Why Wouldn’t a Business Professional Want to Sign the Pro-Truth Pledge?

Caption: Question mark over picture of money (geralt/Pixabay)

Before ill health forced me into an early retirement, I had spent my professional career (25+ years) working in various sales and marketing roles within the graphic arts and publishing services industry. As in any industry, sales and marketing are the ‘sharp end’ directly facing and communicating with customers, both external and internal. Truth and integrity was essential in all aspects of any transaction. To be otherwise had bad personal and corporate consequences. Making a promise you knew you couldn’t deliver on simply to “get the order” earned both you and your company a loud industry-wide Caveat Emptor and end both careers and companies rapidly.

Now we find ourselves in more of a “post-truth” environment within our society. To address this problem, I took the Pro-Truth Pledge and volunteered to help manage the Pro-Truth Pledge Linkedin Business Group. I have been asked to write a short blog/essay to invite/convince/cajole business professionals into joining us in signing the Pro-Truth Pledge to help get truth back into its rightful place in all business and public discourse. When I agreed to do this I thought “No problem, I’ll knock this out in a couple of hours and post it immediately.” But then I sat down with my laptop and the trouble began.

You see, in order to write a convincing argument in favor of any proposal, you have to have a clear idea of all the negative opposing views to it. Am I right? That’s my dilemma, I’m unable to find a compelling, logical business argument against signing.

Surely to publicly acknowledge and assert support and respect for truth, to ask current and retired members of the business community to recognize this and hold the signer accountable for this assertion, and their truthful future behaviors, has to have tremendous benefit. Doesn’t it? Even in our current “post-truth” environment.

Do you know any business where clients, customers or business associates expect, and are happy with, having the truth withheld from them or distorted in some fashion to give them a disadvantage?

There are excellent studies to confirm the obvious fact no business or business wants “Caveat Emptor” attached to their name. But we all know this to be true.

So as to not beat a dead horse I go back to my dilemma and ask a simple question. Why wouldn’t a business professional want to sign the Pro-Truth Pledge once they become aware of it and then tell all their clients and business associates they’ve done so?

You can sign the Pro-Truth Pledge by using this link www.pro-truthpledge.org