Last week I keynoted a breakfast briefing for a group of Memphis area executives. Based on our current book project, Rebooting Leadership, my remarks centered on the leadership realities of the “post-AIG” environment. Three things that seemed to resonate with this audience were:

1. That, as pointed out by Harvard lecturer and former Medtronic CEO, Bill George, the crisis we find ourselves mired in was induced not so much by complex financial instruments as by a failure of leadership, on different levels and many fronts.
2. Regardless of one’s position in the management food chain, and whether or not we had anything remotely to do with the crisis, we are ALL being tarred with the same brush, to wit we must each play a role in cleaning up the mess. Fair or not, that’s the way it is.
3. One of the central pillars on which our return to some semblance of normalcy depends is a big ‘ole elephant that resides in each of our homes and offices. The elephant has a name… Truth. Sadly, we’ve grown too accustomed to ignoring the elephant, or refusing to call it by name. Perhaps that’s due to being self-absorbed, or our desire to remain politically correct, not ruffle feathers, or disrupt agendas.

I think it’s time we toughen up a bit and become more accustomed to speaking (and demanding) the truth. It’s almost as if we think life is all one big reality game where, even if you get voted off the island, you get to come back at season’s end, and everything resets. I was reminded of that Friday afternoon when, for the better part of three hours, much of the nation was preoccupied by what now appears to be a hoax cooked up by some nut jobs masquerading as parents in Colorado.

We would do well to be mindful that in most cases the means exists to readily get at the truth. Even quicker than Wolf Blitzer popped the Heene balloon, armed with an iPhone and Google, a 15 year old can usually do the job in under 5 minutes. A few suggestions for operationalizing this better on the corporate front:

1. Let’s make courage (as in courage to speak the truth) an absolute requirement for those in leadership positions.
2. We should treasure (and protect) our contrarians – the folks who care enough to close the door, come in, and tell us something that we don’t want to hear but need to know.
3. Let’s get better at recognizing failure earlier, and calling it what it is, without being so consumed by the urge to assign blame.
4. Let’s practice having difficult conversations, and,
5. We each need to get better at hearing the truth.

*****

A thought leader in the arena of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard Hadden, and their work, please visit their website at www.contentedcows.com, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows