Trust Exists within the Shared Understanding of Truth
For a few years before the 2020 pandemic, I was a part of an executive coaching group hosted through Vistage. We had a great group of leaders that really wanted to see their businesses flourish, and we fostered an amazing community of support. Each month a member would host an all-day meeting where we brought in a presenter, usually an author, who would share principles that would aid us in solving the challenges in front of us.
One of the first authors I met was Edgar Papke who coached us on conflict resolution. His book, “The Elephant in the Board Room” is one of the best books I’ve read on the subject of conflict in the workplace.
I stayed in touch with Ed after that initial meeting and he became a mentor to me. A few years later it was my turn to host which meant I had the privilege of selecting the speaker. We hadn’t had Ed back in some time, so I invited him to present as he had just released his latest book, “Innovation by Design.”
After the session I, and a few of my colleagues, took Ed to dinner at a nice restaurant in Ballard and I asked him what he was working on next. He told me he was thinking of writing a book on marriage as he recently celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary. I had been married nearly 20 years by that point, and as all people do, reflected on the struggles my wife and I had experienced. I asked him what the key to longevity was for him as I had aspirations for my marriage to go the distance as well.
Of course he answered that trust was the most important factor, but then followed it up by saying you can only have true trust when it exists within a shared understanding of the truth. It seemed to obvious but that statement had a profound impact on me. Not just in my relationship with my wife, but more principally, the application to all forms of communication.
So how does this apply to brands?
First of all, any marketer knows that the ultimate goal in marketing is brand love. Love creates loyalty, which translates to repeat sales and referrals. But what creates love?
Trust.
And what creates trust? Well, as Mr. Papke said, a shared understanding of truth.
The problem is we live in a world of manipulation. Say or do to get you to believe, behave, and buy. Everyone knows this so nobody trusts anybody anymore. We’ve been manipulated precisely because the ambiguity that exists in the lack of understanding, and hides the real intention behind the communication. That intention is to get you to do something you otherwise wouldn’t, like sell you something you don’t actually need.
Doing business this way typically doesn’t start there. The origin of a business comes from an idea that solves a problem. People who have that problem value that solution and are willing to exchange something of value to get it. While this exchange is typically money, money only represents value. The value you put into creating something that other people value and are willing to pay for... your work, your brain, your time.
The creative act that produced that value for someone else is derived from the thoughts, feelings, and actions unique only to you which, in my opinion, is a representation of human dignity. So when you exchange your money for a product or service with the expectation that your problem will be solved, and it isn’t, what is actually going on is a violation of human dignity. That’s why it feels so bad to get tricked into buying something that doesn’t deliver on it’s promise.
So how do we create shared understanding? Well, look at how we do it naturally - by telling stories.
Stories are how all of us as human beings communicate. Movies, TV, social media, all the way down to personal conversations. The problem is that story can be used as a weapon. This is more evident than ever today. Misinformation, disinformation, deceptive marketing & advertising… again, say or do to get you to believe, behave and buy.
The picture above is a great example of how this goes bad. Pepsi is carbonated sugar water, yet they attempted to co-opt a moment in culture to sell their product. What is true about the Pepsi Brand that enables them to participate in this cultural conversation?
Nothing.
The backlash was huge. Twitter erupted with calls to boycott Pepsi. Bernice King posted a photo of her dad, Dr. Martin Luther King, leading a protest and commented, “If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi.” DeRay McKesson, who organized and protested in Ferguson after the death of Michael Brown, took issue with the brand's apology by saying, "Pepsi didn't apologize to all of the people who have been protesting for two years, didn't apologize to the people who dedicated their lives and their time to these issues and to understand the urgency of them because in so many cases, there's so much at stake including people's lives."
So telling a story is not enough on it’s own. The story that is told must be a true story. If we don’t compromise on that, we’ll actually have a shot at earning the loyalty and love we’re looking for.
