For ages, one event has been capturing readers’ attention in the news: affairs. Recently, Jack Neo and Tiger Woods’ affairs have shocked audiences in Singapore and the world respectively. The lesson we can gather is simple: be honest. This is applicable to both entrepreneur and public speaker.
As an entrepreneur, often the ethics of business reside in a grey area. Should I exaggerate my sales figures if they can still be justified? Should I compromise on product quality or service excellence if my customers can still tolerate or accept it? The solution to this is simple. Don’t cheat on your “wife” – the set of values and morals you first married and devoted yourself to. Your side-fling with the dodgy and questionable? As a friend puts it aptly, “It will haunt you dey”. Just like the affairs of these two famous people, this could possibly harm and devastate yourself, your business and possibly cause you to face your “wife” – your values, in shame.

Public speakers are not spared from this. Just like a celebrity, public speakers also stand in the limelight, subject to scrutiny from the audience or public. Every single word, action is dissected under a microscope mercilessly. Often, it is ever so easy to “fluff”, to over-exaggerate, to tell a half-truth in exploitation of the fact that audiences are not experts on the topic. In this scenario, the public speaker who talks in an untruthful manner is likely to let slip or contradict himself – almost like a celebrity who is caught unaware or photographed coming out of sleazy hotels and night-clubs. The embarrassment is painful – the Jack Neo video tells it all.

Jack Neo's wife breaks down! 梁智强太太记者会崩溃!
Read the story here.

The age-old message is drab but clear: honesty is the best policy

-stella