EP211: Let Truth be Your Sword and Shield

In this episode, we continue to expose one of the foes that undermines effective leadership: evil. Join us as we explore the various manifestations of evil in business, family, and society and how wielding truth can serve as a powerful weapon to counteract its influence. Tune in to discover strategies for becoming a leader who actively resists evil in both your personal life and community.

Key Takeaways To Listen For

• Negative impact of injustice and why we should prevent it
• Why honesty and transparency are important in a business
• How confidentiality creates a foundation of trust in business and family
• The emotional and spiritual costs of evil within families
• Expert advice on building a culture of trust in the workplace and at home

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

• EP201: Real Leaders Love
• EP202: Taming the Beast, Strategies for Overcoming Impulsive Leadership with Jeremy Smith
• EP203: You Know You're a Jerk When…
• EP204: Envy Almost Destroyed Me
• EP205: Addicted to Self-Promotion
• EP206: Does Pride REALLY Come Before Destruction with PJ Accetturo
• EP207: Enough is Enough. Rejecting the Toxicity of Incivility
• EP208: The Peculiar Path to Happiness
• EP209: Navigating Life's Turbulent Emotion of Anger
• EP210: Love Holds No Record of Wrongs

Connect With Us
Master your context with real results leadership training!
To learn more, visit our website at www.greatsummit.com.

For tax, bookkeeping, or accounting help, contact Dr. Nate’s team at www.theincometaxcenter.com or send an email to info@theincometaxcenter.com.

Follow Dr. Nate on His Social Media

• LinkedIn: Nate Salah, Ph.D
• Instagram: @natesalah 
• Facebook: Nate Salah
• TikTok: @drnatesalah
• Clubhouse: @natesalah

Transcript

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[00:00:00] Dr. Nate Salah
Hello, my friend, and welcome to this episode of A Call to Leadership. I'm Dr. Nate Salah, your host. I am so glad you are here. Thank you for joining me as we continue to unpack on a multi-part series on leadership that truly matters through this expression of the deepest form of care for those who we are called and entrusted to lead, to walk alongside of, to shepherd, to help influence toward a reaching a better future state. This aspect of charity, this aspect of Love, love is a virtue that can lead us to having massive impact, massive value in the realm of leadership. It's a realm of servant leadership. It's a realm of emotional intelligence, it's a realm that has the power to change the fabric of your business, of your family, of dare I say, your society. And this is an area of leadership that we have much quantifiable data on how it actually helps. And so we are unpacking these aspects of it from the first book of Corinthians chapter 13 verses 4 through 8 considered the love verses and we've covered a number of them. We've covered patience and kindness and envy and boasting and pride and rudeness and self seeking and easily angered and holding a record of wrongs.

[00:01:22]
All of those are aspects of leadership that we can learn to embrace as virtues and some of them exemplifying and some of them squashing. and putting away. So if you haven't listened to those episodes, I encourage you to go all the way back to episode 201 as we started this series. And today we're on such an important, a pivotal aspect of this journey of love or leadership. Leadership does not delight in evil, but it rejoices with the truth. Friend, I don't have to explain the heinousness of evil, but I'm going to explain it anyway. You say, Nate, What is evil? Is this just some kind of a moral construct? Are we just talking about something that is philosophical? No. It's real. And it really does destroy. And sometimes we don't understand exactly what evil is. You can look at it from a religious perspective. You can look at it from a societal perspective. This existence of suffering, of immorality, it's injustice, wrongdoing. There's many examples of evil in society. Think about your business, fraud, embezzlement, exploitation.

[00:02:33]
These are all ideas that revolve around the construct in family, domestic violence, child abuse, in society, human trafficking, corruption, slavery. All of these are considered evil and they have no place in leadership. They have no place in society because they destroy the fabric of society. And so you think, Nate, that's not me. I don't exhibit that. That I'm not evil. Well, I'm glad to hear that. However, it can creep in even at the lesser sense. Perhaps you know you we think of evil in the most extreme ways like a Charles Manson or an Adolf Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer, these are individuals who heinously committed acts of evil, but sometimes evil creeps in friend. It's under the radar It's a lesser form of evil perhaps a lie. You say Nate is a lie. Could a lie be evil? I'm gonna talk about that because it can be divisive and it can help it can hurt people Sometimes it doesn't, and we'll talk a little bit about that as well. Evil can exist perhaps in action. Sometimes, it exists in the heart. And we've got to squash that possibility in our own lives to just put the flame of evil out so that we can live in truth, live in harmony with what's right and beautiful and what builds rather than destroys. In fact, when we think of evil, think of it very concrete terms. It's wrongdoing. It can often involve actions or behaviors that cause harm, cause people to suffer, cause injustice.

