One of propellants that allowed Donald Trump to ascend to his party's nomination was the perception of him"telling it like it is." "He's an outsider." "It's like a breath of fresh air." "He's not so politically correct."
None of this, as it turns out, means that the man is particularly truthful. Politifact, which rates all candidates on truthfulness, found that 52% of Trump's evaluated statements were either outright false or worse "pants on fire." (As in "Liar. . .Liar. . ."). 52%! In contrast, Hillary Clinton's percentage is 12%.
Just because someone is an outsider, just because they break constraints, just because they can "sell" an idea with their presentation, just because they are bombastic or "really just puts it all out there". . .doesn't necessarily mean they are truth-tellers.
Decades ago, I had a friend, "Ruth." Ruth had a knack for presenting her ideas as if they had been handed down by God. Everything was stated as fact. . .the problem was, it was often wrong. Ruth's were led down paths of presumption and opinion and bias.
Similarly, I worked with C-Suite guy who had the seeming ability to do the most complex math in his head. "Let me see, if the wage differential were .15/hour for 23 employees, but .38/hour for the remaining 238, over the period of the next 14 weeks the incremental wage, plus indirect expenses would be. . . ." Everyone was amazed by this individual's head-calculating. Finally, I started to bring my calculator to meetings. While he was doing his verbal/mental number manipulation thing, I was fact-checking him on a calculator. Every time he was wrong. He wasn't even close. He was wowing the crowds, but he wasn't truthful. . .
My caution, whether in politics, work or personal relationships, is that we become so bedazelled by the polish, the bravado, the breakthrough presentation. . .that we neglect to seek and honor the truth. Here, then are some basics:
Be able to differentiate opinion from fact.
The greater the hyperbole ("the greatest," "the best," "thousands of people say") usually the further it is from the truth.
Is the individual most interested in promoting himself/herself? If so - usually the truth suffers.
Vagueness, as in "I've heard that. . ." seldom serves the truth well.
Is the individual pandering to you?
Be able to seek facts; be your own fact-checker.
Propogate facts; be willing to speak up if you know the true story.
Look beneath the sheens of "what a breath of fresh air" and "he really tells it like it is" to understand if the individual is really rooted in reality - or just exhaling truly hot and toxic air.
Truth is fundamental; it guides to the right conclusions. Falsehoods take us to bad places. Seek, sow and spread the truth.
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My book "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" is available on Amazon.
Friday, October 28, 2016
Friday, October 21, 2016
The Success of Reaching Across
Amidst all of the verbal firebombs of this current election cycle, there was also a real firebomb. The North Carolina headquarters of the GOP was destroyed by an incendiary device. The horror of that level of violence and depravity is almost offset by what happened next.
David Weinburger started a campaign on Gofundme.com to raise funds to help the Republicans rebuild the facility. Within just 40 minutes, over $13,000 was raised.
Here are the kickers. Mr. Weinburger doesn't even live in North Carolina; he lives in Massachusetts. Mr. Weinburger isn't a Republican; he is a Democrat. Mr. Weinburger specifically appealed to fellow Democrats in his Gofundme appeal, "No matter the result, this is not how Americans resolve their differences." Mr. Weinburger reached across. . .both geographic boundaries and party lines.
Contrast Mr. Weinburger's actions (and the actions of his donors) to the current political climate which has more and more become one of party isolationism and the desire of obliteration of those with opposing viewpoints.
As much as we may complain about the current political environment, or as much as we complain about obstructionism in the workplace; when we refuse to reach out to understand the other side and build bridges, we are part of the chaos we complain about.
Do we want to win? Do we want the world to be a better place? I believe that most of us do. We do not accomplish that by building increasingly extreme points of view; we do it by reaching out so that we may preserve and grow what is truly foundational to our success.
Mr. Weinburger could have sat on idealism and, in this case, found another notch of victory in that the opposing party suffered a physical loss. Instead, he took the larger view that a two party system and healthy arguments are essential to our democracy and he enabled others to reach across party lines to preserve that which is truly important.
In politics. In work. In family. Reach across. Build bridges. Be successful.
