I can’t resist an anecdote.
I had been in a corporate setting for about five years and was beginning to master my one little corner of the operation.
One day a senior executive came to visit us from headquarters. They called us into a conference room and explained what they are about to announce in a press conference.
They cited several statistics to support their about to be public claims.
One of those statistics was based on bad data which proved they did not understand our operation—at all.
I had the correct data at my fingertips. I started to raise my hand to correct the senior executive and my boss gave me a ferocious dirty look and silently mouthed “hand down now”.
The bad statistic was given to the media and they dutifully printed it.
My boss later took me aside and told me that communications with senior management must go through her and her bosses—zero exceptions.
I asked her why the big boss had such bad data.
Her explanation: “If the truth would help us we would share it.”
Yikes.
Ack. Not surprising at all. Everyday experience suggests that it is a more common scenario than speaking and utilizing the truth.
It’s the psychological analog to the MIC. If there weren’t a war on truth, people would be out of a job!