[00:04:03]
It is often the opposite or the antithesis of what we call morality, ethical principles that society values for the well-being of society. Compassion, justice, respect for human life. And you know that this is the exception so often rather than the norm in humanity. We see the evil and the atrocities all over the world and it breaks our hearts to see it. But we can do something about it. You see, Nate, how can I have an impact on, say, extreme evil like genocide, which we consider that the systematic extermination. of an entire people. Think about the Holocaust and World War II. Think about the murder of people in this extreme evil, this deliberate and widespread cruelty. Terrorism is an act of evil, indiscriminate killing and suffering driven by these ideologies that just completely devalue innocent lives. And maybe evil isn't in your purview in that way. Maybe you're thinking about lesser evils and maybe you've been a victim. Maybe you haven't been a victim of genocide or terrorism.

[00:05:07]
Maybe you've been exposed to say the lesser evil, maybe bullying. Bullying might not be on the scale of genocide or terrorism, but it causes real harm to people and it can lead to not only long-term psychological trauma, but people commit suicide. Children, it's so incredibly sad because they've been bullied. It's heinous. It's painful. It's destructive It's evil theft stealing might not even be considered an evil for some but it is an evil perhaps not as evil as an act of murder, but it still violates the rights of others and it can lead to Significant distress for the victims. Have you ever been burglarized? No, I've never been burglarized however, when I speak with people who have been burglarized they feel as though they have been violated. There's all kinds of evils in the world that are just like that now the opposite of the antithesis of this evil what we're talking about do not delight in evil don't want evil, but rejoice with the truth as a leader.

[00:06:17]
Why is that a contrast? Because in contrast to evil, truth is often associated with positive moral values, honesty, integrity, trustworthiness. It is a foundation to just societies. When truth itself Becomes a concept that we embrace it becomes meaningful in action And it becomes meaningful in our behavior. You say nate. What do you mean by truth? You know, what's the difference? What is truth? Truth often is transparent honesty. It goes against what we would consider to be deception or deceptive practices. So, truth involves a transparency and openness. Well evil often relies on deception For example, if you have say a government an authoritarian government, it's going to use propaganda, which is also a form of deception, to hide these oppressive actions, which are evil, where a democratic society, you would hope, strives for transparency. Maybe you think about justice versus injustice. A truth seeks justice by revealing the facts, holding individuals accountable for their actions. Now the opposite, in contrast, evil can manifest as injustice, and it could suppress truth to maintain power. and control. Perhaps you've examined this. Perhaps you've witnessed this in your own expression of life.

[00:07:42]
This has happened perhaps when in a criminal court case, perhaps evidence was withheld to convict someone falsely. So many people are falsely convicted. Every single year of crimes they did not commit. Sometimes it is simply an error. in the justice system. Sometimes it's malicious and it's evil. Actions based on truth promote well-being. To avoid the harm of people, the opposite evil action intentionally causes harm and it disregards the well-being of others. Evil is deemed wrong because it contradicts the core, the values that facilitate harmony, the values that facilitate well being in society. Truth stands in complete opposition to that, promotes the behaviors that upholds these values, contributes to the flourishing of individuals and communities. And here's the thing, friend. Sometimes, you know, I know, that some behavior, some aspect is evil. It is not standing to hold these values, to contribute to individuals and communities flourishing. And sometimes we have to take a stand. Sometimes it's not easy to take a stand, but we must take a stand. It starts with us.

[00:08:51]
You know, when I was young, I had a cousin by marriage who we went and played a lot out in a town called Aurora. Illinois, I was 15 years old. We rode our bikes all over and I told the story many episodes ago and I'm just reminded of it to share it again. And there was a young boy who had a nice bike and We were out by the tennis courts my cousin and I so we were 15 You had to be like 10 and my cousin said hey kid. I like your bike. I think I'm gonna take it I want that bike and the young boy. He just started crying. Please don't take my bike Please don't take my bike. And I just couldn't take it. In fact, I remember when I was just a little older and my bike was stolen, my PK Ripper, my favorite bike, my only bike, favorite bike I ever owned. It was a gift for my birthday from one of my dad's friends in Chicago, and I absolutely loved that bike and someone stole it. And I saw that pain and anguish in that little boy, my cousin bullying him. And I just stood by for a few moments and he started to take his bike and, uh, I just couldn't take it.

