A recent poll found that only 38% of Americans believe all three attempts on President Trump’s life were genuine.
Set aside the politics. That number is telling you something important.
When trust is gone, people stop taking things at face value even things that are real. The skepticism isn’t always about the event itself. It’s about the accumulated doubt that came before it.
Corporate leaders face the same dynamic.
One lie is enough. Not a pattern of lies. One. After that, everything gets filtered through suspicion — the good news, the bad news, the genuine crisis, the real win. It doesn’t matter if what you’re saying is completely true. You’ve already poisoned the well.
Opacity makes it worse. When leaders are vague, employees and stakeholders fill the gaps with the worst possible explanations.
The only antidote is transparency, consistently applied over time. Not just when it’s easy. Especially when it’s hard.
Leaders who play the long game tell the truth before they’re forced to.
The Ethical Leader 