Devoted to women of color in business

Integrity is one of those intangibles that you can't purchase... you and your business simply have to demonstrate it. You either maintain integrity or not. When it comes to honesty, information transparency, or "spin," we start to run into gray areas. In the case of the Bush administration, the Center for Public Integrity documents that the run-up to the war in Iraq was basically a lie. Actually, it was a series of 935 documented lies.

Dick Cheney, in an address to the national convention of the Veteran of Foreign Wars: "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us."

CIA official, in response to this speech: "Where is he getting this stuff from?"

Lying is not telling the truth. Lying is also misaligning, tweaking, hiding, or fogging up the truth. Lying is also when you fabricate items which sound truthful but are not.

Telling a lie to push your own agenda through, or telling a lie to cover your own motivation, or telling a lie to a large mass of people to get them to do something they don't want to do, is not okay, in my book. The lies in this case caused massive death and destruction, as well as wartime spending beyond belief.

We all are responsible, because we the public need to uphold and support our investigative reporters into finding the truth, not kowtowing to a bossy administration. We also pay the taxes that fund the war. We also elect the representatives who keep the executive branch in check.

Now that the devastating consequences of these lies are playing out, I invite you to consider the lies that may be percolating in your own situation. Perhaps you are not being truthful or forthcoming with employees, partners, or customers. Perhaps you are not facing your entire situation. Whatever the case, if there is any place in your business where truth is not showing up, take a good look at that place and commit to fixing it.