Preface to “Courageous Communication: A Return to Civility”

Life has transformed worldwide over the past decade. The pandemic, the rise of authoritarianism, the proliferation of social media, and a war of aggression in Europe, have reshaped our world. In the United States, the pandemic completely altered the workplace – from working at home; to a hybrid workplace; and now many employers want employees back on-site five days a week. We’re watching as a generation that was not able to graduate from high school in person, may well be denied the opportunity to do so in college.

There was a time when facts were certain, unassailable, and agreed to, and how to deal with them differed. As the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”

Remember the collective surprise when the concept of “alternate facts” was first introduced in January 2017?

Since then, we appear to be living in a world where alternate facts, conspiracy theories, and opinions masquerading as facts are inescapable. All of this, and no doubt more, has led to unsettling times, where civility appears to have gone by the wayside.

How pervasive is this incivility? Are we all observing or experiencing the same degree of discourteous conduct that seems prevalent, or at least tends to dominate the media? Is it unique to the United States? To answer these questions, we sent a survey out worldwide.

I thought I knew what the results would reveal. I was wrong.