As leaders it is critical we understand the importance of being truthful, first with ourselves and then with others. Those who know me have heard me say more than once, "the worse person to lie to is yourself". Time has taught me that our desire to protect ourselves from consequence, the fear of consequence, leads us to deny or distort the facts around the truth. Much like a child's fear of consequence, we often rationalize our mistakes to the point of converting the truth into our version of events, a truth that helps us avoid consequence. But the fact remains that no matter how much we convince ourselves that the facts are as we want them to be, those who witnessed our actions know the truth.
We can deceive ourselves, but it is difficult to deceive those who witnessed our behavior, they are perplexed at our inability to accept responsibility for our actions. We set an example for those around us that when things go wrong, it is acceptable to distort the facts and blame someone else. We even have the audacity to judge others when they fail to own their mistakes without regard for the fact that we have encouraged their behavior because we are unwilling to own ours.
There is a biblical scripture, John 8:32, which speaks about being set free, not simply from the fear of consequence but from living a life of falsehood. It means living a principled life, one where being truthful comes naturally because it is what we expect of ourselves and others. It means we own our mistakes because we understand that owning them makes us better and reflects to those around us that we expect them to own their's. It recognizes our humanity and the fact that we are flawed and will make mistakes. It ensures that because we own our mistakes and the consequences of those mistakes, that we are astute in our decision making, willing to include the insights of others before making a final decision. These are the freedoms we gain as leaders when we make the commitment to be truthful in spite of the consequences. Practicing truthfulness, particularly when things go wrong, frees others to do the same and eliminates any accuses for their choosing to be untruthful. The truth shall set you free. Just a little advice to go!
