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The Dog Ate My Laptop
Lies, Lies—and More Lies!
A lie gets halfway around the world . . . before the truth has a chance to get its pants on!
—Winston Churchill, prime minister of England (50 years before the Internet)
Dear Nan:
Help! I have just come from a management meeting I attended with my boss, a project manager. He received many questions about a project in which we are involved, and he fudged on every single answer. Worse than that, he outright lied in response to some. He is not only lying to the team, but also to his boss, the company president. He is trying to cast a good light on the progress of the project by saying we are further along than we are. However, I also know I cannot continue to work with him when I know he has been so deceptive to our teammates. Should I just mind my own business? After all, he is the boss!
—Bob in accounting, Philadelphia, PA
According to my ongoing surveys, lying for the boss continues to be the number one ethical dilemma employees face in the workplace today. The good news, however, is that the problem is diminishing as a result of both diminished requests and compliance.
In response to the question above, virtually 100 percent of my readers declared that they would never lie for their boss, and reiterated their belief that “honesty is always the best policy.” We all know desperate times often make people push the ethical envelope, so I commend these individuals for refusing to compromise their ethics to keep their jobs—especially ...
