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January 2, 2009
The Right to Know
I am just back from the holidays. Curled up in a chair by the fireplace in Long Island, I read two terrific books, Simon Schama’s The American Future and Anthony Pagden’s Worlds at War. I also had the opportunity to review the initial findings from the Edelman Trust Barometer 2009, due out in three weeks. Trying to sort through the multiple debacles of 2008, the year in which business lost its mandate to lead, I conclude that the populace now demands The Right to Know because it no longer trusts established institutions to do the right thing. The demand for collective action to fix the economy, with government in a primary investor or activist regulator position, indicates a need for a new consensus beyond classic free market ideology. The dispersion of authority is reflected in demand for multiple media sources, continuing conversations with peers and desire to critique products or companies.
There have been similar periods of intellectual ferment. Pagden writes about the end of the era of certainty, when the Enlightenment forced a reexamination of “their relationship with God but also of their moral and even their physical worlds.” He quotes poet John Donne from the Anatomy of the World, “And new Philosophy calls all in doubt, ‘Tis all in peeces, all coherence gone…Prince, Subject, Father, Sonne, are things forgot, For every man alone thinkes he has got to be a Phoenix…” According to Pagden, the new philosophy described by Donne was “modern science, freed from the clutches of theology and from the grip of ancient tradition.” Citizens went beyond the comfortable “you know because God, or God’s interpreters, told you so. Believe and obey.” Pagden goes on to say, “All that could be shown to be true had to argued from the ground up…nothing is valid unless it can be demonstrated to be so, on the basis of certain principles, to which reasonable people could be supposed to agree.”
The implication of this freedom of thought was freedom from constraint, in particular to “criticize freely.” Pagden quotes Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, “Religion through its sanctity may seek to exempt themselves from it (criticism). But they then just awaken suspicion and cannot claim that sincere respect which reason accords only to that which has been able to sustain the test of free and open examination. It is a crime against human nature for any group to put the next age in a position where it would be impossible for it to extend and correct its knowledge.”
In the same vein, Schama quotes Thomas Jefferson from his Notes on the State of Virginia, “Truth is great and will prevail if left to herself...she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error and has nothing to fear from the conflict unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate, errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted to fully contradict them.”
My own experience this past fall indicates the wisdom of transparency. The week before I went into the hospital for prostate surgery, I called my most senior colleagues to let them know that I would be having the procedure. I spoke to those clients whom I work with directly. I then drafted a memo to the entire Edelman staff, to be released the moment I got out of surgery, describing my condition and my confidence in a full recovery. Though some of my senior team would have preferred a more nuanced approach, I opted for complete disclosure, because my colleagues had the right to know.
The essence of public engagement is the commitment of companies to “say and do as they say.” In a time of utter distrust, one must make the case for actions then demonstrate progress against those goals. Corporations are made stronger by undergoing this continued test of values and performance, a modern version of the new philosophy of the Enlightenment. I wish each of you a happy new year.
Posted by Edelman at January 2, 2009 5:56 PM |
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Comments
Just a note to thank you for your insightful blog and your continued clarion calls for greater transparency. It's interesting: while the populace is losing trust in once-stalwart institutions, it's also gaining a greater say in elevating and broadening the standards for trust (i.e., leadership ethics, accountability, financial prudence, privacy protections and transparency about all of it). I'm hopeful that, in the quest to sustain or reclaim trust, companies will heed the public's heightened demands and new parameters for truly good corporate citizenship.
Posted by: Michele Nix at January 4, 2009 3:10 PM
You've nailed it, yet again! Consumers are becoming much more leery of the companies that serve them, and they demand the truth -- at all times. I'm a huge advocate of doing what's ethically sound according to public relations and journalistic professions, while doing what's generally right in the eyes of the public. Meanwhile, there are times when the "bad news" is so bad that you feel obligated to keep it to yourself for the safety of the business. This is no different than something embarrassing that every human has done and would rather hid from the world. That being said, how do practitioners go about providing consumers and/or company stakeholders with the "Right to Know" you speak of? Sometimes it's hard to think of an "ideal" way to be completely honest while still being loyalty to the business or client.
Posted by: Mark Taylor II at January 6, 2009 12:03 AM
Mark,
There is clearly a limit given client confidentiality. But our job is to counsel and to push for an open approach not often endorse by our opposites on the legal side.
Thanks for reading my blog,
Richard
Posted by: Richard Edelman at January 6, 2009 6:23 PM
Richard - Good for you for disclosing details of your surgery. That takes courage, honesty and confidence. You set a great example for other leaders. Most importantly, I hope you are ok now.
Best,
Jack Rubinger
formerly with KRUMS
Posted by: Jack Rubinger at January 14, 2009 12:54 PM