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My book "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" is available on Amazon Kindle.
David Weinburger started a campaign on Gofundme.com to raise funds to help the Republicans rebuild the facility. Within just 40 minutes, over $13,000 was raised.
Here are the kickers. Mr. Weinburger doesn't even live in North Carolina; he lives in Massachusetts. Mr. Weinburger isn't a Republican; he is a Democrat. Mr. Weinburger specifically appealed to fellow Democrats in his Gofundme appeal, "No matter the result, this is not how Americans resolve their differences." Mr. Weinburger reached across. . .both geographic boundaries and party lines.
Contrast Mr. Weinburger's actions (and the actions of his donors) to the current political climate which has more and more become one of party isolationism and the desire of obliteration of those with opposing viewpoints.
As much as we may complain about the current political environment, or as much as we complain about obstructionism in the workplace; when we refuse to reach out to understand the other side and build bridges, we are part of the chaos we complain about.
Do we want to win? Do we want the world to be a better place? I believe that most of us do. We do not accomplish that by building increasingly extreme points of view; we do it by reaching out so that we may preserve and grow what is truly foundational to our success.
Mr. Weinburger could have sat on idealism and, in this case, found another notch of victory in that the opposing party suffered a physical loss. Instead, he took the larger view that a two party system and healthy arguments are essential to our democracy and he enabled others to reach across party lines to preserve that which is truly important.
In politics. In work. In family. Reach across. Build bridges. Be successful.
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My book "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" is available on Amazon Kindle.
Friday, October 14, 2016
Would It Kill Us to Be a Little Nicer?
You could practically hear a collective exhale of relief. At the most recent, town-hall style presidential debate, a questioner asked both candidates to name something they admired about the other candidate. Right there, in the middle of full-tilt accusations and counters and name calling and what else. . .common sense had a moment.
So here's a reminder in the middle of the most crazy presidential election I've ever seen. . .in a society that seemingly thrives on Real Housewives drama. . .in a world in which an extreme, but vocal few view success as outright obliteration of anyone who is at all culturally different from them.
Let's all be a little nicer.
To the very practical side of this. I recently traveled for business. Want to see a bunch of grim faces? Go to an airport. But, really, why all of the anxiety and what-not? Lead with a little niceness. Tell agents you appreciate the expertise with which they board nearly 200 shoving people in a plane in less than twenty minutes. Let them you know you appreciate the patience they exhibited while handling the screaming, crying customer in front of you. Thank them when they scan your ticket. It comes as so unexpected that you can just see their entire day open to a perspective of better things.
Or shopping. Say something nice to the person behind the counter. Compliment them on what a great job they did in ringing that massive order. Tell them how much you appreciate their work every single day. And mean it.
And let the actions back up the words. After all, you pay $69/month for a gym membership, so it would be perfectly congruent for you to push your shopping cart to the designated corral as opposed to letting it sit in the middle of the parking lot. Or, sticking around a micro-second longer to open the door for someone. Or let someone merge in front of you.
At work: pull back the shoulders, adjust the strut and smile at people. Say "good morning" and "how are you" and stick around to hear a response. Open doors (literally and figuratively) Tell them you appreciate all of the work yesterday/last week/last month/last year. Tell them you admire their perspective on whatever it was that you were talking about in the hallway yesterday.
Here's my fear, that we are starting to confuse the "entertainment" value of drama (and in this I don't mean that drama of Downtown Abbey but rather the name calling and hair pulling of reality TV) with real life. That we may think that calling someone the devil on national television is something to be modeled. That we believe that punching and counter-punching is the way to win in this world.
Don't. Don't be those people. Eschew that behavior.
Be nice. The world, your world, will be a much better place.
Like it? Share it?
My book "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" is available on Amazon Kindle.
So here's a reminder in the middle of the most crazy presidential election I've ever seen. . .in a society that seemingly thrives on Real Housewives drama. . .in a world in which an extreme, but vocal few view success as outright obliteration of anyone who is at all culturally different from them.
Let's all be a little nicer.
