High Performance Leadership

Are some life lessons harder on you than others? The hardest of course are those that damage you -- falling victim and learning not to be a victim, getting dominated and either building strength or embracing servitude -- lessons that we don't necessarily choose because they choose us. A lesson that chose me was this: people seldom keep their promises. Even the people I have felt the closest to have broken promises. Even people who swore on legal oaths (and yes, even on a Bible) have broken promises. And, of course, I have broken promises. Hard lessons all.  Why do we break our promises? Because they are so very hard to keep. They bind us. They restrict us. They surrender us to the word and well-being of another or others and as a result it feels as if our own freedom diminishes. We just aren't wired to give that stuff up easily. But we sure do promise it easily. People make promises they have no earthly chance of keeping and often no conscious intention of keeping. That's a...

  One of the worst things I've ever done, and I do hope to get forgiveness on this sometime, is to give someone the "silent treatment." In anger, in frustration, in doubt, in fear, I've kept silent when someone needed to hear something very important. It might have been assurance. It might have been an explanation. It might have been encouragement. Maybe it was just the quiet humble truth. Why did I do that (and honestly, why so many times?) There is no reward. Withholding carries its own punishment: the unresolved, the unexplained, the unbound. Tell the truth. Tell it right away. Your heart needs the feeling, and your head needs the truth. -- doug smith

  Do liars frustrate you? They absolutely aggravate me. Especially since they usually KNOW they are lying, and often KNOW that you KNOW they are lying, and still they lie. It's nonsense. You can't stop a liar from lying, but you don't have to play their game. -- doug smith

  Every day your truth is tested so you might as well make it true. -- doug smith

High performance leaders tell the truth. Since that can sometimes be hard, we are often tempted to stretch the truth (in other words, to lie.) While lies can fool people for a while, the truth will inevitably emerge. How will you feel when it does? Telling a lie only proves that you haven't thought of a better answer.  You do have a better answer: the truth. The truth will prevail. Tell the truth. -- doug smith

I don't put much stock in lies, how about you? Because I never want to be lied to, I work my best to avoid lying to others. Leaders communicate for reasons they believe are important. If the result is important enough, it's far better to rely on telling the truth to get there than in fabricating some fantasy that will eventually be discovered. The truth always rises to the top anyway, why not start there? Communicating for results takes an investment in the truth. -- doug smith