And nothing *BUT* the truth...

It has been my pleasure over several years to know a gentleman by the name of Stan B. Walters who is world-renown for his work in the field of deception -- or more specifically, uncovering deception.

One of the things that has always resonated with me is his use of the classic courtroom line about telling "the TRUTH, the WHOLE truth, and nothing BUT the truth." His point being, it is often the truth that is being withheld that is really what we need to know. This means that someone is not always "lying," but they are still deceiving as they are withholding valuable information.

In my own work, I have seen the same, and unfortunately it has been the cause of everything from domestic violence in the workplace to data security breaches. How? Because someone who KNEW something withheld the very thing they knew.

An employee who is being threatened by someone outside of the company, be they an ex, a neighbor (yes, I have a few of those stories), a personal vendor or service provider, or similar that does not divulge this information to HR or their owner (if a smaller business) potentially puts that business and fellow coworkers at-risk for that trouble showing up *at* their place of business, causing either physical and/or reputational harm.

Also, an employee approached for a bribery scenario that would compromise internal data security, or an employee compromised by a blackmail scenario putting similar data at-risk who does not divulge at least the *approach* of such a situation itself, not only puts said data/IPR at-risk, but even if 'they' turned away from the lure, puts other employees at-risk for the same as such perpetrators (not unlike those who exploit children) will simply approach others at the same place until they achieve their end goal.

It all goes back to information *NOT* being conveyed to those who need to know the TRUTH, the WHOLE truth, and nothing BUT the truth. And the reasons for such staff not coming forward is often embarrassment or (more specifically) ego. It may also be a culture at work that would either shame them or punish them for even the potential of the scenario playing out (especially in the instance of blackmail for something perceived immoral). But there are other contributing factors as well.

Today, more than ever, savvy HR managers, Risk Managers, PR Managers and upper management/C-suite executives need to be dialed in to such dynamics as they can cost a company millions in damages. And *THAT* is the truth.

Jeff McKissack, Defense By Design