[00:09:52]
I told him, you're not taking that bike. Put my hand on the steering wheel. And he said, what are you doing? You're not taking that bike. Give the kid's bike back. I had to stand up to him. No matter what, we got into a fight. We got into a fight, but I got my butt kicked. I got my butt kicked, but I wasn't going to get my butt kicked. So I wanted justice for that poor little boy. My cousin said, whatever, and let go of the bike. And I handed the bike, kid, his bike back. He just looked at me and I wiped his tears off his face and just nodded and went on his way home. Sometimes it's easier like that. Sometimes it's more difficult. Sometimes it's in your business. Maybe it's not with friends. Maybe it's in your small business. Maybe there's an evil that isn't as dramatic as in the societal context, but they can still have significant impacts on our businesses, on individuals. It's evil to exploit workers through unfair wages, poor working conditions, excessive Work hours without the proper compensation, and it takes hold all over the globe.

[00:10:48]
I've seen this happen in business. Embezzlement. Have you ever seen embezzlement? I've seen accountants take advantage of people. Thankfully, no one to date in my firm. I've had clients who've said, yeah, I got embezzled, and they trusted an accountant. We're always working on creating practices that segregate duties. So that people don't run into this, but when a trusted employee or even a partner steals money from the business, it's not only illegal, but it's a more wrong, it betrays trust, not only that, but it can ruin the financial stability of a company. We must be vigilant and monitor against that about discrimination when we treat employees or customers unfairly based on their race, based on their gender, their age. Their sexual orientation, their religion, disability. It's all an evil that perpetuates inequality and justice. We must stand up against this. Maybe this is something that you've seen. Maybe it's something that you have been a part of deceptive advertising. You know, we mislead customers with a false claim about some kind of a product or some kind of a service.

[00:11:49]
It's an ethical practice that manipulates consumer trust and choice. It does not stand. It does not walk in truth. We have to be clear and honest in our advertising. Just be honest and say what it can do. We have a number of products in our business. One of them is our advisory work that we do, which is our small business to medium sized business advisory. And we share. All kinds of ways to mitigate, to eliminate tax, but here's what we tell our clients. Results vary. There's no guarantee. I can't guarantee you this savings. Now I can tell you based on these implemented strategies, based on this tax rate, based on these deductions. This is a proposed benefit, but I can't guarantee that until we actually do the work. And if we cannot obtain a client through that, that's okay because we're walking in integrity and honesty. We will do our very best, but we cannot guarantee results until we do the work. We can forecast, we can speculate, we can give a range of the possibilities, but that's having advertising, that's sharing What's possible without deception, be clear, be honest, be transparent.

[00:13:02]
It's okay, because you'll be able to then deliver on what you promise effectively. If you know that you can deliver something, and you've done it many times over, Then yes, I understand that. But if you're uncertain, then share what you can. What we can do. Here's what we can do. We can implement this, this, and this. Here are the results we generally get. Here's the range. Walk in that sobriety. That truth has power. You can walk in confidence and integrity because of that. Another area that we must monitor is confidentiality. We cannot breach confidentiality. We cannot share sensitive information without the permission of those. Who have entrusted us with that information it can destroy trust it can cause harm to our clients to our employees whose data is compromised I cannot tell you how important I can't understate the importance of security I've been in this business, the confidentiality, the fiduciary business for three decades and I take it so incredibly seriously.

[00:14:03]
A conversation that I might have with a client, it doesn't leave the office, doesn't go home. And when it's sensitive because it is my incumbent duty to honor and respect that confidentiality. I have lots of secrets and I'm okay with that. Don't be a gossip. Don't share. Those secrets, those sensitive pieces of information without permission, maintain that trust, do not cause harm to others. It's so critical in a business environment. I can't go around talking about and telling people how much other people make just because I see it on their tax return. No, it's confidential. It does not leave this brain. Now, within the office, of course, because we are a company and we fiduciary duty. But outside of that environment, no, it's non-negotiable. And these actions It really can be considered evils within a small business context because they undermine the ethical foundation necessary for what I would call a fair and functioning business environment. And here's the other thing, friend. It's not just about harming others, but think about our reputations.

