The risky business of painting rosy pictures

BP is taking a lot of hits for painting a rosy picture for the public at almost every juncture in the current Gulf of Mexico oil crisis. Time and time again, those rosy pictures have proven to be false.

Why are we surprised or even that angered by this? Isn't this exactly what corporations do -- especially large public ones with lots of shareholders? BP doesn't know how to be open and truthful with the public because it probably has never been frank with its own employees. Bending or concealing the truth can become so common that liars actually convince themselves they are telling the truth.

As worker ants, we have all been in meetings where we were blatantly lied to, allegedly for some greater good for the company, I guess. Except in the work environment, it's not called lying. It's called "being positive" or being a "team player." Openness and skepticism are often seen as threats instead of assets by those at the top. In some businesses, like journalism, skepticism should be a prerequisite for landing a job because that's how important stories get uncovered. In other business, skeptics and red-flag raisers can save lives. A culture of honesty without penalty can prevent disasters of all kinds, and, oh by the way, improve employee morale. Generally, people want to feel that they work for honest and communicative bosses.

Unfortunately, telling the truth isn't always a good way to keep your job. Even when we're given permission to speak up in the workplace, to identify and repair certain wrongs, how many folks will actually stand up and weigh in? Not many. Why? Because we've all seen what happens to people who appear to be going against the grain, even when the grain is obviously wrong or unethical.

I understand why people are angry at image-minded BP for allegedly lying. Yet, the lack of public transparency is part of the corporate culture because that's what the norm is inside the four walls of many massive public companies like BP. It's what we now accept in exchange for receiving a paycheck or a big dividend or getting mortgage that we eventually discover we can't afford. Heck, car dealerships teach their sales people how to lie and no one is demanding they be charged with crimes. Let's not even get into politicians and their chronic lying.

The unwillingness of consumers and company insiders to demand the truth during all business transactions, no matter how routine, is why lies are so entrenched in our culture these days. It's why BP keeps painting rosy pictures without fear of accountability when they are proven wrong. It's why folks inside of Toyota remained quiet when certain corners were being cut. We've simply lost our right to be constructively skeptical or to tell the truth 100 percent of the time. Companies want to control everything, how business internally and externally is spun. And in doing so, they only create a more toxic, mistrustful environment.

Until lying goes back to being seen as unacceptable behavior it will be difficult to get the truth out of companies like BP, especially in crisis situations with so much on the line. Lying and the mainstream acceptance of lies, even white lies, are distorting how we conduct business, how we resolve problems and even how we interact with each other. We talk in code and smile in the face of looming disasters so that stock prices remain high.

Taking cover under lies or trying to manipulate the mood of shareholders, employees or customers with rosy pictures might work some of the time, but eventually the lies catch up, sometimes in catastrophic ways. Sometimes too late to right the ship.