Naughty Person! You have been EXPOSED!

“Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.” 

― Jim Morrison

I’ve got some bad news for you. You’ve been exposed.  That little secret you are hiding just became public knowledge.  Your demon is no longer hidden, everyone knows.

How it was exposed is not important. Maybe someone got into your system at work and read some email. Maybe that “secret” google email account was uncovered by your boss, spouse, or child. Maybe those text messages you share with that “special friend” just got published in a mass dump of data.

We all have demons. We all have things we have done, do, did, or will do that if others were aware would change their perception of who we are. 

We are humans and humans make mistakes. No person lives on this earth and does not do things that are out of character. 

Pornography, closet eating, drugs, booze, gambling, adultery, fill in the blank, most of us at one time or another have or have had a secret. 

Imagine your demon being exposed to the world. What do you do?  How do you recover your reputation? 

I had coffee with an interesting young lady yesterday. Her name is Carey and she has a pretty unique position in the world. She works with companies that have had their secret exposed and now has to rebuild their reputation.

Remember when Jack in the Box was found to have fecal matter in their meat? When you have fecal matter in your meat, and you are serving it to humans, you need some help explaining how that happened. 

When fecal matter is found in the meat you are serving your customers, Carey is called.  I can give other examples, but after talking to Carey I began thinking about all the reputational exposures corporations experience daily.

The best example today is a data breach.  Your client’s data, employee information, or secret formulas for your widget are now available for public consumption. 

If you own a company you need to be prepared to hire a Carey when you need reputational repair. 

But back to you. Now that the world knows your secret, how to you recover your reputation? 

Here’s an idea. Whatever secret you are hiding, whatever bad deeds or illicit activity you keep from all others, stop the behavior.  

Why are you doing something that would jeopardize your reputation? What is causing you to do things that are out of character?

It is fun being naughty, but being naughty comes with a price.   I don’t know what you’re doing, but if you keep doing it, eventually people will learn of who you are and what you’ve done.

My advice to you this morning is to really start thinking about that secret you are hiding. That behavior that you keep doing although you know it is wrong.

How would you feel if you were exposed and what would you do? Is it worth it? Are the little blips of excitement you get from “that activity” worth losing your reputation?

A New Year is coming and it’s time to make some adjustments. Stop doing those things that you should not be doing. Start doing new things you should be doing.

You are not alone. Everyone has something they could eliminate from their life to make them a better human. 

Save your personal reputation by eliminating that questionable behavior.  It’s time. You have been fortunate to not have been caught yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

Stop the naughty. Stop the secret texting, stop that behavior that you know is wrong and replace it with something that can benefit the world.

You have a choice. This morning you can begin to move towards a new hobby. Something that would make your family proud and not embarrassed. 

If a company makes a mistake, they can call Carey. If you make a mistake, and that mistake is exposed, your life will change forever.

You’ve been waiting for this message, this is for you. Stop the bad and replace it with some good.  Good luck, sorry, but you needed this message.

“Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.” 

― Jim Morrison