Leadership and Sincerity

Sincerity is a critical quality in a leader, yet it’s not universally present in people in leadership positions. What is sincerity, and why is it important?

The dictionary defines sincerity as:

Sincerity (noun): the quality or state of being sincere; honesty, genuineness, good faith, etc.

Sincerity fosters trust in relationships because a sincere person consistently exhibits traits such as honesty and openness that, over time, earn them a reputation for being trustworthy. Sincerity is easily lost, however, as this example illustrates:

I previously worked for a technology company that was going out of business. The company that had once been a disruptor was itself being disrupted due to the commoditization of hardware and software technologies. In response to falling revenue, the company’s CEO adopted a bizarre and poorly-conceived strategy that further drove down revenue. It took a few years until the company’s final demise, but the trajectory was clear to every employee.

The company’s CTO was a highly-respected technology thought leader, and he was a role model for what I aspired to become: a technology visionary. He also conveyed sincerity, or so it seemed.

In the company’s final year, the CTO held regular technology briefings that also covered the state of the business. I always looked forward to his talks because they were inspiring glimpses into new and emerging technologies. As the stock price nose-dived and layoffs propagated across the company, the CTO conveyed a hopeful, positive attitude that implied that the company wasn’t going out of business, the stock price was irrelevant, and that better times were just around the corner. Nobody bought it because we could tell he didn’t believe it himself. In fact, it was baffling that such a well-respected leader should be projecting such a contrary perspective on what was obvious to everyone: it was time to deploy the lifeboats. As an executive, I’m sure he'd been asked to put a positive spin on the dire situation, but sincerity would have served the organization much better. Rather than present this fictional view of reality, he could have focused just on the facts:

“Revenue is falling, so to control costs the company is laying off staff and prioritizing revenue-generating parts of the business. A recovery is not certain, and it’s time for all of us to do whatever we can to save the company.”

His insincerity permanently tarnished his reputation and I lost respect for someone I’d previously held in the highest regard.

I was reminded of this experience when I heard from a friend who’d recently been laid off. She was processing the trauma of losing her job at a company she loved, but there was something that made it far worse: the way it had been communicated to her by her manager.

A year ago, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company furloughed half its employees, including my friend. This was not unexpected. The company had been affected more than most because its businesses depended on people gathering together in various types of venues. Revenue streams from these businesses essentially fell to zero, the company started losing money, and there was no work for employees to do. The company had to control costs, and furloughing employees was its best course of action. My friend understood this and she entered furlough optimistically looking forward to the end of the pandemic and a return to work. After 9 months, however, and with no end to the pandemic in sight, the company started laying off large numbers of employees. My friend wasn’t worried. She was a valued employee with years of experience at the company. She’d received glowing performance reviews, generous annual bonuses, and had learned that she was on a “key employees” list. She would be called back any time, she believed.

Early in December, she received a message from her manager asking whether he could talk to her about her role. My friend had heard that people were getting called back from furlough to fill critical functions, and she assumed this vague message meant she was going back to work. When she got the call from her boss, however, it was clear something wasn’t right. After the usual pleasantries, her manager told her that HR was also on the call, and then proceeded to tell her that her job had been eliminated and that laying her off was the “most difficult thing he’d ever had to do”. It was clear that he was reading a pre-prepared script because the lack of sincerity came through clearly. HR then proceeded to tell her about the terms of her severance, and in less than 10 minutes the call was over. That call amounted to less than a minute per year of her employment at the company.

What really hurt my friend was the insincerity of the message and lack of empathy from her manager with whom she thought she had a great working relationship. Being read a script hurt the most because there was no recognition of the contributions my friend had made to the company over the years, no sincerity in the statement about how hard the decision was, and no compassion. It was a cold, mechanical, matter-of-fact statement devoid of sincerity. My friend was devastated. She lost respect for her manager and the experience tainted her attitude about a company she’d previously loved and promoted as a great place to work.

This could have been handled so much better. The manager could have skipped the fake pleasantries that set an expectation of a positive outcome, and instead led with:

“I’m really sorry, but I have some bad news to share with you. Unfortunately, the company has eliminated your role and is laying you off."

If HR had a script that the manager was required to read, the manager could have stated:

“HR requires me to read this script, so bear with me. After I’ve read it, HR and I will spend as much time as you need discussing this action and to help you through this. OK, here’s the script…"

By being sincere, her manager could have lessened the blow of the bad news, and left my friend feeling valued and grateful for the graceful and empathetic way her manager had handled things. While she’d still have lost her job, she’d leave feeling respected as an employee and as a human being. She’d also have left with respect for her manager and the company.

Words carry meaning, but how they are conveyed makes all the difference in how they are received. A leader who is sincere in their communication gains respect and dedication from the people they lead. Sincerity, openness, honesty, and empathy are key to the success of any relationship, and these qualities must also be present in business relationships. If you want to be respected as a leader, don’t lie, and don’t read a script when you perform one of the worst things a leader has to do: laying off a valued employee. This, above all other situations, is when sincerity is critical.

There are legal obligations that companies and their leaders must adhere to when dealing with employment actions such as layoffs. I’m not suggesting that leaders should bypass what is required by employment law, just that leaders should act with sincerity when doing it.

We should always remember that “Companies are people". A company is a human endeavor, not a machine made of unthinking replaceable parts. Companies succeed because of the people who work there and how they treat each other. As a leader, be sincere, always -- your employees will respect you for it, and your company will succeed because of it!