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Last week we did a deep dive into the first component of honesty: self-honesty, which is the first critical step to master before being able to be truly honest with others. As a leader by attraction, self-reflection, self-management, and self-curiosity are key tools you’ll use over and over again as you continue on the path to sheer clarity.

The next component of honesty which builds upon self-honesty is honesty with others. This is an enormously important skill set in the area of leadership and something you will be faced with on a daily basis in your interactions with your team, colleagues, and clients. Most often, this type of honesty falls in the category of feedback. As a busy executive, it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of being so results-oriented that you come across as impatient and uncaring in your feedback. So how do you find a way to be compassionately honest, instead of brutally honest?

In today’s episode, Mathew and I discuss my pre-honesty checklist, which covers the most important steps you should work through before being honest with others. We also talk about why positive feedback is both important and problematic, how you could be contributing to the negative reaction to your feedback, why you should examine your motives for being honest with others, and so much more!

You’re also going to want to look out for next week’s episode where we’ll be talking about how to know when people are being honest with you.

Key Topics:

• The best advice I got about starting a podcast (1:14)
• Why is it important to be honest with others (4:06)
• The most common context for honesty with others in the workplace (4:29)
• When honesty becomes brutal (4:51)
• The importance of compassionate honesty (6:13)
• Why positive feedback is essential for motivating and inspiring others (6:41)
• The factors within your control that can lead to a negative reaction to feedback (8:00)
• Thinking of honesty with others as a part of your brand and reputation (8:45)
• The problem with positive feedback (10:04)
• My pre-honesty checklist (10:48)
• Why you need to examine your motives for being honest with someone (11:14)
• The typical signs of an opportunity to have a moment of honesty (13:09)
• When honest is unnecessary (14:10)
• The crucial elements that must be in place when being honest with others (15:15)
• Using the “How will this help?” filter (16:31)
• Why it’s so important to be honest with others (18:15)
• Taking ownership and using self-management (19:54)
• And much more!

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Ken Calvert, host of The Ken Calvert Show

• Honesty with Others Pre-Flight Checklist Download here

Click here for a PDF version of the transcript