The Bible said that: “The truth will set you free.” Indeed this is true and realistic. When you are lying, you have to remember what was said earlier in order to remain consistent. You lose credibility immediately with your staff when they learn that you have been lying to them. This is the quickest and surest way to lose your staff’s confidence. People are prepared to forgive you for your mistakes, they can overlook your weaknesses or incompetence and some will even support your stupidity. However, when you are caught lying to them, they will lose trust and respect for you. Trust and support are prerequisites in a turnaround situation. And you need a team to do a turnaround and transformation.
The corporate world punishes companies for telling untruths. In Singapore, Informatics Holding, the once darling of the Singapore Stock Exchange fell from grace because it had overstated its actual $5.5 million profit by $8.6 million for the nine months ended December 2003. Its share fell by more than half. The Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) is investigating its accounting lapses. Accounting and legal problems have also affected the Tyco, Enron, Worldcom, Global Crossing as well as Martha Stewart’s company because of accounting irregularities.
The regulatory bodies worldwide will act very strictly on listed companies on its corporate governance. The Sarbane Oxley act is an example of how punitive the authorities can come down hard on companies that do not comply to the their governance. Directors are put to jail or heavily fined for cheating, non-disclosure and lack of transparency. The market will punish the companies very seriously for all these non-compliances of corporate governance. Company directors and management must comply and have integrity.
Therefore, being truthful is always the best policy.
