The Emperor’s New Clothes
The murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police officers in 2020 was just the tip of the iceberg. In the first eight months of 2020, Police in the U.S. killed 164 Black people. [1] Moreover, Black and Brown Americans have been saying for decades that the police are prejudiced and inequitable towards persons of color. But something about the visceral footage of George Floyd crying out with his dying breath, “I can’t breathe,” ignited a nationwide series of protests, culminating in social, political, and religious dialogue.
“Speaking truth to power” is a phrase credited to Bayard Rustin, a Black Quaker and Civil Rights Leader, during the 1940s, and printed under the same title in a pamphlet on the quaker search for an alternative to violence. [2] The phrase gets to the heart of the struggle for a more just and equitable reality.
In his article, “Speaking Truth to Power: A White Paper,” Professor Emeritus at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and founding director of the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership, James O’Toole, makes a case for why the concept is difficult within many organizational cultures, especially when authoritative leadership is at work.
“Perhaps the only thing riskier than telling the boss he is wrong is to have to admit one’s own mistakes. Speaking truth to power is a threatening exercise when it entails owning up to serious error. Indeed, fear of punishment by tyrannical leaders causes many managers to become risk averse,” urged O’Toole. [3] His observation was that until recently, to challenge power was to challenge the absolute power of a king, emperor, or ruler. There is something more going on there. To question authority conjures up our body’s automatic physiological reaction of fight, flight, or freeze. Our natural system has a physiological response to bullies by building inflammation within our bodies and brains. [4]
I’m reminded of Has Christian Andersen’s 1837 classic, The Emperor’s New Clothes. Do you remember the story? Traveling seamsters swindle an arrogant ruler with the idea of clothes that would make him invisible. They were such effective scoundrels that the emperor, in his pride, believed them, even though he could not see the clothes himself. So the ruler prances through the streets butt naked to the shock and surprise of his subjects. Naturally, no one dared to tell him the truth except a little boy.
As organizational leaders, this might be an excellent place to pause to contemplate our capacity to be open to alternative points of view, even if it challenges our worldview, sense of security, and authority.
But some organizations, whether in the business, government, or religious sector, are not always ruled by an autocratic close-minded leader. Sometimes, an organization can insulate itself from alternative ideas and future trends, especially in the face of its current success.
As O’Toole noted, “All organizations-nations, colleges, businesses, and families–hold on to such fundamental and unexamined myths. While such shared values and assumptions are necessary to hold a group together, if the glue that binds them is, in fact, toxic, it can result in organizational morbidity.”[5] He gives the example of Motorola, a once dominant force in the technology market that failed to see the potential of touchscreen innovation, leading to its rapid decline.
But it is not as easy as it sounds to transform an organization’s culture from closemindedness and even fear of speaking truth to power, whatever form that power takes, whether the top leadership or the culture. The path to a culture of positive change through candor, openness, and introspection often begins with the messenger.
I wrestled with O’Toole’s “Responsibilities of the Messenger, especially number four, it must be the product of moral reflection, and number five, the messenger must be willing to pay the price. [6] While serving as a pastor during the racial and political unrest of 2020-2021, I tried to address what was happening in our communities through the lens of the Gospel. I thoughtfully and prayerfully attempted to preach pastoral messages rather than hardened prophetic ones. However, after preaching on the church’s role in the face of systemic racism the Sunday after George Floyd’s murder, along with why we are called to follow Jesus, not political demagogues, after the January 6th insurrection, I had some pretty hard conversations with church members who accused me of “preaching a radical, flaming, liberal agenda.”
As leaders, we should be challenged by O’Toole’s charge that the organizational culture of transparency, no secrets, and empowering employees to speak the truth should begin at the top. He argues that “the boss” should adopt the roles of teacher and listener, trusting that members of the organization will act responsibly. [7] Leaders who don’t just might find themselves wandering the halls of the office, naked and exposed, without even knowing it.
[1] Cohen, Li, “Police in the U.S. killed 164 Black people in the first 8 months of 2020. These are their names. (Part I: January-April),” CBS News, Last modified September 10, 2020, https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/black-people-killed-by-police-in-the-u-s-in-2020/.
[2] American Friends Service Committee, Speaking Truth to Power: A Quaker Search for an Alternative to Violence, (: Literary Licensing, 1955).
[3] O’Toole, James, “Speaking Truth to Power: A White Paper,” Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Last modified October 15, 2015, https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/business-ethics/resources/speaking-truth-to-power-a-white-paper/.
[4] Fraser, Jennifer, “Bullying Can Cause Inflammation in the Body and Brain,” Psychology Today, Last modified September 16, 2022, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-bullied-brain/202209/bullying-can-cause-inflammation-in-the-body-and-brain.
[5] O’Toole, Speaking Truth to Power.
[6] Ibid, O’Toole.
[7] Ibid, O’Toole.
About the Author
Andy Hale
Associate Executive Coordinator of CBF North Carolina, CBF Podcast Creator and Host, & Professional Coach6 responses to “The Emperor’s New Clothes”
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Mr. Andy: Nice post. Your connections to George Floyd, The Emperor’s New Clothes, the January 6th insurrection all get at the subject O’Toole discusses in this white paper. In your new job I imagine you face these dynamics frequently. It becomes a daily practice for leaders to remind themselves to be open to this and not fall into entitlement and laziness.
Nice post. You mentioned to Roy that you always appreciate his angle he takes from the reading; I can say the same about you.
I see where your question to me came from; you write, “As organizational leaders, this might be an excellent place to pause to contemplate our capacity to be open to alternative points of view, even if it challenges our worldview, sense of security, and authority.” I will respond to you there.
In light of the Christian version we have seen and heard these past number of years, Christian Nationalism, obviously there is critique. However, what critique (truth in love) would you offer to the opposing side to consider in their engagement of these harder conversations – race, sexuality, etc.?
Andy, I really enjoyed reading this excellent post. I’ll ask you a hypothetical question I would ask O’Toole because I can actually get an answer from you (haha): How do you distinguish between healthy dissent/challenge to your leadership versus unhealthy/anxious challenge? Personally, I believe pastors face an extra challenge with this because of certain expectations placed on the role. I’ve long heard the saying, “people just want to be heard.” Some do, but others will not feel “heard” until what they advance becomes reality.
Andy, thank you for your thoughtful post. I really appreciated how you wove O’Toole’s article into the fabric of the challenges we’ve faced over the past few years. Also, your note about how our bodies physiologically respond to bullying was a helpful add–I could relate to that experience. You mentioned how you wrestled with and responded to the particular challenges following George Floyd’s murder and the January 7 resurrection. What most prepared you for that work of speaking truth to the assumptions held by many in your context?
If I could jump on this one too, how did those initial conversations with congregations that were highly critical play out over time if they did?
Andy, thank you for speaking into the subject of racism.
You quote O’Toole, “All organizations-nations, colleges, businesses, and families–hold on to such fundamental and unexamined myths. While such shared values and assumptions are necessary to hold a group together, if the glue that binds them is, in fact, toxic, it can result in organizational morbidity.” —— What similarities do you see with Friedman’s characteristics of an anxious system? How do those inform the dynamics in institutions that lack culture of candor?