My Experiment With Truth

Playing a high-trust game in a low-trust society.

India is a low trust society. Which, I assume, would be true of any developing nation. Where resources are scarce and the people looking to exploit them far more.

In resource-constrained environments, most games are zero-sum games. For me to win, you have to lose. There isn’t enough to go around and feed everyone’s need. And when needs go unfulfilled, greed takes over.

That’s why it’s so common to hear stories of people working so hard to become police officers or get government jobs or even become a TT - only to become corrupt and start taking bribes the minute they get there. Why won’t they? They worked their asses off and won a massive lottery against millions of other aspirants. Now they want to amass enough resource so that their future generations don’t have to fight that fight.

So I understand why, by default, we operate from distrust. Starting with trust is a privilege only developed nations can afford. Where, from land to food to clean air & water, there is enough for everyone. Abundance makes trust easy.

I understand all this. But that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with the logical repercussion of it. That anyone trying to build a high-trust system in a low trust society will need to prove their intent again and again and again. Because, in low-trust societies, we start with ‘guilty until proven innocent’.

The Whole Truth is that high-trust system I’ve devoted the best years of my life to building. Why?

I was the youngest kid in a joint family. I was also the most absent-minded and careless. These two facts combined meant that anything that went wrong in the house, from a broken cup to a missing watch, was attributed to me. Half the time, rightly so. Half the time, not.

The latter half, where I was assumed guilty, instilled in me a deep fear of being mis-understood. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had this mortal fear of being accused of something I didn’t do. Of someone saying a lie, saying it loudly, repeatedly, and it sounding like the truth. My deepest fear is that people will believe the loud liar, not me.

I think this is the real reason why I started a brand called The Whole Truth. I needed to know that the truth can also win. That you can make a 100% truthful brand and still make profits and build a generational company where honesty is institutionalized. That’s what we’re trying to do with TWT.

But it’s damn tough.

As we grow big, we’re threatening many. Many brands, many influencers, many publications. Many previous arbiters of truth. And they don’t like it. Why?

Because once people see this level of honestly, they start demanding the same from others. Which, honestly, is the endgame. We can’t make everything. We need 100’s of brands to serve consumers. But if we can be the one that forces everyone to become 100% honest - wow - what a win that would be!

Of course, that dream’s a long way out. And those who’ve conveniently been speaking half-truths and amassing wealth and power, aren’t going to go there quietly.

So they shout. They attack us. From fake testing reports to AI bot attacks to paid negative reviews to direct, baseless slander and defamation. We’ve seen it all . And I know, it’s just starting. As we grow, it will only get worse.

I used to think I’ll deal with it better the next time it happens. But I don’t. Even today, when a liar shouts from rooftops, my childhood fears get activated. Is this it? Will people believe them this time? Will everything we’ve built be undone?

It’s irrational. But that’s the thing with anxiety and childhood traumas. Logic has nothing to do with it.

So every time it happens, the liars can claim a small victory. Because when they start shouting, at first, I still get paralysed. Then, I drop everything and just start obsessing about putting out the truth in a way that it reaches everyone this lie has reached. This reaction has many costs.

First, I (and many team) spend 2-3 days just responding to their lies. Days we could’ve spent building our truth. Days we’ll never get back.

Second, the emotional toll is immense. I have to remember not to take any important decisions during this time. Because I am operating from fear.

Third, my family pays the price. I am always distracted, never present, and always on edge. And, sadistic as fate is, these events have a very very high chance of happening during important family events or worse - vacations. 90% correlation as of now!

So yes, at first they win. They successfully distract me from building the thing that was hurting them. And they make me, my team and my family pay an emotional price, just by spewing a random lie into the world.

But here’s the silver lining. Every time we get through such an incident, unlike me, the brand comes out stronger. Every such test further strengthens the foundation of trust we’ve built with our consumers. And I am so, so happy to report that atleast our consumers, the well-educated, well-travelled, well-off folks of this country, those who no longer have resource-constraints, don’t automatically assume guilt.

They hold us accountable. But they don’t give-in to fear mongering by default. And when we put out our truth, and support it with hard facts, they listen, read, and decide. And every time we pass this test, their faith gets stronger.

Of course, this wouldn’t be true of all. I’m sure that some just believe the lie, lose trust, and move on. But I know where the overwhelming majority lies. That majority is the reason we get the courage to go through this hell, of someone else’s making, again and again and again.

And it gives me so much hope for our country. My parents’ generation has only seen low-trust. They assume ‘Asia hi hota hai’. I want to tell them. ‘Han, aisa hota hai. Lekin aisa hota nai rahega’.

Just like any developed nation, as we get more educated, more affluent, more resource-unconstrained, we too will become a high-trust society. All it takes is one generation that grows up in abundance. And I already see it happening.

Till then, every time a liar shouts, we will need to defend ourselves. We will need to prove our innocence. Again and again and again. Until one day, the burden of proof shifts to the accuser. I wish TWT is around to see that day. I wish TWT plays a small role in getting us there.

PS: In all cases where we were attacked - consumers who trusted us didn’t just silently ignore the aggressors. They vocally defended us. This reminds me of a quote by Napoleon - “the world suffers a lot. not because of the violence of bad people. but because of the silence of good people.” When good people stop being silent, you know the world is changing.