Liar Liar… is someone’s business suit on fire?

Truth is a tricky thing. The movie Liar Liar, illustrates this well. Fletcher Reede is a man who builds his life and career on lies, which in the end comes back to haunt him. He learns that his perpetual dishonesty has forever damaged his home and professional relationships. On the other hand, when Reede is forced to tell nothing but the absolute truth, he hurts people’s feelings and still damages relationships. So we know that blatant deceit isn't good, but is honesty always the best policy?

 Why We Don’t Always Tell The Truth published by the Harvard Review provides interesting insight. Author of the article, Ron Ashkenas, focuses on the concept of “shading the truth” at appropriate times. He says “there are times when a little white lie or the absence of key facts might be appropriate.” In his writing, a salesman serves as an example for the type of role that may involve limiting the truth and figuring out how to deliver it later. Realistically, his argument is even backed by performance statistics. Research referenced in Honest Workers at a Disadvantage on the Job found that honest employees didn’t perform as well, had lower customer satisfaction scores and yielded fewer sales conversions. In essence, this is the case because customers felt satisfied with the transaction upfront when they talked to a fibber.

At first glance higher scores and more sales seems great. In fact, it feels good to tell someone what they want to hear and make them happy. But as demonstrated by Fletcher in Liar Liar, there are consequences down the line. Customer satisfaction scores for dishonest transactions would likely plummet upon further investigation. The real truth would eventually surface after receiving the misrepresented product or service and it would not only damage that employee’s scores, it would also create a bad image for the company.

Furthermore, within the same research which demonstrated on the job liars performed better, it was ironically revealed that dishonest employees stayed with companies for significantly smaller periods of time and required more supervision. Understandably, dishonest employees weren't trusted with as much by their employers.  

As a general rule of thumb, there are pros and cons for more and less honesty when it comes to “getting the job done”. Less honest employees tend to benefit immediately while honest employees see long term rewards. But there is an important factor that hasn't been addressed yet, which is the delivery of honesty. What about the new breed of employees, whom we’ll call “Kind Truth Tellers?” These are individuals strong in their emotional intelligence and leadership skills. Kind Truth Tellers avoid jobs that involve offering a service they can’t tell the truth about. As positive people, they understand how to highlight the best aspects of their service or product, while being completely honest. After an up-beat friendly conversation about the product of interest to a customer, a Kind Truth Teller might say “It sounds like you might really enjoy this ______ and I’m so glad I could answer your questions today. As it is very important that you’re completely satisfied, I want to make sure you know that this product has a delayed shipping date of July 20^th.” Including the less appealing truth may lose the sale. More likely, it will gain the trust, and respect of the customer.

Be it a sales call or a conversation between a manager and an employee, honesty is the best policy. As individuals, everyone has the ability to remain honest if they work at it. All that being said, even when the truth can’t be softened, it is still best in the long run for everyone involved. Better the customer knows upfront that they don’t want that product, than they never buy from the store again due to lack of trust. As shown by research, the employee who is treated kindly, but occasionally challenged through honest feedback, will grow and likely gain ground in their career.

No one is saying complete honesty is easy or that it is even continuously sustainable. We are all human and we all slip up. However, the goal is to continue developing ourselves and try. It seems appropriate to close with one of history’s most famous honesty quotes, which was coined by Thomas Jefferson “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” 

Additional Topics of Professional Interest:

Lions and Tigers and Confidence, oh my!
Leadership Qualities of Nelson Mandela
How to avoid bottling Emotions

Calling Stumbleupon users. My organization, Center for Work Life, is on Stumbleupon and we would love to follow you. Come visit us so we can share content.