Honesty

How do you spell honesty?

R-I-S-K.

At least, I think that is the correct common American spelling.

Unless you are at work. 

Then it is spelled D-O-O-M.

The tragedy of it is this: honesty has fallen so far out of favor in our culture that it sits lower than a young rapper’s jeans on his skinny frame.

I believe that being truthful has gotten an undeserved bad reputation, right alongside being faithful to your spouse, and being a cheerful employee with integrity.

Being honest used to be a character trait to be admired, as others knew you could be trusted. Too many people now believe it is for fools who aren’t enlightened enough to understand the many nuances of truth, or for rubes who are too ethical to understand the devastating potential it holds.

Long ago, I worked for a company where there were regular department meetings to go over what had and had not been successful over the past week, and what we could do to make any kinks disappear. (Yes, Virginia. Productive, and I daresay, even enjoyable meetings really do exist.) We had developed a great rapport as a group, and we were all able to honestly discuss and brainstorm with a spirit of helpfulness and a goal of problem solving. Just as an historical note, we had been recently led to becoming this well-oiled machine from a place of tremendous dysfunctionality, and not surprisingly, honesty, or lack thereof, was one of our issues. But, that is another story for another day.

So, all of us were on board the truth train. Well, almost all.

One fellow employee relished these gatherings, as she would invariably start her comments with, “Well, to be brutally frank…”. I have to tell you. I dreaded it when Mr. Brutally Frank joined us. He was not in the conference room with the group to help build a healthier, more efficient workplace. Oh, no. He was in the kitchen, using the opportunity to “be honest” as a cover to do a slice and dice on each of us that was worthy of a Ginsu knife master.

Let’s just say that this employee and her buddy Mr. Frank thankfully did not last long, as the business really did value integrity and honesty in each of their employees, and I think that she found the fit to be quite uncomfortable.

How does honesty rate in your workplace? Is it a regular guest, familiar, wise and welcome, so much so that it has an established seat at your table? Do you greet it with an open mind and an open heart, in an effort to learn and grow? Do you swat it aside like a minor irritation? Do you roar at its appearance, your message loud and clear, that he who values his head should think twice about being honest with you? Or do you use it as a weapon, viewing its usefulness only in terms of the damage it can inflict and the gains you will make?

As difficult as it can be to create a culture of honesty in today’s world, you need to raise the bar, and start with yourself, making the habit of truthfulness the expectation, not the aberration.

How do I spell honesty? T-H-E   R-I-G-H-T   C-H-O-I-C-E

Make it yours today.

For it is the light that brings a rich harvest of every kind of goodness, righteousness, and truth. Ephesians 5:9

Photo © K. Hall