In his book Great Contemporaries, Churchill wrote, regarding King Alfonso XIII of Spain, great grandfather of the present king, “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because, as has been said, it is the quality which guarantees all others.”
We tend to think of courage in the terms that Churchill was referring to in his essay on the king: courage in the face of great peril, or even mortal danger. King Alfonso survived several assassination attempts, including one on his wedding day.
For years before he became prime minister, Winston Churchill was widely reviled for telling politically incorrect truths. He was labeled a warmonger because he dared to warn against aggressive military plans advocated by the National Socialist German Workers Party (commonly known outside Germany as the Nazi party). “We must rearm,” he warned, at a time when the carnage of the First World War was still relatively fresh in people’s minds.
While other leading politicians, especially Churchill’s own party leader, Stanley Baldwin, were flat-out lying to the British public about German war preparations, it took great courage to lay out the facts and tell the truth. Yet Churchill did. It nearly destroyed his both his political and his writing career.
In the end, however, the British public came to realize that Churchill would tell the truth no matter how unpopular that truth was. It was largely for this reason — in fact, almost only for this reason — that Churchill was supported by the public and the opposition party to become prime minister in June, 1940.
Today, the greatest threat many of us will face is a threat to our self esteem — something may make us look bad. A brittle sense of self esteem leads many among us to lack even the courage to face the most trivial duties — duties like telling the truth.
The number of people I have run into — people I have worked for, or people I have worked alongside, even people I mistook for friends — people who will lie without the slightest hesitation, is absolutely astonishing to me. Many people who lie do so to save face. That’s not good, but the ones who lie out of spite, well, in my experience it wise to suspect a disordered personality. People like that are dangerous to body and spirit.
Let’s face it — nobody wants to admit to a mistake. Some choose to lie to hide a mistake. Some have the courage to tell the truth, even if, for the moment, it makes them look bad.
People lie to try to maintain control. Honesty requires a higher tolerance for uncertainty than does dishonesty because dishonesty gives the liar at least temporary control and a degree of certainty. Given the vicissitudes of business, I want people around me with a higher tolerance for uncertainty. I want honest people around me.
It has been my experience that situations in which people can lie to get themselves out of trouble serve as a window into their soul. If a person chooses to lie (it’s always a choice), it is one of the worst signs possible about his or her character. You simply cannot trust in any respect somebody who lacks the courage to tell the truth.
Cowardice in the face of trivial challenges like telling the truth should be recognized as among the worst features of a person’s character because, to carry Churchill’s logic forward, it is a sign the person lacks most, and perhaps all, other virtues as well.
Again and again I have seen businesses and other organizations badly harmed by cowards who will not tell the truth, and by cowardly managers who let them get away with it. Have the courage to tell the truth, and expect others to do the same.
More Leadership Lessons from Winston Churchill:
Listen.
Ask questions.
Give clear directions.
Don’t get angry at challenges to your ideas. Learn from them.
In most cases, it isn’t the person, it’s the process.
Learn to think in terms of a system.
Go and see for yourself.
Measure a lot of things, and have something to compare them to.
Have courage. Tell the truth, and expect others to do the same.
Great oratory is built on great arguments. Master your facts and your arguments first.
Copyright 2015, 2018 by Paul G. Spring. All rights reserved.