To the very practical side of this. I recently traveled for business. Want to see a bunch of grim faces? Go to an airport. But, really, why all of the anxiety and what-not? Lead with a little niceness. Tell agents you appreciate the expertise with which they board nearly 200 shoving people in a plane in less than twenty minutes. Let them you know you appreciate the patience they exhibited while handling the screaming, crying customer in front of you. Thank them when they scan your ticket. It comes as so unexpected that you can just see their entire day open to a perspective of better things.
Or shopping. Say something nice to the person behind the counter. Compliment them on what a great job they did in ringing that massive order. Tell them how much you appreciate their work every single day. And mean it.
And let the actions back up the words. After all, you pay $69/month for a gym membership, so it would be perfectly congruent for you to push your shopping cart to the designated corral as opposed to letting it sit in the middle of the parking lot. Or, sticking around a micro-second longer to open the door for someone. Or let someone merge in front of you.
At work: pull back the shoulders, adjust the strut and smile at people. Say "good morning" and "how are you" and stick around to hear a response. Open doors (literally and figuratively) Tell them you appreciate all of the work yesterday/last week/last month/last year. Tell them you admire their perspective on whatever it was that you were talking about in the hallway yesterday.
Here's my fear, that we are starting to confuse the "entertainment" value of drama (and in this I don't mean that drama of Downtown Abbey but rather the name calling and hair pulling of reality TV) with real life. That we may think that calling someone the devil on national television is something to be modeled. That we believe that punching and counter-punching is the way to win in this world.
Don't. Don't be those people. Eschew that behavior.
Be nice. The world, your world, will be a much better place.
Like it? Share it?
My book "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" is available on Amazon Kindle.
Friday, October 7, 2016
Who is Getting In Your Way. . .?
Most of us have experienced situations in which we believe we are being held back. We can't accomplish our goals. The promotion seems elusive. We can't conduct business as we wish. It is tempting in these times to assume that someone is holding us back; and from what I've observed up front and personal. . .the person holding us back is the person we see when we stand in front of a mirror
More times than I care to recount, I have said of someone: "They are their own worst enemy." To be fair, many times I have been my own worst enemy. Now the wonderful thing about this is the center of control is within us. We don't have to try to change another person's behavior to accomplish what we want; we need to change our own behavior.
Often it is our own self-view that holds us back. We believe we are either not good enough; or conversely, that we are so good that we live in the ethos and truly cannot connect.
Sometimes it is our approach to a situation that prevents us from moving forward; our reluctance to change our approach means we are destined to bang our heads against the wall.
We may be refusing to change or seek help for that which we know needs to be changed: lifestyles, habits, addictions are all prime contributors to standing in the way of success.
Our world view is also important. Many times I have seen people unable to get ahead because their world view is that everyone is out to get them. This martyrdom, as opposed to effective actions to achieve goals, prohibits people from attaining what they truly want.
And again, the good news in all of this is that we have the tools to change that which is getting in our way. I've used this saying before and I'll use it again. . .
We cannot change what we do not own. So own it, change it and get out of your own way.
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More times than I care to recount, I have said of someone: "They are their own worst enemy." To be fair, many times I have been my own worst enemy. Now the wonderful thing about this is the center of control is within us. We don't have to try to change another person's behavior to accomplish what we want; we need to change our own behavior.
Often it is our own self-view that holds us back. We believe we are either not good enough; or conversely, that we are so good that we live in the ethos and truly cannot connect.
Sometimes it is our approach to a situation that prevents us from moving forward; our reluctance to change our approach means we are destined to bang our heads against the wall.
We may be refusing to change or seek help for that which we know needs to be changed: lifestyles, habits, addictions are all prime contributors to standing in the way of success.
Our world view is also important. Many times I have seen people unable to get ahead because their world view is that everyone is out to get them. This martyrdom, as opposed to effective actions to achieve goals, prohibits people from attaining what they truly want.
And again, the good news in all of this is that we have the tools to change that which is getting in our way. I've used this saying before and I'll use it again. . .
We cannot change what we do not own. So own it, change it and get out of your own way.
Like it? Share it!
My book "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" is available on Amazon Kindle.
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