A Conscious Leader is somebody who lives understanding concepts such as serving others and taking responsibility. He is especially gifted to make the right decisions and that is why he or she is a leader.
In previous contributions, we have discussed about values: courage, fear, ego, humbleness, etc. Now, I would like to discuss another fundamental aspect of leadership: the truth. In some cultures, honoring the truth is considered a trait of intelligence. In our Judeo-Christian culture it has traditionally been considered a sign of integrity and moral fortitude.
The truth may seem obvious but I posit to you that it has never been more uncertain, foggy, ephemeral and slippery than today. Over the last 100 years great deal of effort and talent has been devoted to making the path of truth more difficult, almost impassable.
The word truth derives from the Old Norse voice: tryggő or trú meaning religious faith or believe. Paradoxically, the word truth comes from something which we no longer consider to be true: the believe in some pagan Gods, which originated from the need to explain some natural phenomena. However, the relation between truth and the act of transcendence has already been there from the beginning.
As a kid, I studied latin, “veritas, veritatis”. Although not identical roots to Old Norse word, the Latin and the Greek etymology place more emphasis on the fact of the necessary effort to “discover” the true. The idea of unveiling the true. It introduces the concept of the truth as a journey, as an adventure. This idea is now more valid and relevant than ever. Many positive factors of our civilization, have also led to disguising and hiding of the truth. Find below a brief description of some of them.
Democracy: In a tyranny there is no need to lie because people do not have options. Democracy and freedom make weak leaders vulnerable and they resort to lies to convince people of a false reality. The New Reality? New Normal?
Science: It is constantly challenging the old truth. Milk was a super food when I was a kid. My mother gave me a glass of milk three times a day. It was considered the healthiest thing. Now, that truth has been challenged. Vegans and others claim that only baby cows should drink cow milk. In addition, milk has proven not to be healthy for everyone, definitely not for me, who, as an adult, I developed a milk intolerance.
Marketing and Advertisement: Marketing is a good thing because it is a way to know for a potential buyer a product or service which he or she may be interested in acquiring. However, marketers and psychologists have developed a science/art of playing with our emotions to make us buy things which we do not really need. Information has led to manipulation.
Collective society and collective mind: We often label a big groups and pretend that it is homogeneous. It is common to hear what woman, black people, right, left, senior people, foreigners, latino, etc. think about a particular subject. Through giving groups a strong ideological content, we make people predictable and easy to manage (not to lead). In my opinion, ideology makes a person less interesting, because he or she stops thinking and even listening to adhere to an automatic collective position. Ideology favors manipulation because there is no need to explain things in detail. This is the group position and that is it. It makes the truth harder to find.
Mass media and transparency: As all the others above, this is a great contribution to society but, at the same time, all the scandals have left us with no person or institution who can act as a moral compass or mentor in reaching the truth . In general, all churches are very careful addressing this slippery issue. They do not want to have an opinion in things that pertain to this world, as if it was not the path to attain the eternal life. For may years, we trusted journalist to take that journey to find out the truth and report it to us. Media is now part of “big business” and social networks are being the main source of news, we cannot trust media alone to make that journey for us.
Considering all these, we have reached a point, where we find ourselves asking: Does the truth really exist? Does it matter? The truth is difficult to obtain and we are losing interest. For example, how did the current Pandemic start? It really does not matter to us anymore. The important thing is that now there is a vaccine and there is hope.
In addition, the truth can be difficult, hard and inconvenient. Although, the “Inconvenient Truth”, the 2006 Davis Guggenheim documentary following Al Gore’s climate campaign proved to be very convenient (almost $50 million Box office) and not very accurate in its predictions, not true?
A biblical sentence almost turned into a popular idiom is “the truth will set you free” John 8:32. It has been extensively used in Universities to promote academic freedom. In this sense, truth is closer to the original Old Norse, believe in God. The Bible refers to a “believe” in Jesus, which will set you free. It also establishes the that truth is a way to achieve freedom. Freedom is fundamental to talk about decision making process. Freedom is essential for leadership. For a deeper reflection on the issue of Leadership and the truth, I can recommend a book published in 2010 entitled “The Truth about Leadership” by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner. This essay is based on 30 years of intense research. Their findings have helped me shaping my views on this topic, among with some other influences. I have tried to summarized the journey towards the true as an adventure, we must put into action the following concepts:
1) True BELIEVE – Believe in yourself, be conscious, believe in everyone as deserving respect because we are all connected. Generate trust, predictability, credibility and commitment Lead by example or do not lead at all.
2) True VISION – A leader needs a vision. It does not need to be a vision originally formulated by him or her, but a vision needs to be embraced and shared. In whatever we do, we all need to have a purpose, a higher objective to do things. The leader needs to prove that vision guides his or her actions. The leader must evanfelize that vision so team members can understand it and take ownership of it.
3) True CHALLENGES. Leaders must welcome challenges. “A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor” (Franklin D. Roosevelt). Challenges must be welcomed by leaders as opportunities to prove and even improve themselves. This attitude generates trust in team members.
4) True EGO. Be aware of it. The ego is very real, very true. Ignoring or denying the ego is not wise in a leadership position. The fact of being aware of your own ego diminishes its power over you. Be conscious of that part of you. Know that you are much more than your ego. Keep your ego in line.
5) True TRUTH. The true is always true regardless who formulates it. In your leadership position you must not value ideas or words in general for who formulates them but for their true meaning.
In world ruled by relativism, where everything is VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous), can we still talk confidently about the truth? Can a Leader be tolerant and hold to what he considers to be the truth? In my opinion most definitely: yes. The truth is a way of life, it is also state of mind, it is a healthy outlook on the world. It is a permanent journey to yourself. The truth is not always right but it is always your truth.
How to deal with the truth in practice? I often re-read the above five points and ask myself questions about them. I rank myself from 1 to 10 in each section. If there is an area where I need improvement, I make a very simple plan targeting small accomplishment towards being closer to th truth. This is my personal adventure, which obviously impacts others. This adventure could perhaps be one of your resolutions for 2021. If we all do it, we will have “true” New Year.
