Persona Non Grata - Truth Be Told

It’s my experience that in many organisations the truth is something that only surfaces – and get disseminated - if it’s of benefit to those discussing a particular topic. When the truth is raised and it’s not to the satisfaction of the recipients it either gets buried… or the messenger gets buried… <maybe even both>

My recent experience with a large Corporate has merely convinced me further that this is very prevalent across many businesses. Outdated practices, over-complicated recruited policies, rigid unyielding structures but very clear <well articulated> goals with no practical plans to get there… and seem to be ‘persona non grata’ for raising specfic issues that would have helped the organisation. At least I didn’t get buried…

Let’s digress and look at the fear of truth: ‘Epistemophobia or Gnosiophobia is defined as the morbid and irrational fear of knowledge or the fear of wisdom.’

It also leads me to a famous quote of Winston Churchill, 'Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened’.

In the article 'Why We Fear and Hate the Truth’ [https://whywesuffer.com/why-we-fear-and-hate-the-truth/], Peter Michaelson says:

‘We fear and hate many of truth’s disclosures because they’re often accompanied by narcissistic insults. What’s a narcissistic insult? It’s a bulletin from reality that, while capable of smartening us up, offends our ego. To avoid such insults, we cling to our illusions and limit our intelligence and inner freedom.’

This now leads me to the concept of Cognitive Dissonance:

‘Theory suggests that when a person's beliefs and desires conflict, they will experience discomfort as they become aware of the inconsistency. ... When these held beliefs collide, a state of tension is experienced.’ – Study.com

Then, in a long-winded way, we arrive at Fear-based Leadership:

‘Leading by fear produces a team that works in a constant state of anxiety because of their pressure to perform. Fear-based leadership can often have origins traced back to a leader's own lack of self-confidence. If a leader has any insecurities, ruling by fear is a way to mask these limitations’  - Jan Johnston Osburn

As Louis Efron mentions in his article ‘Do You Have A Culture Of Fear? Three Questions To Ask’:

• Do you fear presenting to leaders in the organization?
• Do you worry about losing your job?
• Do you feel you can comfortably challenge leaders in the organization?

Closing thoughts: My overall contention is that people want to hear <and can handle> the truth… but, in some environments, the fear of the truth <resulting in such a great loss by organisations> is initiated by specific cultures brought about <usually unplanned> by the personality types of leaders. Again, this goes back to legacy policies and practices that have not evolved at the rapid pace of that required by the modern-day organisation. It’s a bit like having an ‘Open Door policy’ but the residents have ‘Closed Minds’