On Stewardship and Communication

Abstract Stewardship, the third practical principle of agapic love, advocates for truthful communication as an essential element of trust. Using the debate surrounding the existing distrust in health authorities, who should act as stewards of global and public health, Chapter 6 challenges the conventional wisdom that leaders should present themselves as decisive, infallible authorities. Chapter 6 proposes the stewardship model of good communication, grounded in a philosophical interpretation of truthfulness disclosed with a reasonable degree of vulnerability. The chapter argues that agapic love does not require that leaders be infallible experts; instead, leaders should communicate with honesty tempered by discretion. Communicating with truth and love enhances trust and social cohesion (themes introduced in Chapter 1), and therefore greater communion within community (themes introduced in Chapters 4 and 5, respectively).