We need truth tellers more than ever

By the time my debut novel, The Strangling Fig (Juniper, 2026), is published in August of this year, it will have been seven years since I started it. I’ve lost count of drafts, likely in the double digits now. When I start the publicity for it, what will likely go unmentioned are the trials and tribulations – the stresses on my family when I absconded over several Christmases to write and edit, when I turned down lucrative job offers because my crippling desire was to stay freelance so I could have the flexibility to finish the novel. 

What propelled me? As I reflect on this time, I realise it was this: I got addicted to telling the truth. In her autobiography, 'Under My Skin: Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949' (1994), the writer Doris Lessing says, “There is no doubt fiction makes a better job of the truth.” It is a truism that many writers have shared, from Tim O’Brien to Ernest Hemingway; regardless of writing fiction or non-fiction, delivering that emotional, human truth is what distinguishes a decent book from a great one. 

How truth gets lost in our workplaces

Eighteen years as a strategist taught me that truth-telling at work is rarer than it should be. Research studies are commissioned, findings agreed upon and strategies developed, but then the process of selling an idea, product, or brand shapeshifts this shepherded truth into a more malleable, workable one to meet the needs of a narrowly focussed strategy, a feared leadership, or more often, dilution based on groupthink. Time and time again, I have been privy to a client getting excited about an insight and subsequent strategy, revealing a shift in their industry or customer that could inspire a pivot to a new way of operating or messaging that might feel risky. After a quarter or two, that body of work would be replaced with a new strategy, only to repeat the cycle again. The message to employees, service providers and customers: telling the truth is important, but if it’s inconvenient, we won’t do it. 

There are several factors each brand uniquely contends with at any given time (organisational, cultural, economic, political) – I understand that. Brands exist within contradictions: compare themselves to their competitors yet try to stay unique, be competitive on price but try to be aspirational, make statements about long-term commitments to sustainability or inclusion yet buckle under pressure from investors to improve short-term financial performance. Rare exceptions apply, like Patagonia, that have made it part of its operating model as well as marketing to at least try to capture the truth about climate change and its intersection with capitalism. 

But as we’re seeing in the U.S., the failure of an entire class of U.S. CEOs to criticise the Trump administration’s multiple violations of democratic, constitutional and legal norms demonstrates these business leaders are more interested in forwarding their commercial interests by courting the favour of Trump and his allies, than in speaking ‘truth to power’ by challenging untrue claims made by those in authority. 

Are we becoming inured to dishonesty?

Commercially, politically and, most importantly, culturally, are we becoming inured to dishonesty? We know social media is a leading source of misinformation, (where users unknowingly share untruths) and disinformation (which is deliberate) and it encourages us and influencers to portray a distorted version of reality.

We are getting accustomed to Government leaders calling for ceasefires to stop bloodshed while also signing economic and military deals with regimes that perpetrate genocide. Even The New York Times, which for years ran a brand campaign on protecting ‘the truth’ has come under fire for its approach to Gaza reporting. 

Real fears and trade-offs in truth-telling

As employees, consultants, and citizens, what are we supposed to do? The economy in the U.S. and UK has been tricky the last two years. Long term unemployment is up in both markets, with young people particularly hit hard. In times of economic uncertainty, it is natural to feel scarcity. If I speak up about an issue, what if I’m fired? If I voice a minority opinion about a decision’s fallibility, what if I don’t get the raise I need as living costs rise? There are real fears and trade-offs in being a modern worker and stresses are only growing more acute in this turbulent era. Yet telling the truth has never been more important. Fact checking, accountability, emotional resonance, questioning and critical thinking – these are qualities that lead to good outcomes in life and business. The best marketing and advertising campaigns wake us up to a truth about ourselves and our shared reality. 

We need people who will tell us the truth

In this era of disinformation and malleable truths, we must cherish truth telling. In a recent essay in The Guardian called 'What technology takes from us – and how to take it back', the writer and activist Rebecca Solnit writes, “We don’t need flatterers; we need kind people in our lives who will tell us the truth when we’ve veered off course. Chatbots cannot do this, not least because the only information they have about us is what we supply. The very rich already suffer from sycophancy, from living in echo chambers, and it untethers them from reality – including often the reality of their own mediocrity, and this seems truer of the oligarchs of Silicon Valley than almost anyone.”

Quite possibly the truest sentence I’ve read in a long time.

Fauzia Musa is strategy leader and founder at Studio Musa.

The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and were submitted in accordance with the IPA terms and conditions regarding the uploading and contribution of content to the IPA newsletters, IPA website, or other IPA media, and should not be interpreted as representing the opinion of the IPA.