Checking the Facts

“Opinions are the cheapest commodities on earth. Everyone has a flock of opinions ready to be wished upon anyone who will accept them. If you are influenced by “opinions” when you reach decisions, you will not succeed in any undertaking.” – Napoleon Hill

I was minding my own business watching a basketball game when I got a text that said something along the lines of "I just heard from so-and-so and she said that her sister who works in the whatchamacallit office overheard her boss say that tomorrow..." and on and on it went. Immediately I was suspicious of this text because of three things; firstly, because there is certainly a level of "telephone" going on here. I bet if I could talk to the boss of this sister's friend they would say something totally different then what I was told. Secondly, this text was using fear as a motivator and people who are afraid or are using fear tend to greatly exaggerate the truth. And finally, the source was unverifiable. I had no way of asking the boss what they really said and I'm not even sure there was a real "boss" to begin with. Fortunately, I happened to know another person that works in the same industry that I know to be a reliable source and level headed so I asked them to verify this story and they confirmed what I had suspected. A minor incident had been blown out of proportion.

As a leader you need to be able to check the facts, to sniff out the charlatans, and to find the truth. Napoleon Hill gives you things to look for when sniffing out the truth in the book How to Own Your Own Mind. Here are some of those things:

1- Does the Information come from an Authority?

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Don't take a brain surgeon's advice on the language you should use in your will. Even though they may be an authority in one field they are not an authority in everything. You see this a lot in politics when celebrities endorse politicians.

2- Is ther another motive?

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Does that guy that is selling you that used car have your best interest in mind or is he thinking about something else?

3- Is the source Paid?

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Social media influencers are paid. If they have more than 10,000 followers you better believe that the amazing new thing they just showed you was introduced to them by a marketer and presented to them with a nice check. So to them, it was pretty amazing.

4- Do they have a personal interest?

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Similar to number two you need to ask if there are personal reasons for someone to give you this information. Is this their cousin's business? Will their brother get a bonus if you sign this contract?

5- Does this person have sound judgement?

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Don't trust the village crazy. To them the sky is always falling.

6- Are the sources reasonably accessable?

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If it is a she said he said situation that should immediately be a red flag. If you can't ask the "he" or the "she" then you almost certainly have some exaggeration happening.

7- Does the source have a veracity for truth?

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If they have cried wolf before they will probably do it again.

8- Is there an excess of Imagination at play?

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Fantastical stories are almost always false. The fish wasn't really THAT big.

9- Use Caution First

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Be cautious before you believe what someone says. Don't make your daily exercise jumping to conclusions.

10- Ask questions but don't lead the witness

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You have to ask questions as a leader so that you can get to the truth but you can't show your hand and reveal the answers that you are looking for because your subordinates will be only too glad to tell you what you want to hear.

11- Can you verify this with Science?

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If yes then ask science what the truth is.

12- What emotions are at play?

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Be very wary if any of the following emotions are at play: Love, sex, hate, anger, fear, over enthusiastic, etc. Any strong emotion has the tendency to bend the truth.