5. How We Justify Our Bad Behavior
A central message of this book is that organizational relationships are paradoxical in that their key building blocks, such as close, personal relationships and trust, also serve as conduits for partnership poison. In this chapter, I further explain how this happens. Ironically, it happens when the gains from doing so are at their lowest. That’s not a typo. When there is little to gain, partners will cheat. Everyone understands that robbers rob banks because that’s where the money is. But why would partners lie, cheat, and steal from each other when there is almost nothing to gain?
When there is little to gain, partners will cheat.
Here is how it happens. First we must realize that partnerships are often formed ...
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