Simple flowchart: Should I lie? - No.
by Volker Weber
I know that it is common in today's business world to lie. There are many weasel words around it. "Misrepresenting the facts" is one of them. I call it a lie. And here is my piece of advice:
Do not lie to me. Ever.
There may be times when a lie seems to be the easy way out. But it's not. The problem is, I may catch you lying. And if that happens, all of the trust you have built over time is destroyed.
How did you earn this trust? You have been tested. I may ask you things that I know the answer to. And I will know that you told me the truth. Even if it was difficult. Time and again. I will tell you secrets that only you and I know. If you are trustworthy, I will never hear them again.
An uncomfortable truth will earn you respect. A lie will destroy it. I am not mad at you because you lied. I am mad because I can never trust you again.
Simple flowchart: "Should I lie?" - "No." - "But ..." - "NO!"
Comments
Well said.
There's a corollary to this: If you spin bad news into good news, and I find this out, I'm not going to believe the next good news you tell me.
Something I want to share with my students. Thanks for sharing this.
Beautifully put.
So is it! Thank you.
Oh so true. And holds true in every type of relation...
Wow, what happened?
Hmmh. What could possibly ...
Actually I disagree with the first sentence. It happens, but fortunately I don't experience it as common.