Valuing Those Who Tell the Bitter Truth

Grace Graham

CSR 309

Dr Feinberg

Corner Office

Telling the truth is not always the easiest thing to do especially when you fear the consequences.

Most people avoid telling the bitter truth due to the fear of upsetting someone. For example, when a girl asks her boyfriend “how do I look?”, most men would say “you look great”, no matter what their honest opinion might be. In the end the girl might end up leaving her apartment with lipstick on her teeth or in an outfit that is less then flattering. This is a classic example of lying out of fear. In the article Valuing Those

Who Tell the Truth, Pamela Fields talks about how telling the bitter truth can lead to better results in the business field.

Fields was very successful in her own consulting company for 15 years, and now is the CEO of

Stetson the hat and apparel company. She has worked with many companies in different industries, cultures, and price points, and found that the one technique that works across all companies. This technique is learning from’ the employees who tell the harsh truth. She learned that by speaking the harsh truth the company could better understand what their problems are. The most common fear employees expressed to

Fields was that they might lose their job if they tell the truth on what’s really going on. Pamela calmed their fears by telling them that if something goes wrong she would take the blame but if it goes right it was their success. This took away the fear of telling the truth because it put the consequences onto her.

The truth is not always the easiest thing to hear, but what one can learn from it can be what sets one company apart from another. Many companies believe they are ready and able to understand the bitter truth but when they hear what others have to say are in denial or get upset. You must be willing to take into consideration others opinions, without reacting emotionally. Someone else might be able to see things you others wouldn’t have known about.