Why establishing a shared reality is a critical leadership skill

Maintaining trust in information in a world rife with manipulation and misbelief is a massive societal and business challenge.?

Through an artist's lens, I’m curious and excited about the creative potential of AI-driven image generation and editing. As a trust expert, I’m terrified. We think we’re being given control to play with reality when control is actually being taken away from us.?

A vital but overlooked leadership skill

Establishing a shared reality, based on objective facts, is now a critical leadership skill, whether that’s leading a company, school, or entire company. But establishing a shared reality, whilst respecting different viewpoints, is not something most of us are taught how to do.?

Let’s Rethink that!

Three starting points to remember when discussing this with your team:

1. A shared reality doesn’t require agreement. Our responses to an event and the way we experience something can be completely different – I can be angry; you can be euphoric. However, we must be able to align around the concrete facts of what happened.
2. Impact on wellbeing: Research shows that perceived commonality is what makes us feel safe, seen, and understood. Without a shared sense of reality, we lose mutual connection. It literally makes us unwell. So why isn’t shared facts regarded as part of cultural wellbeing?
3. Damaging trust: When we render things that haven’t happened, we erode our trust in the past. But the point that often gets missed is that we’re also denting trust in events to come. This comes at a massive cost.

Putting it into practice

Most companies are more focused on investing in AI - virtual reality and augmented reality - but creating the tools to help maintain a shared reality is a massive innovation and culture opportunity.??

I find it helpful to think of ‘shared reality’ as a verb, not a noun or concept; it’s a process that requires the right culture, tools, and systems.?For example:

• How do you engage your work community to establish a shared set of facts around an important event (internal or external)?
• What training do you do (at all levels) to teach people how to find trusted sources of truth?
• Where do people go in your organization to find and share verified information?

I’d love to hear more about how you or your organization thinks about maintaining trust in information in a world rife with mistrust and misbelief. Please leave your thoughts and practical suggestions in the comments below.

Warmly,