[00:15:07]
We must not lead to a loss of our reputation. We must not lead to legal consequences, toxic workplace culture. We cannot harm our workplaces longevity. Our workplace success by being false. This is what we're talking about. Delight. Do not delight in evil, but rejoice with the truth. How about in a family? Evil within a family context involves different aspects, different actions, but they also betray the same things. They betray trust. They cause harm. They can disrupt this foundation of safety and support, which is expected in a family relationship. It's so sad when I talk to police officers who come in and who are clients of ours and say, Nate, you know, the one aspect of my job that is so stressful, so challenging, so worrisome is the proliferation, the act of domestic violence. This is where we have physical, emotional even sexual abuse within the family. It is so severe. It is a form of evil that can have massively long-lasting traumatic effects on its victims. And it's rampant. Domestic violence happens every hour of every day. Hundreds of people an hour are victims of domestic violence.

[00:16:23]
Another area is neglect. When we fail to provide for the basic needs of family members, especially children, even elderly relatives, it's neglect that leads to significant physical and emotional harm. Neglect has no place in a family. We must provide for the needs. And friend, it's not just the physical needs. It's not just food. It's emotional needs. It's mental needs. It's spiritual needs. Recognizing that if you're an absentee parent, if I'm an absentee parent, I may be a transcript. Neglectful. I've got to stop. If I'm simply on my phone all the time, if I'm on calls in the car when I've got the kids in with me, instead of enjoying and feeding into them, I may be neglecting their needs. Maybe they just need Dad or Mom to listen for a moment because they are in the trial of their lives. They need our undivided love, our attention, our focus. I haven't always been there, but I'm committed. If you're committed, we can be committed together to striving in this area, to helping our families experience strength in this area.

[00:17:33]
Sometimes it's subtle. Have you ever been manipulated by a family member? Have you ever been controlled or exploited when another family member has attempted personal gain that undermines relationships? How about infidelity? Betrayal of a partner through infidelity, it destroys. Trust that is absolutely central to a committed relationship. Perhaps it's not another person. Perhaps it's self harm. Maybe there's substance abuse. Maybe I'm engaging in substance abuse that then leads to harmful behaviors that affects The entire family, whether it's alcoholism or drugs, you have financial hardships, emotional distress, sometimes it's violence, families break up. I've seen this in my own circles. Have you seen it? The alcohol and the drugs destroy. I quit drinking years ago. I always said I drank enough in my 20s to last a whole lifetime. And now I'm in my 50s. And I haven't had alcohol in many years. And I learned that the cost-benefit analysis wasn't there. It was too great of a cost.

[00:18:33]
For the benefit. The risk-return, sacrifice reward, it wasn't there. In fact, I could not justify the clouded judgment that I exhibited when I did drink. Now, I'm not judging, and if you drink, drink responsibly. However, for me and my family, it was, uh, non negotiable. Now I have massive clarity. I'm not in bondage to that. I never was an alcoholic per se, however, it was not my friend. It was an enemy and anything that has the word toxic in it. In other words, intoxicated probably is a pretty good warning sign to back off. I had so many instances in my twenties. That were nearly killed me drinking contests and driving so drunk that you can't even see the road That's so harmful. I mean every day people die because of that in car accidents and that could have been me I'm not being a hypocrite. I'm just telling you friend. It could have been me many times over So I had to stop the alcohol. It was evil in my life. It violated my moral expectations of care, of respect, of protection inherent in the family bond.

[00:19:40]
And then sometimes it's even worse. Sometimes you get these deep psychological scars and then we have these cycles of dysfunction, right, within the family unit. Hey, this sounds pretty heavy. You're like, Nate, This is no fun, but here's the difference, man. There is possibility for truth that can triumph over evil in business. Honest marketing. Provide accurate, provide clear information about product services. Don't exaggerate. Don't make false claims. Have transparent operations. Let's have clear, open sharing of company processes, methods, practices to the stakeholders so that everyone has an understanding of what we are about together. Pay fairly based on the skill, not based on the gender or the color of skin or Any of those types of differences be ethical. How about ethical accounting? How about that? How about honest financial records? Honest reporting? Pay the fair amount of tax. Now, we don't want to pay the IRS one red cent more than they're legally, that we're legally required to.

[00:20:50]
But let's do that adhering to legal standards. Ethical guidelines. I sleep so much better at night because of that. I haven't always been ethical. I haven't always followed this and I know people say well the government's always cheating. I'm gonna cheat on them. No Rise higher raise the standard rise above safeguard customer data Be transparent about how information is used, protect it, have a code of ethics, create and enforce a set of ethical guidelines that dictate how your business should operate, emphasize honesty, integrity, fairness, and why, and then model it. Lead by example. We, the leader, should embody the company's values of truth, of transparency. We need to set the standard for all of our team members to follow. Do not deviate from that. Set the bar. Keep your integrity. Think about the integrity as being undivided, like a whole number. Think of the integrity. If you were a ship, a leader-ship, think of the integrity of your hull. What happens to the integrity of a hull on a ship when it's breached? The ship sinks, friend. Maintain the integrity of that hull so that no matter what comes at it, It will stay strong and it will reach your desired destination.

