Facts can be scary things, especially when you don’t want to know about them. One of the reasons why things are called facts is because they are unequivocally true and yet, so many people take an ostrich approach to life by burying their head in the sand to escape them. The question I would ask is, “Are you a seeker of the truth or a large bird?”

A couple of years ago I found myself in a meeting planning for a leadership conference and I asked the question, “What’s going wrong with the organisation?” Several weeks later one of the leaders pulled me aside and expressed that she was really offended by the question. I must admit that I was a little perplexed by this response.

After listening to their concerns I explained that if you wanted to run a training session for the leaders of the organisation you needed to know the facts so the training could target the issues. I then shared with them that a leader should never be afraid to expose the facts of any situation.

One of the reasons why many organisations fail is due to the leadership punishing those people that are seekers of the truth. It doesn’t take very long before these people are isolated, ostracized and eventually take their talents elsewhere.

If you’re in a leadership position in an organisation then people that seek to find the facts, however unpleasant they may be, are like gold. What you will also discover is these individuals will often put their own position and career on the line for the sake of uncovering the truth of a situation.