Speak the Mokita: Truth Shall Set You Free
Aspirations are the sky — truth is the earth — and nothing lives solely in the sky.
Some element of human behavior has made necessary the idiom of “the elephant in the room” or referencing the Hans Christian Andersen fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes” to bring to light issues otherwise unaddressed. Introducing the unusual word “Mokita” to sensitive discussions can serve as an ice-breaker to embolden otherwise reserved voices or shatter a tense atmosphere.
These techniques of permitting and persuading candor recognize the importance of truth itself as well as acknowledge prevailing social, cultural, political or bureaucratic conditions under which it has become unspoken. It is logical to believe the state of reluctance more likely to manifest when the calculated consequences to status, accountability or obligation to act seem perilously uncertain. Moreover, cultural differences in willingness to confront authority, subjectivity, ego, admission of guilt, incompetence, ignorance, prejudice or simple embarrassment can vary widely.
Truth Fuels the Engine of Progress
In a companion article to this I called “Human Investment,” I suggest there exist assets within the social fabric of companies that are inherently or intentionally difficult to observe. One mokita is simply that not all professional social interaction transpires within the confines of compliant formality (which tends to be static and sterile). For example, professionals who must get things done using technology or practices still emerging and maturing rely upon clarity and qualified insight into functional limitations or timetables to readiness. Thus, there exist connections through which information is shared under “reduced filtering” to allow open and honest exchange despite protocols of diplomacy. An informal vetting activity underlies the establishment of these dialogues, either through mutual relationships, prior reputation or the use of tone and choice of vocabulary designed to test the character of the other party. A price for inclusion in such groups is continuance of identity protection, which may trigger concern for bias — but in my experience the discriminator here is solely the character of the participants rather than any demographic. The value of these communications goes beyond the face value of information exchanged, as now questions and requests can be tactically aimed in more public settings.
While there exists today a public expression of anti-intellectual views toward science and policy such as the suspicion and rejection of expertise, business economics necessarily rely upon recognition of such talent and knowledge. However, business suffers the same vulnerability as academic and public settings to impersonation of expertise (whether a product of ego or simply self-deception). Over time an organization (and sometimes even its leaders) will separate truth-tellers from charlatans. Truth-Tellers may range from overt iconoclasts to reserved loyalists but share an obligation to a higher calling to promote pragmatic clarity in the interest of integrity and their employer and/or credibility of the product or service. I believe credibility essential to establishing trust with a customer or stakeholder to consequently deliver impact. Those who deliver impact, in turn, strengthen the pedigree of their credibility, to be further entrusted with opportunities for greater impact — and this ignites the cycle of the engine of progress. I have often found the most valuable truths that enabled qualified success and/or critical risk mitigation would have remained a mokita in the absence of truth-telling relationships.
A powerful tool to communicate new and/or complex concepts is storytelling. Skillful storytelling lies at the heart of sales and marketing, yet notoriously eludes the likes of engineering. One peril of telling a story is the blending of what is true with: what is not yet known to be true, what is wished to be true, what is misunderstood, what can be understood differently in the minds of various audiences and what may even be deliberately deceptive. These characteristics constitute a risk in projecting outward what is little more than a delusion. The Field of Dreams cliché of “if you build it, they will come” can form the basis for a product strategy (like a new digital business platform) or a recruiting program to promote workforce diversity. But these both depend on legitimacy of the implementation truly delivering that experience for it to flourish as promised to those drawn by the story. Charismatic leaders stating a goal but failing to match it to the underlying reality can result in both futility of the firm’s lofty aspiration and even damage the original intent.
Truth begets Credibility begets Impact begets Credibility…
Confronting an Emerging Corporate Workforce Mokita
Distraction sets the pace of modern life, compelling attention to a myriad of digitally-delivered minutia and adaptation to imposed metrics we believe govern our success and survival. We rely on leaders for strength, stability and vision yet they too can become beguiled into slavish servitude to act within confining measurements of a world now beholden to financial markets. It is ironic the luxury to confine our attention to metrics and minutia subtly anesthetizes our participation in fundamental social roles and obligations developed in humankind’s past — behaviors contrary to cold and rational market behavior we can readily witness in “less modern” settings or in the periodic response to crises such as natural disasters.
Though they compel stark clarity, we need not visit a refugee camp or hurricane-devastated city to appreciate the prioritization of people and essential products and services. At the local level of cities and townships, everyone everywhere ultimately relies upon access to the same things — food, water, medical care, infrastructure, meaningful work, etc. Our institutions, from government to corporate firms, originated to harness human talent to improve these societal needs and advance civilization (read this).
I submit a few statements for your consideration which should be obvious but oddly contradict our behaviors or have become politicized:
- People rely upon work for dignity, pride and purpose (read this).
- There are products and services essential for modern civilization(e.g., energy, healthcare, transportation, food, sanitation, communication, housing, education).
- Markets drive efficiency, economy and quality between providers and consumers, resulting in people collaborating as companies.
- Companies exist primarily to produce and consume products and services (2) but in doing so also provide work for people (1) and when performing successfully in the market, also create wealth for owners and employees. Conversely, of course, unprofitable firms tend to die off.
- Company behavior and identity influences where people choose to work. To what extent are we confident financial incentives outweigh other considerations for job satisfaction when recruiting talented people?
For example, firms elevating wealth creation and preservation to the highest priority may put human dignity, pride and purpose (1) and access to essential products and services (2) at risk (again this) and skew how we value how people dedicate their talent, thought and labor (read this). When the rational and irrational behaviors we observe professionally diverge from the firm’s underlying purpose, that disconnect can strain the integrity of the employee’s relationship with the employer (read this). Advances in technology that boost productivity offer employers a tempting option to reduce their obligations to human employees (read this). While task automation through technology certainly can help tame aspects of information quantity and quality, I believe it may exacerbate the complexity of clear understanding absent the oversight and guidance by people — for context, common sense and valuable learning.
To the message of speaking truths, the prevalent behavior of publicly-traded companies to exalt shareholder returns can dangerously jeopardizes employee motivation, sincerity and loyalty (and thus long-term strength of customer satisfaction and competitiveness of products and services). Dwindling human engagement erodes the company’s social capital — including these networks of truth-telling. Consider whether the best real talent where you work is drawn to their job by reliability of quarterly returns to shareholders or the meaning of and challenges presented by the customers, products and services.
Perhaps the most basic mokita I seek to convey is that beneath the speculative fanfare of company officers and their surrogates in stock analysts, the financial press and activists, are those who conduct the business that actually makes the world go round. The very best employees act to achieve the company’s objective through their role, employing judgment as to what is true and what is misleading, uncertain or ambiguous, so that we build upon the the foundation of earth as we advance our civilization’s reach to the sky.
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