Thursday, February 13, 2014

If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?

The title of this piece is a response given by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War to a member of Congress who had accused him of being dishonest. Where does the term "two-faced" come from? One possible origin is the Roman god Janus, illustrations of which showed an individual with two faces looking in opposite directions. Supposedly, statements made by one face were opposite from the other.
Unfortunately, in today's world, truth is endangered. We live in a world of outright lies, partial truths, and "failures to disclose" where someone could tell you something true but chooses to say nothing instead. Of the three, my preference is failure to disclose. In my job, I am sometimes privy to information that can be somewhat unpopular. I may be "simple folk", but I think lying is wrong, and it is always preferable to say "I am not free to discuss this" rather than tell a whopper. Some of my former bosses had no problem with lying, but it lead to a lack of trust and, often, the assumption that much of what you were being told was untrue. It's not the formula for a good working relationship. Amazingly, though, these individuals are able to survive quite well in the corporate structure. I must be doing things wrong, but I can at least look in a mirror and see only one face.
Years ago, I was advised by someone that, if I wanted to get ahead, I needed to basically be a phony. This occurred when I was sitting down with my boss for my annual evaluation. She was quite a chameleon; I was never able to figure out what her true personality was. It appeared to work quite well for her until, one day, she was fired and gone.
While there are many out there who would not hesitate to climb over a pile of bodies to get to the top, I have no such aspirations. I know I will never get to be Vice President of anything, and that's OK with me. Being moderately successful is enough. No one will ever accuse me of being two-faced, and what more could I ask?

1 comment:

  1. Good for you! I deal with the same sort of culture and those who demonstrate true integrity are too few. And they higher you go, the fewer there are. But I agree. Far better to have your self respect.

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