The Lies Have It

I’m a fan of the Fox Network show “Lie to me” now entering its second season. It’s a drama series based on the scientific discoveries of a real-life psychologist who reads embedded clues from the human faces, bodies, and voices of those accused of a crime or otherwise attempting to shade or hide some truth. The main character, Dr. Cal Lightman, uses his abilities to read these invisible clues and spot the lie. It may be as simple as a shoulder shrug or a pursed lip that reveals the secret. While Dr. Lightman is highly regarded by his professional peers for possessing this extraordinary ability, his family and friends aren’t always as accepting of his power to uncover deception.

I confess that what seems obvious to a trained professional is often oblivious to me, whether at work or in my personal life. Sometimes I wonder what my own face reveals when I shade the truth. While lying is something we all struggle with, I was recently disturbed to discover a connection between powerful people and a propensity to make better liars. In the May 2010 issue of Harvard Business Review, Dana Carney, associate professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, presents the results of a study that found a connection between powerful people and lying. It seems that when a research subject is put into a position of power he or she become more adept at telling lies. Even professionals trained to spot the telltale signs of lying found it harder to tell when these persons were being untruthful.

If this study is accurate then the business, political, sports, religious, and entertainment arenas may already be populated with powerful figures using their roles and positions to promulgate lies. We already know some of these persons who have been caught in their lies – Presidents Nixon and Clinton, baseball star Alex Rodriquez, cyclist Floyd Landis, and businessman Bernard Madoff come to mind. Are we encouraging people to lie in order to become more powerful or does the lying happen because someone attains a position or role that offers unfettered power? The research wasn’t designed to detect whether lying improves when power is acquired or if adept lying skills lead to more powerful positions. Either scenario makes me uncomfortable.

Since most of us aren’t trained professionals who know how to detect the signs of lying then it makes sense to defuse this threat by creating environments where truth-telling is encouraged and rewarded. Leaders would do well to recognize and resist the temptation to lie as they move up the corporate, political, or social ladder. Otherwise, our worst nightmares may become everyday occurrences as bosses, civil servants, and even church leaders take advantage of their power to distort the truth. I pray we aren’t already there.