What is the cost of a lie?
What is the value of truth?
This is a true story about our hero-athletes, and how their misjudgments and lies provide lessons that apply to your business, your sales, your career, your success, and your legacy.
Ever hear the old joke, “How do you know if a salesman is lying?” Unfortunately, the punch line is, “His lips are moving.”
Over time that joke has also been told to describe politicians and lawyers.
More unfortunately, the dark joke is currently being used to describe professional athletes talking about steroid use. Under oath. In front of Congress. YIKES!
Hey wait a minute, my heroes are lying!?
Yes, Dorothy, and they are just the tip of the iceberg.
Once the green curtain is raised, all kinds of gremlins will be caught in the web. At first this whole steroids thing was just a nuisance. Players with money got super steroids – undetectable. Undetectable means, “takes a bit longer to expose.” Ask Marion Jones. A woman who went from grace, to disgrace, to jail.
Same with Michael Vick, but for a different kind of lie. And most likely the same for steroid charges against Barry Bonds. Bonds may escape jail, but only because steroid use is so rampant in baseball, they’ll have to arrest half of the players.
Look at what happens when you lie:
• Everyone knows you’re lying.
• You look like a fool.
• Your reputation is shot – tarnished.
• Your career, if you haven’t already retired, will come to a premature end.
• No induction into the hall of fame – or, the distinction of an asterisk next to your name.
• Guilty in the court of public opinion.
• Guilty in a court of law.
• Jail.
Not just costing these gifted players untold millions in salary and sponsorship endorsements, but a reputation so tarnished that their fans are no longer their fans.
Not too pretty, my pretty.
My son-in-law Matt was the most rabid (pardon the pun) Michael Vick fan on the planet. As a gesture of pure disgust for Vick’s actions, Matt threw his Michael Vick jerseys outside, and let his two (huge) dogs rip them to shreds. Poetic fan justice.
Michael Vick wasn’t just a villain and a liar; he was an idiot. He gave up $120 million to watch dogs fight. He may have been a great football player, but he has a mean spirit and won’t be forgiven.
Many sports heroes over the past decade are questionable heroes. Are Mark McGwire, Lance Armstrong, Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, or Gary Sheffield guilty? Did they or didn’t they break the rules? And if they did, what should be done?
Liars and cheaters in athletics eventually get caught.
Same in sales.
Same in business.
Roger Clemens was revealed, not revered.
Babe Ruth was revered, not revealed.
Barry Bonds was tested, not trusted.
Willie Mays was trusted, not tested.
Pete Rose was indicted, not inducted.
Mickey Mantle was inducted, not indicted.
HERE’S THE LESSON: Small errors in judgment, repeated over time, can cost you your career, even if you were one of the best that ever played the game.
Were these players cheaters? If so, there are a hell of a lot of them. They thought they were above the law. Turns out they’re now beneath their fans. From superhero to super zero.
“Random testing” is a cop out, and a bunch of crap. Suppose they did random testing for honesty at your business. Would you pass the test?
It’s interesting to me that smoking and drinking are okay. You can kill yourself, but you can’t enhance yourself.
Several, after accusation or indictment, came forward and told the truth. Telling the truth takes guts. Most people only tell (come clean) after they are caught – Canseco, Giambi, Pettitte, and a few others. But most are lying through their teeth – and through a host of overpriced lawyers.
You can debate Congress’ self-appointed role as protector of society from people using steroids – and lying about it. Congress is not exactly the bastion of truth itself. If they omitted liars from Congress, there may not be anyone left to run the country.
In sales and in business there are fewer indictments and less jail sentences, but word-of-mouth from lies and misdeeds can be fatal. They damage both business and individuals. They create or destroy reputation.
Lessons? There are several obvious ones. Reread the Ten Commandments for starters. Tell the truth, it’s the easiest story to remember. The biggest lesson is: If you seek to be the best, get there in a way that leaves positive legacy.
I challenge you to take the high road, even though the low road may seem to be the easy road. Stay on the yellow brick road. This ain’t Kansas, it’s game time.
I have a few places that you can get more information on the seriousness of lying. Go to www.gitomer.com, register if you’re a first-time visitor, and enter the word TRUTH in the GitBit box. •
Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of “The Little Red Book of Selling” and “The Little Red Book of Sales Answers.” As president of Charlotte, N.C.-based Buy Gitomer, he gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings and conducts Internet training programs on sales and customer service at www.trainone.com. He can be reached at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com.
