What Does the Battle Over “Woke” Reveal About Us?
When Words Become Weapons: The Leadership Lessons of “Woke”
Let’s talk about the word woke.
I know, even bringing it up probably makes some people roll their eyes. But that’s exactly why I want to take it on. Few words have become as iconic in showing how our culture can lose its way. At its core, woke started as a call for awareness, for paying attention to injustice. But over time, it turned into a weapon — used from both sides to shame, dismiss, and divide.
That’s what bothers me most. Not the word itself, but how it represents a bigger problem: when our language gets hijacked, we lose sight of the values most of us actually share. Respect. Fairness. Opportunity. Belonging. Things almost everyone agrees on, but that get obscured once we start fighting over labels.
This is exactly the kind of distortion I want to address with the Humanity at Scale movement. It’s about finding ways to cut through the noise, reclaim the middle ground, and build organizations and communities that bring people together instead of pushing them apart.
That same theme came up in my podcast episode Beyond Right and Wrong: Rethinking Moral Disagreements with Kurt Gray. Kurt’s research shows that most moral conflicts aren’t rooted in fundamentally different values, but in different perceptions of the same issues. It’s a powerful reminder that beneath the noise of disagreement, there’s often far more common ground than we realize — and that leaders can foster empathy and progress by helping people see it.
I hope you enjoy this edition. If you do, I’d love for you to subscribe and share it with others who might benefit. Let’s dive in.
When Words Become Weapons: The Leadership Lessons of “Woke”
Few words have traveled as far, and caused as much whiplash, as woke.
It started in African American vernacular as a call to vigilance: stay woke, meaning stay alert to injustice and inequities that too often go unnoticed. At its core, it was a reminder to pay attention, to be conscious of the realities around us that are easy to overlook.
But over time, the word was pulled into the cultural spotlight. It was embraced by progressives as a shorthand for moral awareness and equity. It was also seized by critics as an insult, a way to paint people or institutions as fragile, excessive, or overly ideological. What began as a signal of awareness became a tool of attack, used both to elevate and to ridicule.
The story of woke is not simply about politics. It is about how language, once useful for naming ideas, can lose its meaning when extremes take over. For leaders, it is a cautionary tale about how words can unite or divide, clarify or confuse, inspire or derail.
How Woke Was Weaponized from Both Ends
The evolution of woke is often portrayed as a one-way decline from earnestness to mockery. In reality, the word was weaponized in both directions, each pulling it further from its original intent.
From the left: moral attack. “Not being woke” became a moral critique, where failing to adopt the right language or act quickly enough on social issues was cast as blindness or complicity. This often turned the word into a tool for shaming, less about cultivating awareness and more about enforcing alignment.
From the right: cultural attack. “Being woke” became a cultural insult, used to dismiss ideas without engaging with their substance. Complex debates about fairness or inclusion were brushed aside with a single label, turning the word into a shortcut for ridicule and rejection.
The Neuroscience of Weaponized Words
The transformation of woke from an alert to a weapon is not accidental. Human psychology makes language especially vulnerable to this kind of shift.
Labels act as tribal markers. Our brains are wired for belonging, and words quickly become badges of identity. Once woke began to signal “my group,” it inevitably became a trigger for “their group.” Language stopped functioning as communication and started functioning as affiliation.
Charged words trigger threat responses. Neuroscience shows that words tied to morality or identity activate the amygdala, the brain’s threat center. The moment woke carried moral weight, it sparked defensiveness and anger. Those reactions crowded out the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that enables reasoned thought and empathy.
Biases amplify the extremes. Confirmation bias pushes people to see only the interpretations that fit their worldview, while group polarization escalates positions toward the loudest and most dramatic versions. “Not woke” was framed as moral blindness, while “woke” was framed as cultural collapse. Each side amplified the other.
Repetition erodes shared meaning. Words repeated in emotionally charged contexts drift away from their original definitions. Woke stopped pointing to attentiveness and became a floating symbol, flexible enough to be weaponized by anyone for almost anything. The vaguer the meaning, the more powerful the word became as a weapon.
What Gets Lost in the Middle
For all the noise surrounding the word woke, here’s the irony: people on both sides of the argument often believe in many of the same things. Scratch beneath the surface, and a wide stretch of common ground appears. Yet once those aspirations were bundled into a polarizing label, the agreement faded, and people began reacting to the word rather than the substance underneath it.
Most of us, no matter how we feel about woke, would agree on things like:
People deserve to be treated with respect.
Every child should have access to education and opportunity.
No one should face violence or discrimination because of who they are.
Communities are stronger when people look out for one another.
Hard work and merit should matter more than privilege or favoritism.
Dialogue is healthier than silence or fear when facing disagreement.
Everyone should have the chance to feel safe, valued, and included.
Justice systems should apply rules fairly and consistently.
These are not radical beliefs. They represent a shared moral baseline that cuts across backgrounds, cultures, and communities. The tragedy of weaponized language is that it hides this middle ground, masking broad agreement behind the noise of extremes.
Why Leaders Should Pay Attention
It might be tempting for leaders to treat the “woke wars” as noise outside the workplace. But cultural word battles rarely stay contained. They inevitably seep into organizations, where they influence how people interpret one another, how they collaborate, and how much trust they place in leadership.
