Truth is a fundamental need.
We desperately want the truth. Much of our culture and life involves an attempt to discover it.
Our educational system, the judicial system, every branch of science, news, social media – all of them purport to find and communicate… the truth.
Yet according to statistics while sources of truth are vastly more prevalent, distrust is at an all-time high.
In one of the most iconic cinematic interactions in A Few Good Men, there is a heated exchange between Col. Jessup and LTJG Kaffee, “You want answers?” “I want the truth!” “You can’t handle the truth!”
The problem with the truth is it can be very uncomfortable. It can be misused, used against you. And on the other hand, you can dramatically tip the scales in your favor by selling out the truth, shading it.
Everyone wants the truth when it is to their advantage. But it can have a severe bite when it reveals weakness or failure on our side, when it seems to put you at a disadvantage.
The ninth commandment is often shortened to you shall not lie. It actually says you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
There is something important in that difference. Lying is not merely saying something false. It actively defrauds another person.
The very core to insanity and psychosis is an inability to understand what is true or real.
There’s a declaration from Jesus quoted by people across belief spectrums, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”
If truth sets you free, what does a lie or deception do?
What would be the truth quotient in your business? in your personal leadership?
How does truth interplay in your business among clients, employees, bosses, venders?
No business, person, leader, or relationship is perfect. What happens when I get confronted by my imperfection? How do I sell when it seems everyone else is benefiting from a shaded truth?
As with each of these commands, there are valuable principles that go well beyond surface familiarity.
- Truth is the most fundamental building block of existence.
The reason we can develop and relate beyond any other living creature is our grasp of truth. None of us have perfect understanding, but we have a critical mass of understanding.
Truth is not a nicety. It’s an essential. It is not just for moralistic prudes.
We grasp this in technical circumstances (rocket propulsion, surgical procedures, mathematical computations). We are not quite as cognizant of its critical natural in business transactions and culture. In these, it is seen as valuable but not necessarily essential. In fact, at times it is seen as a liability.
- Lying undercuts the very fabric of society and is the farthest thing from a victimless crime.
Society requires justice, equity, and relational interactions. Each of these are founded on truth. Undercut truth and you undercut society. The term gaslighting has come more in vague as people have grown more skeptical of truth claims.
Because not all lies come attached to 1s and 0s, we often don’t see the full repercussions of them. Which is why the Ten Commandments and the Ten Commandments of Business are so needed. They regularly challenge what we would regularly ignore or be ignorant of.
- Lying is not merely saying something false. It actively defrauds another person.
Defrauding happens with a lot more than money. Because life, relationships, and business are so fundamentally based on truth, when you interject a lie, you are interjecting a contagion. In a world of clicks and online influencers, the propensity to shade or obliterate the truth seeps into everything including corporate business.
We don’t need to whine about it. We just need to confront the reality and ubiquitous nature of it.
- While lying speaks most directly of a literal attempt to deceive, not following through on one’s commitments is one of the most frequent acts of deception by omission.
Truth comes in a number of packages. In business, following through is a prime package.
Jesus had an unequalled ability to communicate epic truths in succinct formats. His challenge in what became known as The Sermon on the Mount was don’t make elaborate promises, just let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no.” (Matthew 5:33-37). According to Jesus and Solomon (Proverbs 10:19), the more elaborate the declaration the greater the chance you are going to get hosed.
Follow-through requires mature discipline, character, and competency. Lacking any of these, people tend toward manipulative means and dishonest practices.
- Our pursuit of truth is never greater than our willingness to be wrong.
The challenge with follow-through is all of us are finite and the work is infinite. Periodically, all of us get it wrong. If I’m not willing to stretch or risk to the point of periodic failure, or if I’m unwilling to humbly admit when I’ve screwed up, my pursuit of truth is going to be greatly constrained.
- Lying is easier and at times more lucrative upfront. Truth is easier and has greater ROI in perpetuity.
To be honest about our lying, lying is so attractive because it often is most immediately advantageous. Lying is a shortcut. Lying erases issues – kind of like alcohol erases problems.
You don’t have to fix the problem if you just lie and declare it doesn’t exist. However, since the problem doesn’t go away just because I covered it up, it metastasizes and creates greater issues.
It also means I don’t confront the issues internally that led to the problem I’m attempting to disguise.
Which is why, …
- Truth inspires, if not forces, growth
The painfulness of truth embraced correctly becomes a catalyst for growth.
I wish it were otherwise, but we tend to grow more quickly resolving pain than simply pursuing development. If I’m committed to embracing truth, the regular painful correctives will accelerate my and my business’ growth.
Remove this impetus, and real growth stagnates.