Truth is inextricably linked to power. Deception is the new currency of power and it is time to reclaim the truth and power from those who, in small and large ways, have stolen it, says Alan Watkins
In 2016 the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) named ‘post-truth’ as its word of the year. It suggested that we had entered an era where objective facts were less influential in shaping public opinion than popularist appeals to emotion or belief.
The use of the term ‘post-truth’ had increased, in 2016, by 2,000% largely due to Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as President of the US.
Although the term had been coined in 1992, or earlier, the OED suggested that its wider adoption, especially in the political arena, suggested that the truth had become largely irrelevant. In the last four years telling the truth seems to matter less and deceit as a new normal has significantly eroded our trust in public figures.
The Edelman trust index testifies that trust in government, business, NGOs and media is declining significantly, particularly in the west. Less than twenty percent of the general population trust their institutions to do what is right. In the west this erosion of trust is largely driven by the very high levels of inequity in society.
The majority of people now believe that capitalism has done more harm than good and democracy is losing its effectiveness. Communications agency Edelman suggests that people’s trust is primarily driven by their view of competence and ethics. Sadly, Edelman’s research also shows that the government and the media are rated as both unethical and incompetent, with governments rated much worse.
How did we end up here?
The seeds of post-truth were sewn in the collapse of inclusive leadership. The whole idea of a more egalitarian and fairer society started in the 1960s with the flower power generation and spawned critically important positive social change such as the civil rights movement. This was followed by a range of ethical gifts including the rise of feminism, corporate social responsibility, sustainability goals from the UN, the diversity and inclusion agenda, LGBTQ+ rights and, much more recently, the Black Lives Matter movement.
The core idea that emerged in the 1960s and peaked in the early noughties was that everyone is now welcome. All views were legitimate because each view was borne of a unique cultural experience. Each view was relative to the context in which it emerged. This unfortunately set the stage for what then became ‘rampant relativism’ where everyone’s opinion was legitimate or ‘true’ regardless of whether it was based in fact. If everything was true, then nothing was true.
Society’s desire to be inclusive inadvertently created a vacuum where there was no reliable truth anymore. There were just facts and alternative facts. In this vacuum of a post-truth world the toxic twins of nihilism and narcissism were born.
When no-one was sure in this post-truth world of what was true or who to trust, narcissists took control. This narcissistic takeover has led to an ethnocentric political regression across the world with populist but narcissistic leaders now able to say whatever they like and get away with it.
But the problem is not just confined to politics. The media and entertainment industries have seen a new wave of self-obsessed, selfie taking, self-promoters dominate the coverage. In business egocentric bosses are still very common, and the success of many new entrant products are driven by social media ‘influencers’ who are immune from safety and quality control concerns.
Most of these new players are well versed in the seven deadly dark arts of deception. Such skills of dishonesty used to be the currency of political or corporate spin doctors. But now many can distort the truth, erode trust and claim transparency whilst creating a fact-free fog.
The problem is that in the current post-truth world it is possible to lie your way to the top. For example, it is now widely accepted that Jeffrey Epstein lied his way into Bear Sterns at the start of his career. This is the financial institution that taught him how to manipulate the markets, at a time when criminal deceit was a competitive advantage.
And therein lies the rub: lies large and small change the narrative and whoever controls the narrative controls everything.
Truth is inextricably linked to power. If we can whitewash the truth, we can stay in power. If we can distract, distort, disrupt and dismiss the facts then we can pretty much get away with anything. Deception is the new currency of power.
What can we, the ordinary citizen, do?
It is time to reclaim the truth and power from those who, in small and large ways, have stolen it. The good news is that this is starting to happen. People are mobilising and speaking a new truth to old power systems.
The global protests that followed the murder of George Floyd in the US, are partly a demand that societies reset the power balance, restore morality and demand equality and competence. We have seen ordinary people prepared to risk being infected with a deadly virus and walk in unison because this fight is more important to them than their own life.
This is a fight not just for social justice but for the truth itself.
When Covid-19 broke out, activists worked their networks to disseminate the truth. Underground fact checking about Covid-19 hot spots alerted people to the real risks, and people took appropriate distracting measures before any government intervention in some areas.
For example, to date, Hong Kong, China, a city with nearly the same number of citizens as New York City, US, had just four Covid-19 deaths compared to 23,000 in the Big Apple.
We are even seeing the declining influence of influencers as our obsession with their post-modern froth and ill-informed narrative wanes.
Edelman suggests that the biggest opportunity for reclaiming truth and power and building trust back in our institutions is the development of partnerships. Genuine relationships that are less self-serving and more focused on the elevation of others. As society starts to open again post-Covid-19 people are seeing the value of community and working together against a common enemy, whether that be a virus, social injustice or pay inequality.
This awakening taps into a fundamental truth – that we are at heart social animals and we need each other to survive, flourish and be happy. More than that human beings are, by their very nature collaborative. We do better as a species when we stop trying to kill each other literally or metaphorically, in business and beyond. If enough of us switch our attention from the idea of power to the power of this idea, then we may also switch paths from the PTSD path we are on, and instead take a post-traumatic growth path.
Forget the ‘new normal’ of compromise and limitation we have a very real opportunity to create something much better. As Nobel Peace Prize winner and social entrepreneur, Muhammad Yunus says, ‘Don’t plan for economic ‘recovery’ post-Covid. Redesign it from scratch.’
Dr Alan Watkins is the CEO and co-founder of Complete a leadership consultancy that works globally with CEOs, Executive Boards in multiple markets helping them to step change their business. His new book HR (R)Evolution: Change The Workplace, Change The World is out now.
