Good leaders choose honesty over convenience
Case in point: I was not the smartest person in the room. There were 4 of us – a Mathematician/General Manager, a Manager of Technology, and the Head of Talent Acquisition. We were brainstorming a solution to an urgent problem involving a contractor who was supposed to start a new role with our client that morning. Due to circumstances beyond our control, the client decided to go with another candidate and informed us at the last minute. The goal was to mitigate the fallout and protect the reputations of everyone involved.
Cue the desperate ideas, none of which were based on the truth. To them, it was more believable to cook up a story to tell the contractor. Here I was in a room with brilliance and none of the ideas seemed to stick. I listened to them go back and forth until I finally decided to speak up.
My suggestion: “Why don’t we tell her the truth?” (i.e., the client wanted someone else).
The idea was so simple that it caught them off guard. We ended up telling the contractor what happened, and she understood. There was no harm, no damage, and everyone—including the client—looked good.
Lesson: The most elegant solutions are usually the simplest ones. That quiet, unassuming person in your meetings might be the one holding the solution that could save your reputation and time.