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Leadership Thought #306 – Tired People Tell The Truth

February 27, 2012

Quite a few people bemoan the length of our presidential primaries and other election campaigns these days – I don’t. People can keep up an act or tell you what you want to hear for a short period of time, but when they get exhausted by the rigors of a long campaign and tired of answering the same old questions the same old way, the eventually will slip up and say what they truly feel or believe. In addition, when you are speaking to a niche audience with a particular ideology or playing to the base, it takes a strong personality to say what you believe they need to hear rather than what they want to hear. Whether you agree with him or not, Ron Paul (who has no chance of winning) has been fairly consistent on this front while the others seem to adjust their rhetoric to fit the moment and forget their own checkered past. The good news is that when people get tired and consistently challenged they usually end up telling the truth. Rick Santorum is a case in point this past week.

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