“Honesty is the best policy” is an adage we were all taught as children. But unlike most adages, this one became my motto. So even when I’d skip school and romp off with my friend cycling over the hills of Valparai, I’d always tell my mother the truth.
However, this wasn’t the result of some great philosophical ruminations leading to a life-changing epiphany, or some congenital gift. I just thought it was very simple to be honest, which isn’t the case for most people, to be honest!
You know the saying that you need to have a good memory only if you lie; otherwise you can afford to forget things! That’s exactly how I thought about honesty. So to me, honesty wasn’t just the best policy, but the easiest, too.
This affinity for honesty as the path of least resistance, contrary to how many people regard it (as the path of the utmost resistance, friction and therefore heat) never left me over the years, and became the very foundation of the company I went on to found and build.
Cut to this year, and I had a meeting with a long-time client of ours who retired after several decades at the helm. After getting through the inevitable niceties, he went on to confide in me something very hard-hitting: that the number-one reason he had decided to stick with Healthwatch for so long was our honesty and integrity: two qualities that are easy to utter but in actual fact very very hard to maintain.
This watershed moment made me realise that while there are things about us we must change and transform as we grow, there are some lessons from childhood that should never change: and honesty is one of them. It’s okay to fail, to make mistakes, to fall and crash, but it’s never okay to be dishonest about it. Deceit and dishonesty may seem very attractive in the short run, but like that bridge that stands decades only if built with solid stuff, honesty pays in the long run. It is the building block of a lasting legacy.
May you always be guided by honesty. When in doubt, be honest. When under pressure, keep your calm and be honest. When everything’s going your way, be honest. You don’t need to be someone else; all you need to be is honest. Have a great month!
