How Honest Should You Be?

Jack Nicholson’s character in the movie A Few Good Men states the classic line, “You want the truth, you can’t handle the truth.” Is there ever a time when being honest or telling the truth a bad thing? How honest should you be?

I purpose to be honest in everything to do. I try not to miss lead anyone on who I am, what I can do or where I’ve been. I have found that not everyone wants honesty or knows how to handle the truth. How about the commercial where a woman ask her husband the classic question, “Do I look fat in these?” and the husband quickly crams a candy bar in his mouth so that she cannot understand his answer. Yesterday I had one of those moments too bad it wasn’t a commercial.

I was meeting with my boss and going over a few things that I had been working on and he commented on how easily I was getting the tasks organized. I reminded him that just because this company had no experience in this area, I had been through this type of situation before in previous companies. He then proceeded to tell me how he wanted me to help him develop a group around what I was doing to expand the rolls and responsibilities. Then finally he asked me, “Do you like your job?”

In nano-seconds multiple thoughts flashed through my brain.
Here is the man who is my boss, a key VP in the company and has the ability to fire me on the spot. How honest should I be?
This job was one that was created only after the job I was hired for was eliminated. My boss was instrumental in making this position available for me. How honest should I be?
I had an option to take this position or a 2 week salary package and be without an income, knowing that it took me 4 months on unemployment to find a job at this company. How honest should I be?
Knowing that for the last two months I have been interviewing with other companies looking for a new job more suited to my skill set because I don’t ‘fit’ with my current company any longer. How honest should I be?

When is honesty not the best policy, for me honesty is always right, it is all in the presentation.



My answer was, “No, I don’t see this position as something that is a fit for me.”