"Everybody knows the boat is leaking,Everybody knows the Captain lied."
Leonard Cohen
When managers, leaders and supervisors knowingly mislead their staff, the problem they are trying to avoid may retreat but will doubtless resurface later to cause more problems. I was recently watching the classic James Bond film, 'Goldfinger'. Oddjob is the quintissential lackey in that he does whatever he is told even if he knows he is being misled. Oddjob believes his boss so implicitly that this trust eventually leads to his death by electrocution in the bowels of Fort Knox.
Captain Kirk would never lie to Mr. Spock. President Bush would never lie to Dick Cheney. Mick Jagger would never mislead Keith Richards and Bernie Madoff would never make the mistake of lying to....everyone. You see my point.
When leaders mislead and trust is violated we need to advocate for ourselves and be our own watchdogs. We would all do well to remember poor, trusting Oddjob as we watch our 401K plans and possibly our children's future disappear like the setting sun on a bleak African plain.
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