An Eye On Truth And Authenticity

By Ron Aldridge

In this article, Ron Aldridge looks at the non-verbal messages our politicians give out in their efforts to persuade us to vote for them - do you really believe them?

It's always interesting times as we approach a general election, especially in this current climate, which could certainly be classified as ‘challenging’.

Having live televised debates involving the leaders of the 3 main parties sounds like a great idea, and I would like to comment after the events on the different communication styles on display.

As with all so-called ‘reality’ television, however, I fear the debates may be stage-managed and controlled to the point where any chance of a healthy and truthful debate where we really get to see what each person is made of, may be too much to hope for. I for one would love to be proved wrong and for a few ‘home-truths’ to come out.

Because truth is what we always seek and where we often find politicians lacking...

In every human inter-action, in any circumstance and transaction, all we want is the truth. “Can I trust him?” “Can I believe him?” “Is he telling me the truth?” “Will he do what he says?” These are the questions we always ask ourselves – if not consciously then most certainly subconsciously. This quest for truth is what drives us as human beings.

And let’s face it, in politics it’s often difficult to know what’s true and what isn’t. And politicians’ preoccupation with ‘spin’ certainly does nothing to help this as ‘spin’ by its very nature is not authentic – the opposite of my world, the world of theatre, where truth and authenticity is everything.

We theatre folk are often challenged – “Don’t you people just lie very well for a living?”

No, we don’t lie. Yes, we are pretending to be someone else, a different character, but that person, that character, is portrayed totally for real.

It’s a paradox of the theatre, that in order to pretend, the actor must be real. That need requires the actor to delve inside himself, because the only way an emotion can be authentic is if it comes from within the actor. Actors, consequently, are probably more aware of authenticity than anyone else, because they’ve studied it, and themselves, so carefully. It is an essential and demanding part of the actor’s craft.
It is also the only way to judge if an actor is good or not – do you believe him? Do you get ‘drawn-in? Do you get emotionally involved? If the actor doesn’t master this concept of ‘truth’, his performance will be diminished and his audience will be distanced.

Great actors are the ones who convince us of the authenticity of the characters they portray, and are committed to the truth of the role and the reality of the play.

They bring their ‘life-experience’ to whatever role they are playing, and this is the parallel with ‘leaders’ in other fields.

Leaders need to bring their ‘life-experience’ to their roles as leaders. Just as an actor needs to connect with the character he’s playing, a leader needs to connect his work with his own life in ways that reach beyond ‘sales and profits’.

Too many leaders try to behave in ways they think their role demands, rather than authentically being themselves based on their values. They try to tell us things they think we want to hear. This can make them come across as inauthentic and therefore not to be trusted.

So when we watch the live debates on television, we will need to use all our ‘instincts’ and our ‘feelings’ to enable us to reach our conclusions.

Working on the premise that all human communication is roughly, 65% non-verbal communication, 20% how we say something, and 15% the words we use, we need to ensure we focus our attention appropriately.

Watch and ‘feel’ their body-language – does it feel natural? – is it appropriate? – is it contrived?

Watch their facial expressions – are they forced or relaxed? – are they ‘listening’?

Listen to the way they say something – is it believable, and again, is it natural? – is it forced? – are they trying too hard?

This will account for 85% of all the ‘messages’ you receive. Trust your ‘instincts’, you are an expert at non-verbal communication – it’s your ‘first language’.

Try not to focus too much on the words they are saying – it could be that they didn’t even write the piece themselves anyway – just try and get a ‘feel’ and an ‘instinct’ of what is coming across.

It may even make the debates more interesting for you – and if you’re not quite as cynical as me about politicians, you might even enjoy it!

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