In March 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed a civil rights audience at Grosse Pointe High School in Detroit. He professed that freedom is the bonus received for telling the truth. The best kind of happiness comes from the freedom found in accepting the truth. It is the way to a full and satisfying life. It sets you free.
There are different versions of truth and freedom. Exculpatory evidence is incomplete and open to interpretation. Knowing the truth is an act of faith that is not fool-proof. Speaking the truth is an act of courage that is sometimes fool-hardy. But once spoken, the truth-teller feels free from guilt or blame.
Truthing
The difference between what we want and what we fear can be the width of an eyelash. Learning the truth means living with conviction and holding true to firmly held beliefs. Convictions are the truths that take hold of us. Having the conviction of our words and actions can transcend reality.
Truths are timeless messages worth telling. Believing and doing the right thing strengthen the spirit. Respecting others’ personal choices and discerning and sharing the truth go hand in hand.
Sometimes the truth hurts. It bruises egos, causes discomfort, and calls for change. True friends care too much to hurt or deceive. They point out what we may already know but find it hard to accept. They tell us what we need to hear. Their advice marks a watershed of integrity in our lives.
People dread and try to avoid the pain of being hurt. But it is inevitable and accumulates, to the extent of compromising our mental, emotional, spiritual, and relational health. Pain identifies that something is wrong. We fear its consequences. For the truth to liberate, we must be healed. We cannot remain slaves to fear. We must overcome fear with truth.
Advising
Most citizens hope for good government. They vote, serve, and speak for fair and just causes. But political solutions remain powerless to change conditions without people’s voice and support. Canadians embrace this ideal so much that the phrase “peace, order and good government” was written into section 91 of the British North America Act, now the Constitution Act, 1867.
Former Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick identified the pace of policymaking, technological change, and growing demands on the public service as factors integral to the evolving context of Canadian federalism. He also recognized three traditional challenges:
- Solving big problems with policy advice on what to do and how to do it;
- Adapting the role of the public service in governance; and
- Calibrating perpetual reform beyond the same outcomes and latest fads.
The Public Service of Canada is renowned for fearless advice and loyal implementation of the policy. ‘Speaking truth to power’ are the watchwords for giving objective, non-partisan advice to policymakers. Political-administrative leaders know the consequences of choices and are prepared to respond to central agency challenge functions.
John Halligan’s 1995 matrix parses the dynamic of public policy advice:
Speaking truth in an age of disinformation, deception, and distraction is hazardous. Suspicious politicization and undue influencing of advice by third parties compromise policy outcomes. Governments are called to let the public interest rise above political difference and societal indifference.
Public servants may struggle with speaking truth to power. Some see the catch-22 of being punished for trying to do the right thing, no matter how improbable. They claim that a penchant for quick fixes impedes culture change. Others contend that innovation cannot survive scrutiny by the chain of command. They blame management by committee, nepotism, and self-indulgence for intransigence.
Speaking truth is also about managers being empowered to make a difference. It means engaging, emboldening, and emancipating people to take action. This is the essence of leadership.
