Lies That Losers Tell

When a company is losing its key battles, the truth is often the first casualty. Leaders and employees alike begin to construct "creative narratives"—lies—to avoid confronting the brutal reality of the situation.

These are not necessarily malicious lies told to deceive others, but rather lies people tell themselves to cope with failure.

Common Lies That Signal a Struggling Company:

• On Attrition: "Yes, she quit, but we were going to fire her anyway. Her performance had really slipped." (This lie allows managers to avoid confronting why a top performer would choose to leave).
• On Lost Sales Deals: "We had the better product, but the competitor just gave it away. We lost on price." (This lie allows the CEO and sales team to avoid confronting potential product gaps or a flawed sales process).
• On Product Schedules: "We missed the first few milestones, but we can still make up the time and hit the final ship date." (This lie avoids the hard conversation about re-scoping the project or resetting customer expectations).
• On High Churn: "Our churn is high, but once we improve our marketing, customers will come back." (This lie avoids confronting the core product or value proposition issues that are causing customers to leave).

The Root Cause: Lying to Ourselves

The legendary CEO of Intel, Andy Grove, explained that these aren't just lies to investors or the public; they are primarily lies to oneself.

Humans, especially builders and entrepreneurs, are wired to over-index on positive leading indicators while explaining away negative ones.

• A 25% spike in engagement is seen as a clear signal of a "tidal wave of demand."
• A 25% drop in engagement is explained away as a fluke due to holidays, a slow website, or a minor UI change.

When you, as a leader, hear these kinds of lies from your team, the danger is not just that they are lying to you. The danger is that you will believe them, because you are just as motivated to lie to yourself.

Tags: #leadership #management #culture #honesty #metrics #psychology #hard-things #andy-grove