Is Honesty Always The Best Way To Communicate ?

[Gedee]

Or to put it another way ..... Is Honesty the Best Policy, when it comes to making statements, or/and, answering questions?

In my view, & with the benefit of my age, my own personal experience, mistakes & hindsight, I've no doub,t that honesty is the only way.

There may be some justification for adding a wee fib now & again. But I've found one wee fib, leads to another bigger one. So it goes on.

So although this question is mainly around the world of business & sport (and football specifically)  I  believe it holds good in every area.

 Am I saying I never lie? ... Probably not. But I consciously try very hard, not to. Some might say, some things, both in business, as well

as private, personal life are private & confidential, therefore the only way to repond, is to lie. It is not !! Simply respond by saying something

like, "This is too sensitive an area" or even say "With respect to yourself and other parties involved I choose not to answer this at this time"

Communication, honest or otherwise, is not (imo) DFC's strongest point.   DFC fans are not going to turn their back on the Club they love.

because of hearing bad news. But some will have second thioughts, if they feel what the have, or have not been told, is not based on truth.

Being open and sticking basicaly to the truth all the time, makes life much easier for everyone (imo). If asked something embarrassing, or

of a confidential nature, it is OK to politely say, " I'd rather not answer this"  It's may not be the response we want. But it is the way (imo)

[Billy Campbell's Ghost]

Agreed- - the club blew it with this one and it is down to lack of experience and proven PR and media skills in the boardroom

[dun_d_rob]

If the club came out today and said hemmings had a clause and the reason they never admitted to it was because they didn't want to attract attention to it while they tried to renegotiate a new contract. I could live with this!   

 

Problem being cant see this happening as somebody has insisted on it being an un-disclosed fee and admitting to a release clause now would give fee away!!

Edited 28 July 2016 by dun_d_rob

[Gedee]

Thanks for your responses Billy & Rob.

PR/communication/media skills, are certainly part of the problem. And can be learned, I would imagine.    (Although a wee bit of simple honesty would be a start)

In your opening comment.....I could live with this ! Yes, that is  where I am coming from. And it would be a start. Maybe it disnae aye look that way (weel when

reading the dfc Forums some days) but generally most DFC fans/supporters, can handle the truth, however bad it is. Lies & deception is another matter altogether.

[Reverend Lovejoy]

54 minutes ago, Gedee said:

Or to put it another way ..... Is Honesty the Best Policy, when it comes to making statements, or/and, answering questions?

In my view, & with the benefit of my age, my own personal experience, mistakes & hindsight, I've no doub,t that honesty is the only way.

There may be some justification for adding a wee fib now & again. But I've found one wee fib, leads to another bigger one. So it goes on.

So although this question is mainly around the world of business & sport (and football specifically)  I  believe it holds good in every area.

 Am I saying I never lie? ... Probably not. But I consciously try very hard, not to. Some might say, some things, both in business, as well

as private, personal life are private & confidential, therefore the only way to repond, is to lie. It is not !! Simply respond by saying something

like, "This is too sensitive an area" or even say "With respect to yourself and other parties involved I choose not to answer this at this time"

Communication, honest or otherwise, is not (imo) DFC's strongest point.   DFC fans are not going to turn their back on the Club they love.

because of hearing bad news. But some will have second thioughts, if they feel what the have, or have not been told, is not based on truth.

Being open and sticking basicaly to the truth all the time, makes life much easier for everyone (imo). If asked something embarrassing, or

of a confidential nature, it is OK to politely say, " I'd rather not answer this"  It's may not be the response we want. But it is the way (imo)

NO and a big fat NO at that. In my personal experience I've suffered more than a few heartaches by always being truthful and then expecting others to be the same. I was brought to believe honesty is the best policy when in reality, in the big bad world, it most certainly isn't. You may keep your integrity intact but being truthful doesn't necessarily get you where you want to be.

[JoeCovenant]

The problem with being truthful (business-wise) (As The Rev. rightly states above) is that others with less integrity will NOT be truthful and use that against you.

(Don't worry, not going to make any political analogies here)

But, for example...

(Possible) Truth: "We are pleased to announce we have signed KH on a 3 year contract. We hope he does well, but we have installed a £250k get-out clause under his agent's instruction."

Every half-decent Team's Board at the end of last season: "Holy FECK! We can get this million plus player for only £250k !!!!!!!!!!!!!"

BUT there is a difference between TRUTH and out and out lies.

Q: "Does KH have a buy out clause?"

A: "KH has stipulated that he will not discuss his contract details. We as a club must honour that..."

For all the business men we have at the club our PR (yet again) seems to be utterly shocking.
As fans, we should never expect to know the WHOLE truth... BUT we should NEVER be out and out LIED to.

 

[Gedee]

(Don't worry, not going to make any political analogies here) ....Joe you might as weel bring politics intae it, things cannae get much worse

I accept truth, like lies, can be twisted around to suit any situation. But we have all met people (maybe even oorselves) who start with a wee lie, that eventually gets so out of hand, they end up not knowing what they are talking about ....probably because they have lost track o' the original lie. I also accept truth/honesy can get us into trouble. That's why I suggest, politely saying for private or personal reasons, I'd rather NOT discuss this.. But many people (imo) lie automatically (maybe through habit) without even thinking about it. Not necessary .... IMO

 

[Fas]

It's not as easy a putting it down to truth and lies, you need to be far more clever than that. However the important thing is once something like this happens is to reassure the fans immediately I my opinion. 

That statement last night could very easily have said anything that needed to be said regarding the clause and it could have put 24 hours of nonsense on these and other boards to bed before it even started. 

I would never blame them for not telling the "truth" about the clause from the off but I would certainly hold it against them if they don't come out soon and let the fans know for sure in the correct manner.