Leaders, remember… your “Words” matter!!

 

 

Over the years, I have posted numerous essays that focus on the impact of leaders and leadership across organizations large and small.  I had had the honor to lead small teams (2-3 team members as a brand manager at Kraft Foods) and large companies (3000+ team members as President & COO of Bolthouse Farms) and have learned a ton on that leadership journey.  As I wrote years ago in the essay (“Authenticity, the foundation of leadership”, https://fylegacy.blogspot.com/2009/06/authenticity-foundation-of-leadership.html), the alignment between the “words” and “actions” of a leader are closely watched and deeply important.  The concept of leaders working to stay close to the “rail of authenticity” that I describe in that essay is still a foundational idea that I share with leaders all the time.  The “alignment” (and at times the “misalignment) of a leader’s words & actions can be at the core of an organization running effectively and being led well ... or the opposite.  Additionally, I have written a number of essays (one titled “Our Actions Betray Our Intent,"https://fylegacy.blogspot.com/2017/06/our-actions-betray-our-intent.html ) describing how the alignment between “words & actions” are always reviewed or “watched” very carefully by organizations and ultimately a leader’s actions are scrutinized and “tell the tale” of what the leader really thinks is important or where her/his priorities truly lie.

In this context, I am currently overwhelmed (and angered) by the widespread mendacity 

mendacity, (noun) 

1.     the quality of being mendacious; untruthfulness; tendency to lie. 

2.    an instance of lying; falsehood. 

of prominent leaders across the business, media, and political landscapes.  This isn’t just a little bit of “spin control” here and there, but the outright disregard of the truth, and the comfort in creating, communicating, and spreading lies… often dangerous and felonious lies… is a trait in our current culture that needs to be called out and stamped out broadly!   For leaders of organizations of any shape, nature or size, this is trait of “public mendacity” is unacceptable and one not to be modeled… it is a trait to be fought!  I have chosen just a few examples that follow to bring this trend into sharp relief.  I will limit the direct quotes to a minimum not to further spread mistruths, but will share enough to illuminate the idea, and you the reader can do further research to validate the content.

 

“Mendacity in Business”

 

While the private sector is unfortunately full of examples of CEO’s (and many other senior leaders) “misrepresenting” the truth, you need to look no further than Elizabeth Holmes and her actions as the CEO of the disgraced firm Theranos.  Her lies about the efficacy of her testing technology, combined with her falsification of key financial records landed her (and other Theranos executives) under criminal investigation that lead to Ms. Holmes being found guilty of numerous felonies, now serving a 9+ yr prison term.  Leaders, remember … YOUR words matter!

 

“Mendacity in Media”

 

Again, as above there are numerous instances where key media leaders create, communicate and knowingly broadly share complete falsehoods to millions and at times billions of readers/listeners/followers.  One current & extreme example is Elon Musk, owner of the platform formally called twitter.  In a recent post, he shared the falsehood that Great Britain was building some type of “detainment camps” on the Falkland Islands… a complete falsehood.  While he ultimately took that post down (which he seems to be doing very often recently) it had almost 2 million views before it was taken down; while this instance of 2 million seems huge, the scope and impact of his privately owned media platform regularly generates billions of views of other posts equally untrue.  Leaders, remember … YOUR words matter!

 

 

“Mendacity in Politics”

 

Now this is a complicated and “touchy” space but one that needs to be called out… now more than ever.  Politics and political campaigns have always been an environment of hyperbole, exaggeration and “spin” and the American political landscape has been messy from the beginning.  There are famous allegations in the 1800 presidential race between Adams and Jefferson of one candidate alleging the other was the “devil” and even had a forked tail!  While a bit nutty in hindsight, still a clear falsehood.  In today’s race the falsehoods are uglier, and much more dangerous and I want to specifically reference the lies told by a certain republican V.P. candidate about the citizens of Springfield Ohio.  I am disgusted and offended by his rhetoric about certain legal residents of that city (as is the Republican Governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine) the audacity of the candidate knows no bounds.  He recently admitted that his allegations were untrue and suggested that it was fine for political leaders to knowingly share lies in order to get the attention of the media…. incredible!!  In what insane and distorted reality was someone taught that it was ok to spread lies about communities (lies that have led to numerous bomb threats and other public dangers) in order to garner public attention…unacceptable and dangerous traits like these need to be called out and repudiated!  Leaders, remember … YOUR words matter!

 

I will close my “mendacity examples” and refocus us on the important role and impact of leaders.  Leadership is hard, and no leader always makes the right calls.  You try hard, gather the facts, weigh your options and make your decisions the best way you know how… but you do so aligned to the TRUTH!  Leader’s “words & actions” are so closely watched that to treat them unknowingly, or carelessly is dangerous and will have an impact.  Leaders losing the guardrails and framework of truth and knowingly working from and spreading falsehoods is beyond cavalier and unacceptable… it is dangerous and at times criminal.  Reflect on what you see around you today and work hard to NOT follow the path of some of the leaders I shared above, but to be an example to your organizations of a leader who is working hard for their “words & actions” to stay as aligned to truth and reality as possible!