Post-Truth

One of the biggest struggles with leadership has to be how to handle disappointment. Every leader has to deal with disappointment.
The moment that you realize that people aren't doing the things that you hoped they would do... disappointment.

We experience this in our friendships, in our parenting, in our marriages, in our work places, in the church. Everywhere.
You, like all people, at some point have experienced someone not responding to something the way you hoped they would respond.


Have you ever been in a conversation and were attempting to explain something, trying to convince someone of a point of view or a product... and you, in a rare moment, became Matlock and explained this thing SO well! You hit every right bullet point and breath, extracted every important feature with word precision and accuracy... that by the end of your "presentation" you were giving self high-fives!?
You thought, "I smashed it!" "Nailed it!" "They would have to be DEVOID of all logic not to be on the same page now!"


Then you wait.


And to your astonishment, they still don't get it.
They still aren't following.
They're still not convinced.


Meanwhile you literally, short of breathe, are flabbergasted at what has just occurred.




I've had many conversations like that over the years. But it wasn't until the election last year and all the chaos and fact checking surrounding it that I heard what had been deemed as the "word of the year" for 2016.


"Post-Truth"


Post-Truth... what a word.


Here's a definition -  Post-truth: "Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief."


Essentially its saying that you can throw information and facts out there all day long... but what really gets things done is appealing to emotion and belief... not necessarily being logical.


If you are a certain personality type, this may drive you insane. :)


Its the reason that everyone loves people like Joel Osteen... if there is one thing that guy seems to have is a positive attitude!
Its why you'll always lose the argument when the other person starts crying.
It's why we end up with guys like Donald Trump as president.


Post-truth.


But here's what's really going on. Its called your Limbic brain.


Science and biology tell us that the way decisions get made is through this part of our brain (the part that doesn't use words) that is concerned with the "Why." This is our limbic brain. It is the part of the brain that is responsible for our feelings. Yet the limbic brain is responsible for all behavior and decision making.


Interestingly enough, its actually not the neocortex part of our brain that makes decisions... even so this part of the brain deals with the "what." This is the explaining, analytical and linguistic part of our brain, even so it doesn't make the decisions.


Thus, I'm not surprised that you can talk until you're blue in the face about how something makes sense, how this product works, how someone should live a certain way... and people still aren't following... people still aren't getting it!
Because that's not how we are wired. (See Simon Sinek's Talk on Inspiring Action)
You can' t start with the "What" and expect anyone to be with you...


You must start with the "Why"


This goes for anything in life. All behavior.
Its why when Jesus is calling His disciples and they ask Him where He lives, Jesus responds "Come and See."


"We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, but we live ourselves into new ways of thinking."
- Richard Rohr


We're always trying to do things backwards.
Its through experience, taste, action, Presence that we are changed and transformed, and so are able to call others to taste the bread and wine themselves.




Choose anything you do in life.... now ask yourself why you do it.


Sometimes we are so unclear even in our own purpose and "why" ... its no wonder our lives don't seem compelling.


Religion has historically done this wrong. Even today I hear and see many pastors scratch their heads at the ever emptying congregations wondering what happened. "The message hasn't changed" they think to themselves "but where did everyone go?"


If the why is no longer clearly visible in what it is you are doing, if what you are about isn't something that sounds a little like "I have a dream", something that is compelling, something tasty...
then again I'm not that surprised they're not buying it.


Social Justice is always more compelling than "Getting Saved."


Don't get too disappointed your "what" didn't change the world... Transformation has always been about the Why