When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows: The Hidden Force Behind Alignment and Trust

One of the most underappreciated skills of leadership isn’t decision-making - it’s shared understanding. At HyperscaleCEO, we often talk about clarity of communication and alignment, but behind all of that sits something deeper: what cognitive scientist Steven Pinker calls “common knowledge.”

In his latest book, "When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Trust", Pinker explores a simple but profound idea: human coordination depends not just on what people know, but on what they know that others know. It sounds abstract, but it explains everything from financial markets to social movements and, as it turns out, how teams and companies really function.

As I read the book, it reminded me of a phrase that I use in my coaching practice: that most leadership problems don’t come from ignorance, they come from misalignment - As Steven says “about who knows what and who knows that others know it”

A CEO One-On-One: When “Gets It” Isn’t common knowledge

A CEO I was coaching recently came to me frustrated. They felt that one of their executives consistently failed to follow through on tasks exactly as expected. The question posed to me: “Was this behaviour due to a lack of competence, or were they just unwilling to follow through?”.

We talked for some time and I asked lots of questions (Which I tend to do). My conclusion was: In reality, it wasn’t a question of skill or effort at all. It was a “Gets it” issue.

The executive didn’t fully understand what the CEO expected of them. The alignment wasn’t there. The CEO had communicated the plan, but the understanding hadn’t become shared, it wasn’t common knowledge in the Pinker sense: the executive didn’t know that the CEO knew the executive understood the expectations.

I suggested a simple test: In their next 1:1 with the executive, ask them to explain how they were interpreting the agreed task and the intended outcomes. Then listen very carefully to the response and  judge if the executive had actually “got it”:  Was there fundamental deep alignment or just a superficial “nodding of heads”?

We had a follow up call a week later and the diagnosis had been correct. The gap in common knowledge had, as I suspected, surfaced during their 1-1. The solution was simple but powerful: clarify expectations explicitly, check for understanding and make sure both sides could articulate the intended outcome in the same terms. It was an “ah-ha” moment both for the CEO and his executive. Suddenly, follow-through improved, frustration decreased and trust strengthened.

This is the essence of building common knowledge. It’s not just about giving instructions, it’s about creating alignment that everyone knows everyone else knows. And for CEOs, testing “Gets it” is one of the most practical ways to do it.

You are the Chief Repetition Officer

Every CEO eventually hits the same frustration: “Why do I have to keep saying the same thing over and over, it feels so redundant?”. The answer to that question is that repetition isn’t redundancy, It’s core to the role of being a CEO. You are the Chief Repetition Officer whether you like it or not. When you communicate the same principle again and again, in all-hands, one-to-ones, investor updates you’re not just broadcasting information. You’re building common knowledge.

You’re aligning not just facts, but shared awareness of those facts. That’s the moment when a team stops acting as individuals and starts acting as one. “First Team” as Patrick Lencioni refers to it.  People move confidently when they know that everyone else knows where you’re going.

Signals Create Reality

Pinker shows that big shifts in societies, in markets, and even revolutions happen when private beliefs become publicly visible. When everyone knows that everyone knows, coordination takes off.

You’ve probably seen this in your own company:

• When you publicly celebrate a value, it becomes real.

• When you acknowledge a hard truth, everyone can focus on the real problem.

• When you share context openly, people stop guessing and start acting.

Leadership isn’t just about clarity, it’s about creating visibility. Turning private awareness into shared understanding is how you turn knowledge into trust.

The Unspoken Truths

The flip side of common knowledge is what you might call the “elephant in the room”, the things everyone knows but nobody acknowledges.

Every CEO has lived those moments:

• The exec who’s not performing, but everyone avoids the conversation.

• The project that everyone suspects is failing, but no one dares to call it.

• The cultural issue hidden under “we’re too busy.”

In those moments, everyone knows, but nobody knows that everyone knows. That’s where energy drains and trust erodes. You have to break that loop. You must name the truth calmly and clearly and give people permission to speak the unspoken. 

How to Build Common Knowledge as a CEO:

1. Test for “Gets It.”

Use the GWC (Gets it, Wants it, has the Capacity) framework to check understanding. Ask people to explain the plan in their own words. 

2. Repeat the message, but keep it alive.

Repetition is only dull when it lacks intent. Great leaders repeat consistently, but it feels fresh and invigorating ever time they do so.

3. Make things visible.

Publish OKRs. Share priorities. Show progress. Visibility creates trust.

4. Close the loop.

Ask your executives: “What do you think that means for your team?” Test for shared understanding at every level in the organization.

A Reflection for CEOs

• Where in your business do people think they “get it”,  but are not really aligned to your needs?

• What assumptions are you making about alignment that might not yet be common knowledge?

• How could you use the GWC “Gets It” test to make invisible misalignment visible?

Final Thought

In "When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows", Steven Pinker argues that shared awareness is what makes both societies and companies function. I love this simple but profound observation. When everyone knows that everyone knows, trust grows, your people won’t wait for orders, they’ll already know what everyone knows and just get on with solving on the real issues that we all face.

That’s the hidden force behind alignment and trust. And that’s what real leadership looks like at Hyperscale!

Photo Credit: Andrea Piacquadio