”Quid est Veritas?” (What is truth?) was the question Pontius Pilate asked Jesus before Jesus was crucified. Philosophers like Plato and Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Derrida, and Hans-Georg Gadamer also considered the question of truth or truthfulness.
As it pertains to the interpretation of sacred texts, for example, there are those who believe that if an individual gets their interpretative method just right, the truth of a particular text will be objectively apparent, which means that it’s free from being tainted by that individual’s personal prejudice.
There are others like Gadamer who, in his work Truth and Method, argued that method alone was no guarantee of objective truth; rather, something else was at play as personal prejudice was part of each interpretive event
This all seems rather esoteric until we get to the realm of personal relationships. Over and over again, two people can witness the same automobile accident and have two completely different accounts of what happened. That’s also the case in a court of law where arguments are made, evidence is considered, and a jury of peers renders a judgment.
There is a winner and there is a loser, a claim that is judged to be more truthful than the other. For many people today, however, truth is a relative term. Simply, it means that there isn’t Truth with a capital “T”; rather, truth can only be understood in light of one’s own experience of the world. It is relative, in other words.
But approaching the subject of truth in a relative way is not something that good leaders should consider. For leaders to be effective in what is currently described as a post-modern world, which is to say a world in which nearly all truth claims are perceived to be equally valid, they must have a little something extra that elicits trust which, as we know, is pretty difficult to come by today.
For me, that little something extra is integrity, which is the quality of being honest and morally upright. Being a person of integrity is something that is learned and earned, and not innate to any one individual. [bctt tweet=”Being a person of integrity is something that is learned and earned, and not innate to any one individual. ” via=”no”]
If it is a descriptor of one’s leadership, it is a gift and a privilege, and it has been learned and earned through countless interactions with other people and situations. It is through these interactions, and meetings, and speeches, and one-on-one conversations and decisions that the character and integrity of a leader emerges.
How do they respond when they are under pressure? Is their word good? Do they treat people with respect? Do they expect to be served, or do they inhabit an orientation of a servant-leader? How do they react when something goes wrong? Do they blame others or do they take responsibility? How do they handle success? Is organizational success a me accomplishment or a we accomplishment?
Because of all of these very complicated interactions, a narrative of presence gradually begins to emerge about a leader. People who are perceived to have integrity or inhabit a being of truthfulness have earned that privilege by the quality of their associations and exchanges with others. When they speak, we tend to listen to them differently than we would others.
People who are perceived to lack integrity may still lead organizations, but the fullest potential of their organization will never be completely realized because the integral element of trust is absent. Because the essential truthfulness of who they are as a human being is in question, there will always be doubts about their motives.
In this blog, I have suggested that there are four critical disciplines that leaders must practice in a change as the new normal world. The disciplines of kindness, focused listening, understanding the big picture, and truthfulness must be regularly practiced by leaders within their sphere of influence in order for families, communities, and organizations to realize their fullest—and healthiest—potential.
Good leadership is hard work. There is no other way. [bctt tweet=”Good leadership is hard work. There is no other way.” via=”no”]
