JS Tip 31: From the Ethics and Values Workshop: The Importance of Honesty (Part One of Three)

All relationships are based on trust. Trust is based on honesty. Consider this example from Roger Rice at Mountainlands Applied Technology College:

Hoping to gain credibility, a salesman told Roger he [the salesman] had a relationship with one of Roger’s colleagues. Roger made an easy telephone call and discovered the salesman didn’t have the relationship he claimed. Instead of gaining credibility, he lost it.

Because he wasn’t honest.

Edward R. Murrow, one of journalism’s great figures because of his honesty and integrity, said, “To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful.”

This tip is the first of a three-part series on honesty in the workplace. Let us know your thoughts and experiences, and we’ll try to include them in a future tip.