Truth matters

Truth matters
Ask Europe

You may have noticed a strapline on the ASK website. Truth matters. And it really does. Without truth, there is no credibility, no trust, no faith. Lies are quick, cheap and easy, but the bill can be pretty big when it does arrive. And it will.

We may live and work in an era when examples or allegations of ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts’ – to borrow a phrase recently ‘popularised’ by Counselor to the President of the United States, Kellyanne Conway – seem to be everywhere, and where echo chambers digitally amplify them at the speed of whatever it is the Internet travels at. But we are also in the age of the camera-phone, the server log, the CCTV camera, key capture software and many other little technological wonders that track and monitor a remarkably percentage of everything we do. If it happened – or if it didn’t happen (the size of President Trump’s inauguration crowd, anyone?) – there’s a very high chance the evidence exists to prove or disprove it.

Dishonesty has never been the best policy: in 2017, it’s also very stupid. With such a high chance of evidence being available, there is only so far that truth can be stretched before it not only becomes dishonest but transparently so. Remember the Emperor’s New Clothes? You might think you’ve got everything covered so to speak, but other people’s view could be pretty off-putting.

Anyone in a leadership or management position might want to bear in mind that:

a)       avoiding one hurt can cause a greater one

b)      leadership and management require courage, and showing some is part of the job description

c)       the pay rise that came with the elevation is partly in compensation for the increased vulnerability that you will be experiencing.

If you’re finding it lonely at the top, you have our sympathy. But remember the following words from Graham Greene. Not just an author but, in his time, an MI6 agent, he offered the following nugget of advice:

“It is impossible to go through life without trust: that is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself.”

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