Does the Truth Set Me Free...Really?
Noted author and consultant John Berling Hardy poses a provocative question about what we say, how we present ourselves in our work and personal life. In his blog post, The Price for Lying, he offers this
observation:
Businesses, being driven largely by fear, create cultures that sustain and support misrepresentation; the outcome is more fear and lost opportunities for raising performance. People taking credit for ideas they didn't generate, essentially plagiarizing others: for what? Prestige and status?
My post-adolescent embellishments cost me some guilt and shame -- pretty instructive to have a conscience loaded up -- but not necessary because...I didn't need to lie in the first place. Didn't need it at all. Give it up.
Noted author and consultant John Berling Hardy poses a provocative question about what we say, how we present ourselves in our work and personal life. In his blog post, The Price for Lying, he offers this
observation:"Living in a talk world as we do, the temptation to lie is great. First impressions count for so much, there is a huge incentive to embellish our self-representations."After I read Hardy's piece, I got reminded of how I used to "embellish" my accomplishments and "story" when I was back in College (last century, you know). Upon reflection in some solitude later on, I would shame myself, shake my head and wonder why I couldn't get out of the habit of lying, yes lying. I wasn't so elegant to call it something else -- embellishment, grandiosity, exaggeration -- I knew what I was doing and why: to make me look "better" in the eyes of the listener. As if. (That phrase is, I think, now replaced with "whatever.")
Businesses, being driven largely by fear, create cultures that sustain and support misrepresentation; the outcome is more fear and lost opportunities for raising performance. People taking credit for ideas they didn't generate, essentially plagiarizing others: for what? Prestige and status?
My post-adolescent embellishments cost me some guilt and shame -- pretty instructive to have a conscience loaded up -- but not necessary because...I didn't need to lie in the first place. Didn't need it at all. Give it up.
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