[00:22:05]
Communicate openly. If we foster an environment where employees feel safe to speak up about concerns without the fear of retaliation, we foster environment that encourages progress and encourages us to work together. It encourages us to want. To find solutions. Is there an environment that's 100 percent safe where people have total transparency? I don't know, but I'd like to think that there are organizations that not only encourage it, but help to foster it. Sometimes we have to provide training to do this. I believe that regular training sessions help employees to understand the importance of ethical behavior, how to apply it. In their roles. And then we need to implement accountability measures. We need to establish clear consequences for unethical behavior and reward actions that uphold truth and integrity. I'm telling you, friend, when we prioritize truth in these ways, businesses can build trust with their customers, with their employees, with the community, and then what happens?

[00:23:04]
Success, sustainability, and then we work against those evils that undermine a business's foundation. In a family, same thing. Open communication. Encourage family members to share their thoughts, feelings, experiences honestly. Don't judge. Don't retaliate. Sometimes it's better not to even speak. Just listen. Say, I understand. Thank you for sharing. Demonstrate trustworthiness by keeping your promises. and commitments to one another. I must keep my promises. So if I say I'm going to be at the game, I'm not going to schedule any appointments that's too close to that. So I'm not rushing to get there. And I'm late because my child is looking at that empty seat friend commitments. My dad wasn't there when I was young. He couldn't be there. There was always an empty seat. I promised myself, man, don't be that empty seat for your son. There's somewhere that you need to be, be there. Now, have I made every single event? No, but I've, the ones I've committed to. I said, I will be there. I was there.

[00:24:02]
I can't make every single one because perhaps there's something going on and I'm out of town or maybe the timing isn't right, maybe mom goes to one and I go to another. But I demonstrate, I want to demonstrate to keep my promises, keep my commitment. In walking in authenticity, here's the thing, let people express their true self without fear of judgment, rejection. Sometimes we hide behind a mask. Sometimes we think that. If I act a certain way to where it's acceptable to others, then I'll be well liked because I lived up to their expectations back to the kids, and I don't want the kids to look at me and say, you're only going to be happy with me as long as I fulfilled your dreams. No, I want you to fulfill your dreams and let me support you in that. Sometimes it's just having conversations around the decisions we make. I believe that we need to involve family members in our decision making, especially that which affects the household and talk it through and as the leader, then provide clear.

[00:25:06]
Reasons for the choices that are made. And if we make a mistake, admit it. Let's acknowledge when we're wrong. Let's apologize. Let's strive to make amends that demonstrate accountability. I'm telling you, friend, if we model that, if we model and cultivate truth at home, if we model honesty as a family member, consistently showing it in our actions, our words. Children are especially going to learn from observing us as adults when we create this safe space for sharing, when we practice active listening, when we encourage integrity, when we deal with dishonesty appropriately, when we deal with lies and deceit, when we say, look, my trust level for you decreases when I cannot rely on the integrity of your words, just like you cannot rely on the integrity of mine. If I say I'm going to show up at your game at your recital. If I don't show up at your event and I don't show up, then your trust of me showing up is going to decrease. It's the same in both ways. Let us build a relationship built on truth. I don't believe in lies whatsoever. Let them pass. You will trust me more if you know, that I will speak the truth, cultivating truth at home and business in our societies.

[00:26:17]
It builds a foundation of trust and respect that not only strengthened family relationships, but it helped to create a supportive, loving environment. Well, my friend, thank you for joining me on this episode of A Call to Leadership. If you've been listening, you've probably heard me talk about our accounting and advisory business. And this show was actually born out of that business, those relationships. I found that. Entrepreneurs and professionals were missing aspects of their leadership that fed into their bottom line and help their businesses be successful. So I'm so thankful that I've had all those years in that area to feed into this. And the truth is that so many people still need accounting and advisory help and they don't know where to go. If you're in that place where you feel, Oh my goodness, my tax person or my accountant, I can't find them. Or maybe the service wasn't up to my expectations. Do not despair. I'll leave how you can find us in the show notes and one of my team members can do some discovery and help you along your journey. You're not alone, my friend. You always have help. I'm Dr. Nate Salah. Can't wait to see you on the next show of A Call to Leadership.