As a leader interacting with thousands of people and lots of personalities I am often faced with situations that force me to make a decision about telling the truth or telling someone what they want to hear. People that work with me know that I would rather tell someone the truth than to tell someone what they want to hear. Not only do I do this in business, but in my personal life also. I don’t know where people learn that it is ok to tell a lie or to not tell the truth if it is going to create less conflict or keep someone from getting their feelings hurt. People are watching you every day and they are watching every move you make. If they see you lie to someone else then they are probably thinking “if its that easy for them to lie to that person then have they been lying to me?”
It’s hurts your credibility with the people you are trying to help and the people who are watching you. I take this very seriously because of my 2 year old daughter. I made the decision never to tell her a lie in order to get her to behave a certain way, and I am also not going to lie to her to keep from hurting her feelings now or as she gets older. I am not saying that I am going to be heartless and cruel to her or anyone else I am working with, but people deserve the “truth” no matter what the excuse is. If you are guilty of lying to people regardless of what your reasoning or justification is, then your can bet you are going to have people lie to you in the future, it’s just a matter of time.