Liars – we’ve all seen them, fallen victim to them, and if we are truthful, joined their ranks from time to time.
I’ve been researching, writing, and talking about the critical importance of integrity in leadership and organizations for over 20 years. At first, I naively thought that we could make significant progress toward leaders and organizations acting with honor and integrity if we just had enough visibility and discussion. If only there were enough talks, articles, blogs, open discussions, and training seminars surely people would realize that honesty is the best policy.
My optimistic view of humanity did me in again as society lurched from the savings and loan crisis of the early 1990’s to numerous political scandals, to cheating in schools, and dishonesty in organized religion. Along the way, there was Enron, WorldCom, and hundreds of lesser known corporate scandals. Trust in the media and elected officials plummeted. And, “senior leaders” lost their credibility as they combined blatantly stupid, self-serving action with a crisis of character, courage, and common sense.
It turns out that truth never had a chance. We all lie. Some do it for malicious reasons. Others do so out of a sense of kindness or benign indifference. But, we all do it.
There are times when that article of clothing makes us look fat. There are times when we feel like crap, and there are times when we feel the pressure to say what is untrue to cover for our lack of performance.
And that is why you need to read The Truth About Lies in the Workplace.
Carol Kinsey Gorman has written a spectacular book about why we lie; how to spot liars; and most important, how to deal with them.
This isn’t another “ wouldn’t it be great if we all told the truth” book with a few bullet point lists thrown in for filler. Gorman supplemented hard science research from neuroscientists, social psychologists, university researchers with her own study of what is really happening in the workplace. The result is a book that explains why lying is hard-wired into our lives and what we can do to keep that from destroying our relationships and companies.
The Truth About Lies in the Workplace is the freshest book I’ve read on this topic in a long, long time. I love it, and you will, too.
Buy it now and stop falling prey to the liars that walk among us.
