Wow - I read the article this morning, shortly before I had to present to managers on the current status of a project. Thought I'd try putting it into practice. The results: (a) I'm quite shocked at the number of (to be fair, very little) lies I would normally tell in such a situation, (b) It was weirdly relaxing being able to just sit there and tell the truth, (c) I've never received such good feedback from a presentation!
That's very interesting, can you elaborate on the "small lies" you found yourself telling? (obviously without disclosing anything personal or confidential).
Interestingly, I think most such "small lies" would have affected nobody but me (and would only have affected me by adding to my stress).
e.g.
Saying something's complete when in fact it's 95% complete, and will be complete by the end of the week, regardless of whether or not I claim right now that it's complete. There's nobody urgently waiting on this thing. The only difference then being whether I complete it in a relatively relaxed manner, or under the additional stress of hoping nobody asks to see it before the end of the week.
Other instances were based on how I felt about certain aspects of the project.
e.g.
Q: Do you think the remaining deliverables of the project will follow the plan?
(True) A: Actually no. And here's why.
Previously I would probably just have said yes, and dealt with any upcoming issues as and when. The truthful approach led to a brief discussion about what will be different and why. Everyone now understands the issues. They're not major. Nobody died. Everyone (including me) left happy.
A lesson learnt...