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Sunday, November 28, 2010

You can't handle the truth - or can you?

I drummed it into my son.  Tell me the truth.  Sure, you'll get punished if you've done wrong, but trying to hide it will only make it worse.  Life will punish you if you lie.
So I found ways to reward him for the courage of owning up while punishing him for doing whatever the deadly deed was at the sweet age of 5.
I still think that's valid.  The truth is so hard to tell sometimes.  But not telling it always works out so much harder in the long run.  Believe me, I know.  And I guarantee you do too.
Why is it so socially acceptable to be nice to people we don't like?  To pretend about anything?  Why was there actually a funny movie (sorry, supposedly funny) about someone who told the truth all the time, and got into trouble?
I watched Fair Game yesterday.  Good movie.  It certainly made me think.
Every sales development workshop I have ever facilitated, had honesty emerge as a primary preferred value.  Every leadership program has had participants vibrantly engaged in discussions about integrity and authentic alignment.
So why are lies so generally embraced as being socially or commercially necessary?  What are we afraid of?  How does this happen??!!

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