Honesty in Business
by Fred Roed on 15/10/07 at 11:19 am
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‘What is the danger of a little white lie,’ someone asked me recently, ‘especially when it protects both you and the customer?’ He was arguing the merit of withholding information from his client base.
I struggled to compose a good response to that question, until I saw this post from Keo about the Springbok rugby team during the World Cup.
This has been the most remarkable Bok World Cup campaign, mainly because of the honesty between coach and players when it comes to selection and the freedom with which each player has been allowed to operate. This has been a sporting campaign and not a political coup.
It has been a joy to follow these guys around France because they’ve come to play in a sport’s event, knowing they were good enough to win it.
There hasn’t been scandal because there has been honesty. There have been difficult moments, but that’s to be expected and there has been unhappiness because only 15 can start.
I think the danger is ’stress’ – the stress that you create when you’re not 100% transparent. When you lie in business, whether it’s about delivery or capability, materials or price, ask yourself: ‘Is it worth the stress?’ Even if it’s a case of withholding information, think about how much easier it is in the long-term to manage expectations with your client if you’re open and transparent from the start.
If you battle with this, think about the previous Springbok regime and the stress that occurred when all the behind-the-scenes nonsense was exposed - then compare it to the openness and freshness of the current team.
You may get through the day faster by telling a few lies, but think how refreshing it would be to be get through each campaign / project / task without having to worry about the landmines you’ve buried along the way.
Look at the way Mark Keohane responds to the approach by the current Springbok team. Wouldn’t it be good to have the same response from your customers?
Fred Roed is the marketing guy in the Ideate crew. Fred is the CEO of web marketing company World Wide Creative and the co-founder of online learning portal Heavy Chef. Fred loves writing about people out there doing marketing right. Follow Fred on Twitter here. View more articles by Fred Roed.