Language carries emotional baggage. When a word is weaponized, employees bring that weight into meetings, reviews, and casual conversations. A term like accountability may inspire one person to think about shared responsibility while making another feel singled out and blamed. The same word, once useful for alignment, becomes a spark for misunderstanding.
Clarity becomes compromised. Organizations run on shared meaning. When words lose their precision, people no longer know if they are truly aligned. Leaders may believe they have given clear direction, but if terms like innovation or diversity land differently across teams, they create confusion rather than clarity. Energy is then wasted on interpretation instead of progress.
Trust starts to erode. Once language feels distorted, employees begin to wonder if words are being used sincerely or strategically. Is diversity a genuine commitment to inclusion, or is it a corporate talking point? Is innovation a real investment in risk-taking, or a slogan for the annual report? Suspicion grows when people feel leaders are using words to signal virtue rather than to guide action.
Culture absorbs the polarization. What happens in society does not stop at the office door. Cultural battles filter into organizational life, and employees who already feel tense from outside debates can become defensive or hesitant to engage inside. When language is polarized, it narrows the space for open dialogue and reduces the psychological safety that teams depend on to collaborate effectively.
Sparking New Leadership Thinking
So what can leaders do when words drift toward distortion? The goal is not to banish charged terms but to reclaim their meaning and prevent them from being weaponized inside organizations.
Name the distortion. When a word is being used in conflicting or extreme ways, say it out loud. Imagine a team where “accountability” has turned into finger-pointing. A leader might pause and say, “Let’s be clear. Accountability here means honoring commitments together, not finding someone to blame.” That act of naming prevents confusion from festering.
Re-anchor in values. Redirect attention away from the label and toward the underlying principle. If “diversity” feels politicized, shift the focus to fairness and opportunity: “We want every talented person here to have a genuine chance to succeed.” By drawing people back to values, you cut through the noise and highlight what most already support.
Model complexity. Show that multiple truths can exist at once. Equity work is both essential and messy. A leader who says, “This work matters, and we know we will stumble along the way,” demonstrates that embracing complexity is a strength. It shows people that nuance is welcome and expected.
Design for dialogue. Polarized language thrives in environments where people feel unsafe to speak. Leaders can counter this by creating deliberate space for constructive disagreement. Instead of pushing for immediate consensus, invite debate: “Before we commit, let’s explore the strongest reasons for and against.” This creates psychological safety and opens space for richer solutions.
Shift from labels to outcomes. Ultimately, it matters less what something is called and more how it shows up in lived experience. If employees debate whether the culture is “innovative,” redirect the focus to evidence: “Where are we seeing bold new ideas actually taking root?” Progress is measured in outcomes, not in slogans.
The Bottom Line
Woke began as a call to awareness but was quickly weaponized from both sides, used to shame and to dismiss. Neuroscience shows how labels trigger threat responses and fuel extremes, but leaders can rise above by restoring clarity, re-centering values, and focusing on shared human outcomes.
Additional Resources
Here’s some relevant content that you may find interesting:
How Can We Break Free from the "Us vs. Them" Trap? We’re surrounded by a world that keeps forcing false choices: us or them, right or wrong, this or that. In this Humanity At Scale newsletter, I explore how that kind of binary thinking doesn’t just polarize people—it erodes trust, shuts down curiosity, and makes it harder to work through what really matters.
What If “Culture Fit” Is Holding You Back? In this Humanity At Scale newsletter, I examine the problem with our gravitation towards sameness. What began as a way to protect values and foster team cohesion has quietly narrowed into something else: a preference for comfort over contrast.
Beyond Right and Wrong: Rethinking Moral Disagreements. In this episode of Humanity At Scale: Redefining Leadership Podcast, I speak with Kurt Gray, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at UNC, Chapel Hill, to explore how leaders can navigate moral complexity and foster empathy in organizations. We discuss how perceptions of harm shape moral divides, why storytelling builds understanding better than facts, and how power impacts empathy.
From Conflict To Connection: Harnessing Curiosity, Empathy, and Dialogue. In this episode of Humanity At Scale: Redefining Leadership Podcast, I speak with Dr. Tania Israel, Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at UC Santa Barbara and award-winning author, to explore how leaders can bridge divides and foster human-centered workplaces. We discuss how curiosity transforms conflict, the impact of cognitive biases, and practical strategies for authentic dialogue.
Humanity At Scale: Redefining Leadership Podcast
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
Make sure to check out my podcast, where I reimagine leadership for today’s dynamic world—proving that true success begins with prioritizing people, including employees, customers, and the communities you serve. From candid conversations with executives to breakthrough insights from experts, Humanity at Scale: Redefining Leadership Podcast is your ultimate guide to leading with purpose and empathy.
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The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
Bruce Temkin is a globally recognized thought leader who has spent his career transforming how organizations engage their stakeholders. Known as the “Godfather of Customer Experience,” he has shaped how companies worldwide approach purpose, trust, and empathy. Today he leads the Humanity at Scale movement, empowering leaders to build human-centric organizations that achieve lasting success. He is available for keynote presentations that challenge conventional thinking and inspire leaders to drive meaningful change.