High-Stakes Leadership

Chapter 10

Truth

Up to this point in our exploration of leadership, the topic of honesty has not been directly addressed. It deserves some discussion as an important facet of fortitude, even though most people think of it as a character trait. This is only partly true, however, and this oversimplification is not useful.

Scientific research on the topic of honesty shows results similar to those on cognition, perception, and decision making. That is, we tend to think the behavior of others (especially bad or ill advised) is the result of an individual flaw, but what we do is more influenced by circumstance. Precisely because context is powerful, leaders need to keep a close eye on the environment of their organization. The culture of an organization ...