There is also a great article about how Lenn Pryor decided to tell the truth about Microsoft internally and how he almost lost his job over it. Scoble was part of this project called Channel 9.

I can so relate (ah, Tahitian Noni who’s slogan is “Tell the Story” – and I might add, but only our side of it!). The thing is being authentic means that you have to trust people. There is little trust at that company. Suspicious of their distributors, suspicious of their employees, suspicious of each other. I’m bringing this up because I saw a former co-worker last night and we talked about it. She quit not knowing what was next just because she couldn’t stand working there. And yes, they won some award for being best place to work.

When one of my friends left the company he wore a Kelly Olsen t-shirt he made that showed Olsen as Castro (if my memory serves me right). I had some of the closest friends there. But also at times it felt cutthroat (over what? some juice?) and it was as if we were pitted against each other.

I’ve noticed that when I don’t trust people I attract others as bosses or whatever who also don’t trust people. We are suspicious. We like to hide the unpleasant truths. Then we blame someone else when that doesn’t work!

It’s been a big eye opener for me. I stopped trusting at one point and in my profession (or any other) that doesn’t work. It slows everything down and makes it more expensive to do business. That line from the emyth always haunts me – your business is a reflection of you. If you are dishonest, your employees will be dishonest…etc. I feel the responsibility to be seen for what I am and what I am not (including how sometimes I’m lazy like a sloth, how I want to avoid responsibility, etc. Also, my issues with power).

I’m not saying this to be critical. I’m illustrating that anyone can say what they think about you or your company. It’s not making someone wrong, it’s a challenge to them to start committing to something more inspiring than hiding. A challenge to enter the conversation. A conversation that starts right off where all good conversations start, that is, with being honest.

Leave a Reply