Gleb Tsipursky - Pro Truth: A Practical Plan for Putting Truth Back into Politics

Dr. Gleb Tsipursky is a passionate advocate for using behavioral economics and cognitive science to advance truth-oriented behavior, rational thinking, and wise decision-making. A civic activist, he serves as the president of Intentional Insights, a nonprofit devoted to popularizing these topics. Its main focus is the Pro-Truth Pledge, a project that aims to reverse the tide of misinformation, fake news, and post-truth politics sweeping over democracies around the globe. A social entrepreneur, Dr. Tsipursky is the CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts, a consulting and training firm that helps leaders and organizations avoid disasters. As a scholar, he has a strong research background with over 15 years at the Ohio State University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and dozens of peer-reviewed publications, in venues such as Journal of Political and Social Psychology and Behavior and Social Issues. He is the author of four books, and has also contributed over 400 articles that range across the liberal/conservative divide to publications such as Time, Scientific American, Psychology Today, Newsweek, The Conversation, Inc. Magazine, CNBC, New York Daily News, The Dallas Morning News, The Daily Caller, The Plain Dealer, and given over 350 interviews to TV stations such as CBS News, ABC, and NBC and FOX affiliates, and radio stations such as NPR, WBAI, KGO 810, 700WLW, KRLD, AM980. In his free time, he makes sure to spend abundant quality time with his wife to avoid disasters in his personal life. To learn more, visit his website, .

Tim Ward is co-owner of Intermedia Communications Training, Inc., and his driving passion is how communications creates transformation. He has designed and led hundreds of communications workshops in more than 40 countries around the world, working with organizations such as WWF, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian and African Development Banks, the Green Climate Fund, and the Bipartisan Policy Center. He is a former print journalist, and the author of nine books. Tim is also publisher of Changemakers Books. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife and business partner Teresa, and spends his free time kayaking on the Potomac, hillwalking in Scotland, and struggling to learn French.

Gleb Tsipursky:

Many people dedicated to the truth made this book possible. Id like to start by acknowledging the other leaders who serve on the Board of Directors of Intentional Insights and thus shape the overall strategy of the Pro-Truth Pledge project: Bentley Davis (who also oversees the website), Steve Monge (who manages the accounting and finances) and Agnes Vishnevkin (who coordinates the back-end operations and, as my wife, put up with the many, many hours I spent writing this book). Id also like to recognize those who serve on the Advisory Board of Intentional Insights, including Felicia Winfree Cravens (who founded the Houston Tea Party Society), Lorenzo Neal (a conservative Christian pastor), Stephan Lewandowsky (top cognitive scientist on addressing fake news), Michael Tyler (a business leader), Brad Blanton (who leads the Radical Honesty movement), and Rick Shenkman (bestselling author on emotions and politics and founder of the History News Network). Besides them, numerous other activists made this book possible; in particular Jeffrey Dubin and Wayne Straight provided extensive commentary on early versions of this book.

Tim Ward:

Thanks to my colleagues John Hunt, Dominic James and Maria Barry at Changemakers Books and John Hunt Publishing for their enthusiastic support of this project. In addition, thanks to the production team: Andrew James Wells as editor, Stuart Davies for design, Nick Welch for cover design, and Mollie Barker for editing and proofreading. I would also like to thank a few friends who have inspired me. First, Dr. Chris Haney, who shares my passion for cognitive biases and endless capacity for discussing them. Second, Dean Self, who never shies away from challenging my own biases in our political conversations. Third, Drs. Losang Rabgey and Tashi Rabgey, the sisters who run Machik.org; they are my role models for speaking truth to power, as they tirelessly seek to create a better future for the people of Tibet.

I would also like to thank four people in my life who helped me respect and strive for truthfulness. My father Peter, a political journalist whose visceral disgust of politicians who abused the public trust has stuck with me to this day. My mother, Jane, who told me her truth, and showed me that I could trust others with mine. My wife, Teresa, who made me want truth to be a cornerstone of our relationship; in so doing I have come to love her deeply, and also better know myself. My son, Josh, who made me want to be a good example and strive to live my life with integrity.

Books by Gleb Tsipursky

Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Avoid Business Disasters and Make the Best Decisions

Want to avoid business disasters, whether minor mishaps such as excessive team conflict or major calamities that threaten bankruptcy or doom a promising career? Fortunately, behavioral economics studies show that such disasters are preventable. They stem from poor decisions due to our faulty mental patterns, what scholars call cognitive biases. Unfortunately, the typical advice for business leaders to go with their guts plays into these cognitive biases and leads to disastrous decisions that devastate the bottom line. By combining practical case studies with cutting-edge research, Never Go With Your Gut will help you make the best decisions and prevent these business disasters.

The Blindspots Between Us: How to Overcome Unconscious Cognitive Bias and Build Better Relationships

We all have hidden blindspots in our minds that often ruin our relationships, what scholars term cognitive biases. The resulting misconceptions, misunderstandings, and mistakes result in severely damaged or completely broken relationships with our romantic partners, friends, families, work colleagues, as well as within community groups, civic and political engagement. This is the first book that helps you recognize cognitive biases in relationships. However, its true pay-off comes from helping you solve these dangerous judgment errors by drawing on the very latest groundbreaking research to help this books readers build better relationships in all life areas.

The Truth Seekers Handbook: A Science-Based Guide

How do you know whether something is true? How do you convince others to believe the facts? Research shows that the human mind is prone to making thinking errorspredictable mistakes that cause us to believe comfortable lies over inconvenient truths. These errors leave us vulnerable to making decisions based on false beliefs, leading to disastrous consequences for our business, personal lives, relationships, and civic engagement. This book presents a variety of research-based tools for ensuring that our beliefs are aligned with reality. With examples from daily life and an engaging style, the book will provide you with the skills to avoid thinking errors and help others to do so.

Books by Tim Ward

The Master Communicators Handbook

(with Teresa Erickson)

This book is for people who want to change the world. Heres the challenge: its impossible to change the world all by yourself. To have an impact, you need to communicate. In these pages, the authors share what theyve learned over 30 years as professional communicators and advisors to leaders of global organizations. The book covers: how to create powerful messages, how to speak with authority, how to avoid the tics and quirks that create a negative impression, how to answer questions effectively, how to develop rapport, how to persuade and motivate others, how to use visuals, how to frame the issues, and how to tell a transformational story. In short, the book gives you the tools you need to become the most effective and powerful communicator you can bea catalyst for transformation, capable of changing the world.