It can be hard to get people to face the truth sometimes. Especially about lying. You don’t want your kids to eat too much, so you say all the cookies are gone. You don’t feel like going out, so you tell your date something important came up. You’re overloaded with errands, so you call in sick. Lies, all of them, but we don’t really like calling them that. In an Associated Press-Ipsos poll, more than half of respondents said lying was never justified. Yet in the same poll, up to two-thirds said it was OK to lie in certain situations, like protecting someone’s feelings. Apparently white lies are an acceptable, even necessary, part of many lives, even though we dislike the idea of lying. . .. Among the groups more likely to say lying was sometimes OK: people ages 18–29, college graduates and those with higher household incomes.

1. Never. A lie is a lie, and it is immoral to deceive others, especially those for whom you are responsible.
2. Harmless “white lies” are okay when used to protect people’s feelings. “Say, how do you like my new haircut?” “Do I look like I’ve gained some weight?”
3. True, it’s wrong to lie. But life isn’t perfect, so the truth needs to be bent a little bit sometimes. (When, and in what situations, exactly?)
4. Get real. Everyone lies one time or another. The trick is to do it skillfully and not overdo it.
5. A harmless white lie now and then is okay, but care needs to be taken because any sort of lying damages a manager’s credibility.
6. Invent other options. Discuss.