear the way for him to make a stronger case to the American people. Without taking an authentic stand, he might never get the chance.
Of course, maybe the Romney campaign knows all this and believes Americans won’t like the authentic Romney. That might be true, but right now they like the watered-down, fuzzy Romney even less. According to the latest WSJ/NBC poll, Obama leads Romney by 6 percentage points.