Here is another letter to The American Entrepreneur Ron Morris answering his blog here
When I was in second grade I was a bit of a class clown and my parents were repeatedly called in to discuss my behavior. At one point the teacher said that I would not get in so much trouble if I would lie a little bit. He was not trying to say I should lie, but was trying to explain that I always fessed up to my shenanigans. This is how I have always been; maybe it is because I am too simple minded to try to juggle many false truths. I also understand that my reputation is built on trust and I never want to be considered untrustworthy. Finally, it takes a lot to make me angry but when I am lied to (or I robbed) I get fighting mad. That has been the only thing that would push me to that point. Thinking of how mad it makes me I do not want to put anybody else through that anger. I believe it is only fair to everybody else to tell the truth.
For someone like me it is very hard to see many people succeeding through their semi-truths. Just look at what got us into this economic mess. Maybe I shouldn’t think this way but I believe that many of these people are going through the hardships they deserve because of the hill of lies they were standing on.
So for anyone in the business world and especially entrepreneurs consider your integrity. Up and coming entrepreneurs look to you for guidance and if you disregard your integrity it makes us new guys think that being less than truthful is how you made it to the top. Then we choose to give up because we do not want to lose our integrity while reaching for success and then you have lost another entrepreneur from your ranks.