I studied film. My career eventually took a different path, but some habits never leave you. One of mine is keeping an eye on raccord — the continuity between one shot and the next. If an actor is holding a glass in their right hand and, in the next shot, it’s suddenly in their left, the audience might not be able to explain exactly what went wrong, but they know something isn’t quite right. And in that instant, they stop believing the story.
I still notice those little inconsistencies today. And over the years, I’ve come to realise that they also offer the best definition of honesty I know: no breaks in raccord between what we say and what we do, between the story we tell the outside world and who we really are behind the scenes. Being who we say we are. Doing what we say we’ll do. It only takes one inconsistency for people to stop believing you, and no marketing campaign can fix that.
I learnt this at Kategora almost as soon as I joined. I came across sustainability and social responsibility initiatives that I found genuinely inspiring and valuable, yet we weren’t talking about them. When I brought it up, Kepa gave me a calm but firm no. The point wasn’t to turn a one-off initiative into a headline, but to give it time to take root and become part of who we were as a company. Only then would it make sense to share the story.
Over time, I realised that conversation said more about Kategora than any brand guidelines ever could. Here, we don’t say, “We’ve done something sustainable, therefore we’re a sustainable company.” First, we develop a building to meet specific certification standards, measure its energy consumption and environmental impact, and make sure we’re doing things properly, year after year. Only then can we genuinely say that building is sustainable. There’s a saying we often repeat around the Kategora offices: if you can’t back it up with facts and figures, it’s just a story. No shortcuts, not even in the stories we tell.
But honesty isn’t just about what we communicate to the outside world. Above all, it’s about how we speak to one another. On a film set, when someone spots a break in raccord, they speak up and the scene is shot again. Trying to cover it up only allows the mistake to go further. Something similar happens here. Everyone has a voice. You can bring a slightly crazy idea to a meeting without worrying about being judged, and admitting a mistake is seen as part of the job, not a sign of weakness. Speaking openly, respectfully and thoughtfully is what allows us to put things right before it’s too late.
Of course, this approach comes at a price. Kategora has never found it particularly easy to talk about itself, and for a long time, we’ve done far more than we’ve shared. It also means choosing our words with great care when dealing with sensitive subjects, where the temptation might be to go for the most persuasive message. We’d rather choose the one that explains things properly, even if it takes longer and sounds less impressive.
That’s why, before any campaign, the question I try to encourage our team to ask isn’t how we should tell the story, but whether it’s entirely true. If it is, we share it with pride. If it isn’t quite there yet, we wait.
I often look at my colleagues and wonder how to communicate just how many genuinely good people work here. I believe Kategora’s honesty comes from them, from the goodness of the people who make this company what it is. And that’s something we must never lose, no matter how much we grow. For Kategora to continue succeeding, it must remain an honest brand.
Because honesty isn’t something you simply talk about. It’s something you demonstrate every day, shot by shot. And after twenty years of filming, perhaps the greatest compliment this company could receive is that no one ever notices the cut.
