Trust, whether earned, misplaced or digitally manipulated, is today’s currency.
I’ve been taking a deep dive, playing with words and the impact I want them to have over the last few weeks. Creating and delivering keynotes for different audiences means really giving each context much thought. And yes, ChatGPT, Claude or any presentation-generating AIs could do the job in seconds. However, the words and visuals wouldn't be mine, and I'd have an impossibly tough time speaking from my heart and connecting with the audience.
Words and how they’re delivered have enormous power, as we’ve witnessed in recent months with politicians slugging it out to win hearts and minds and a mandate to lead. They can conjure up whole new worlds of possibility, send us into the dark depths of dulldom or literally suck the oxygen out of a room, and produce unexpected results.
Trust is today’s currency
But words only create tangible value if accompanied by consistently aligned actions and behaviours. People, products and services need to deliver what’s promised, time and again. The age-old proverb, ‘actions speak louder than words’, springs to mind. It’s how we create trust. And trust, whether earned, misplaced or digitally manipulated, is today’s currency.
The irony is that even if someone or something is consistently vile, at least we know and trust what we’re getting. Our love affair with certainty is one of those easily exploitable Achilles heals that makes us inextricably human.
Interestingly, various studies have shown that we would rather deal with a known negative outcome than make a decision where we have absolutely no idea what the result will be.
It sheds new light on how we make decisions about who we vote for, the organisational change initiatives we support, the jobs we take, and even the people we partner with in life and business.
Reframing
Much of my day-to-day work with leaders and executive teams is all about acting as a sounding board, challenging preconceptions and reframing. It’s a powerful psychological technique that helps us to re-conceptualise a challenge or opportunity in a new way – by thinking about it or seeing it from a different perspective.
At the heart of this is the language we use and the stories we tell one another. Words can ignite our imaginations, create visceral responses and paint vibrant pictures in our minds. Get it right and reframing harnesses the collective intelligence, insight and wisdom inherent in the people in our organisations, creating a powerful foundation for growth. Get it wrong and it can completely thwart our efforts.
Curiosity and Deep Listening
Over the years in my current business, and before that in executive search, I’ve noticed a consistent trait that great leaders embody. They have mastered the art of creating a conscious, neutral space between what’s going on in their hearts and minds, and what’s going on ‘out there’. And in that space, they have cultivated the freedom (and a wealth of insight) found in curiosity and deep listening.
Issuing directives and fervently battering people with words to make ideas stick may have worked in a different time and context. However, in today’s world, being open, curious and listening to what’s said (and not said) builds a bridge from where we are to what’s next. People need to trust the messenger and feel seen, heard and valued before they’ll get behind something.
Meaningful Connection
It’s one of the reasons teams across the sectors report feeling disconnected, exhausted and uninspired. And it’s no wonder. Recent years have been full of change and uncertainty, which has created a trust deficit in our organisations. Various events have altered people’s relationship to work, the people they report to and their place in it. And many leaders are under pressure and haven’t yet mastered the art of creating space for meaningful connections.
When we appreciate that people understand the world through the lens of the past, have a bias toward the status quo, and naturally resist change (unless they’re in the driving seat), we're able to design our initiatives better, frame them well, ignite imaginations and connect with people to shape tomorrow, today.
Feel free to get in touch if you’d like to explore these topics for your team or organisation.
Useful Links
More Depth...
If you’re reading my book, Relevant: Future-Focused Leadership, you’ll find more depth on the topics I’ve mentioned, here:
- Words: Part II, Chapter 11: Words Have Power
- Decision-Making: Introduction, Context Eats Strategy at Whim (in a section titled Complexity and Uncertainty and Uncertainty and Stress)
- Reframing: Part II, Chapter 14: Change + Transition = Transformation (in a section titled Reframing Transformation)
- Trust: Part III, Chapter 14: The Symptoms of Our Current Context (in a section titled Truth and Trust)
- Curiosity: Part I, Chapter 1: Being Future-Fit (in a section titled Being Adaptable, and throughout the book)
- Deep Listening: Part II, Chapter 11: Words Have Power
- Meaningful Connection: Part II, Chapter 10: People, Culture and Connection (in a section titled Intentional spaces for deeper connections)