
How Can You Tell When A CEO Is Lying? - tortilla
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130544236
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pavel_lishin
_In other words, Kumar was asked, "Can your books be trusted?" And he replied
by saying, "We hire the very best auditors." Larcker says that can be a big
warning sign._

 _"You basically are not answering the question. You're basically making
reference to somebody else, and those are the kinds of things in psychology
you look for," he says._

I'm glad someone went out and did the research necessary to prove that when
someone doesn't answer your question, they don't want to answer your question.

~~~
smokinn
I don't understand why the media lets them get away with it.

Politicians do this constantly. In the last US VP debates Palin didn't even
bother answering something related. She'd say: I'm happy you asked me that but
I just want to mention [cue pre-prepared talking point that doesn't have
anything to do with the question].

Why do interviewers allow them to get away with such obvious tricks? One of
the reasons Andrew Warner is such a good interviewer is because he doesn't put
up with that kind of weasely response, he'll just repeat his question until it
gets answered or he gets a response that directly addresses the fact that the
interviewee doesn't want to answer it.

~~~
ZachPruckowski
>I don't understand why the media lets them get away with it.

Because those CEOs/politicians/officials are key news _suppliers_. And if you
abuse your suppliers too much, you get hosed.

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lkrubner
Not mentioned, but for me a huge red flag is when anyone in a leadership
position tries to stifle criticism on the basis that it might lower morale.
For years I dealt with an entrepreneur who did this constantly. We'd have
discussions like this:

Me: there is no way we can match Pandora's functionality, especially given
such a short deadline.

Him: I want to know why you are so negative. Do you realize how much your
words are hurting the team? Tim told me yesterday he's feeling really bummed
out by your negativity.

Me: Cool, but there is no way we can match Pandora's functionality, especially
given such a short deadline.

Him: I think you need to get back to work, and also rethink why you are so
negative.

~~~
mgkimsal
I've been in situations like that before too. In some situations I really
_was_ 'negative', and got myself out of those situations.

In other situations, I would couple the observations like "we can't get this
done on this deadline" with practical options... "but if we do ABC in the next
3 weeks we can deliver XYZ." I was trying to get real options to be discussed,
rather than just deathmarching. In some cases, that was met with - well, not
positivity - but an understanding that I (we, in some cases) was trying to be
reasonable, and generally something was worked out.

In other cases, I got what you got back "you're being negative". In those
situations, it really wasn't _me_ \- "negative" was just a code word for "not
on board with a magical mindset of someone who's not in touch with reality".
Anyone that didn't deliver or hit deadlines inevitably had a real reason, but
giving the reason was just "making excuses" or "being negative". Once I
realized, I got out of those situations (been in a few over the past 15
years).

A big issue in being in situations like that - you're given impossible
deadlines - when you point them out, you're being 'negative'. Then suddenly,
when you miss the deadline, you're accused of purposefully not hitting the
deadline, trying to 'prove your point' or playing some 'power game'. I've bee
in those situations too, and it sucks (advice to anyone in those situations -
get the hell out yesterday).

~~~
Dylanlacey
I think there's a large number of rules of thumb like this that can help
detect that people you're working with suck. I certainly found the same thing
when I would bring honest assessments of timeframes and suggestions about
them:

"You need to be less negative."

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rbanffy
Whenever his lips move.

~~~
bravura
That's actually the punchline to the more accurate joke:

"How do you know when a CEO is pitching?"

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spitfire
Sounds like a good use for bayesian statistics+options.

Prime your database with liars/truth-tellers. Then Search through press
releases for CEO's that repeatedly "lie" then buy cheap options on their
companies.

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fleitz
CEOs are the ones that realize that the economy is built on confidence.

Look at the investigation into Lehman Bros, it centers around who started the
rumors that they were insolvent, which apparently drove them to insolvency.
Our economy is a con game.

Once you realize that is the game they are playing, realize that what a CEO
says about his books becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Also, once you have a tool like mentioned in the article, the first people to
buy it will be lying CEOs who want to tune their speeches to pass.

~~~
idoh
It's not a con game, it is just a weakness of the fractional reserve banking
system.

~~~
fleitz
A con game is a confidence game. There is no reserve in our current system,
what asset is backed against the dollar? The answer, the confidence that a
future generation will pay the interest on the current debt.

~~~
lupatus
The US Dollar is backed by F-16s.

~~~
fleitz
touche.

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lanstein
see also: <http://www.biadvisors.com/>

