Monday, August 07, 2023

NEW INC. MAGAZINE ARTICLE BY HOWARD TULLMAN

 

What to Do When People Ask You to Lie

Defendant Don demanded unquestioned obedience to his requests to subvert authorities. Business owners can't afford to operate by that standard.

 

BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS@HOWARDTULLMAN1

 

As the Trump cesspool of crime continues to swirl, widen and deepen, another group of poor, loyal suckers who worked for Defendant Don at the Mar-il-Legal and at the White House are now being drawn into the vortex of lies that surrounds the Orange Monster. Many of Trump’s past and present attorneys are already seeing their careers disintegrating. All six of his alleged co-conspirators in the latest indictment are attorneys, including No. 1, Rudy Giuliani. They and the rest of the world are watching their lives and futures (and possibly their freedom) being sacrificed on the altar of Trump’s epic narcissism and delusions.

 There are plenty of lessons in this sad saga, but the most critical one is what to do -- or more importantly not to do -- when you’re asked by your boss, your peers or anyone else in your business, to lie. In addition to dozens of people employed by Trump or working in the White House, Trump is also specifically alleged to have asked election officials and others in Arizona and Georgia, not to mention former vice president Mike Pence, to lie for him. 

 And, by lying, I don’t merely mean overtly and directly telling lies. A half-truth is a whole lie. Lying by omission, fake ignorance or turning a blind eye to illegal actions and behaviors beyond the pale are equally criminal and repugnant. Hiding or casually neglecting to produce inconvenient documents or, in the case of Northwestern University, standing by and saying nothing as football hazing and baseball abuse take place right before your eyes, is just as dishonest and dishonorable as holding up a bank, burning critical documents in the White House fireplaces, or flushing notes down the toilet. These people are merely choosing the comfort of ignorance over the inconvenience of truth. 

Silence is a tax on the truth.

To be very clear, we’re not talking here about vague matters of degree or simply shading the truth a little bit as when the founders of Snapchat lied about the way their product actually worked.  This isn’t a case of situational ethics, which are bad enough to be sure and a challenge for every entrepreneur. And, as sick and criminal as “fake it ‘til you make” has been shown to be in the recent past, the present cases of lies and concealment are even worse.

The poor, put-upon Trump flunkies were allegedly instructed and directed by their “boss” to lie, obstruct, and conceal books, records, classified documents, videos, and other evidence, in the full knowledge that the materials were actively and aggressively being sought by federal agents and the FBI.  Suggestions of criminal acts to be undertaken by Trump’s counsel were allegedly made slightly more subtle and oblique, although the truth may be that the directions were far more overt. Trump’s lawyers are now calling his vehement and violent directions “aspirational” advice with a straight face. It was only the reticence and restraint of the attorneys themselves in recording and documenting these actions -- for their own illusory protection -- that have led us to believe that these demands were more suggestive than deliberate, direct orders. Time and tapes will tell.

 On the other hand, the one true thing that we’ve already seen is that people who will lie for you will eventually lie to you. As the rats, enablers, co-conspirators, and counsel rush to abandon the sinking Trump ship and make their own deals with the DOJ -- and the MAGA morons and sycophants in Congress continue to publicly support Defendant Don’s growing craziness -- they all take the time to continually reassure the Donald that they have his back.  Only former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has apparently gone entirely radio silent in an obvious bid to save his own skin, which seems to be working. But the knives are out, the proffers are proliferating; they can’t wait to be rid of the cancer, if they could only find the exits. Hopefully, one of the most well-deserved punishments of Trump will be the liar’s curse:  not that he won’t be believed, but that he’ll never be able to believe anyone else.

Whatever the true circumstances turn out to be in the Mar-a-Lago mess, the fact is that managers, team members, outside partners, vendors, and professionals face similar situations in their own businesses on a far too regular basis. Some of the very unfortunate and last-lasting messages and scars of the Trump years are the mistaken beliefs that lying is as common in D.C. as breathing, that everyone cuts corners and shades the truth, and that only losers and suckers try to act fairly and honestly.

 So how do you protect your business, your teams, and your clients and customers from thieves and liars inside your own shop? Be honest with yourself and admit that, especially in tough economic times, there are always far more reasons and excuses to lie than to tell the truth. That’s not an explanation or justification, it’s just a fact of human nature. There really are no good excuses, but they’re abundant, nonetheless. Remember that it’s always easier to be wise for others than for ourselves. Here are a few things to keep in mind.  

 First, have clear written policies and communicate them consistently, but don’t think for a minute that that’s sufficient to get the job done. Don’t worry or be embarrassed because so much of what’s written will sound like cliches and mission statement BS. Northwestern has had a wonderful anti-hazing policy for more than 10 years and it did nothing to address or resolve the problems they’ve had throughout their athletic department. You can’t legislate honesty. You’ve got to make the right behaviors part and parcel of your company culture -- instilled in everyone from the day they start -- which you do through actions and examples, not just talk.

 Second, acknowledge that it’s not ever easy to be the only one in a group who gets it. Plenty of people always know what’s going on, but only a few are strong enough in the face of opposition to stand up for the truth. It takes considerable courage to be the one who says “no.” Speaking up and speaking out are tough, but these are things that you do just as much for the business and the others you work with as for yourself.  In the end, it will turn out that, even if you’re the first, eventually you won’t be alone. Relationships at work or anywhere else aren’t supposed to be easy; they’re supposed to be honest. Being honest may not get you a lot of friends, but it'll always get you the right ones.

 Third, keeping your mouth shut in the interest of keeping the peace isn’t being passive, it’s being complicit. And it’s just as bad for the business as outright lying. There aren’t degrees of the truth. Going along with the group, ignoring the obvious, blaming the circumstances or the times, accepting half-truths and rancid rationalizations and preferring to accept convenient and painless fantasies rather than the thorny and difficult truth are short-term solutions. Such cheap compromises are sure to return to bite you. In addition, they suck all the joy out of the workplace and slowly impair the morale of your best people. No one likes living a lie.

 Finally, remember that determining the whole truth isn’t always that easy, so before you step forward and call anyone out, it’s critically important to do your homework. You can’t take some of these things back once they’re out there. Make absolutely sure you know what you’re talking about before you open your mouth. In some cases, owners and managers don’t know the truth; in others, they can’t acknowledge or face the truth; and then there are those who are lying to cover up the truth.

 Bottom line: It’s as hard to tell the truth in some cases as it is to hide it, but if you tell the truth, it becomes part of your past. If you lie, it becomes part of your future. And if anyone asks you to lie, they couldn’t care less about you or your future.