Are you a Truth Seeker?
We’re not always ready for the truth, especially when it comes to our work. Whether we’re running our own business, managing a growing team, or leading a large organisation, we can become experts at avoiding hard truths. Sometimes it’s self-protection. Other times, people around us assume we don’t want to hear it, can’t hear it, are afraid to say or are just being to dam polite (massaging an ego that needs a check in).
It’s this latter one that gets me the most. Whilst we all need supporter, there to rally when we need them. But we don’t need encouragement in the place of honesty. We need those around us to be ‘truth speakers’ and with it we need to be ‘truth seekers’.
So, let’s ask the question:
“What’s the truth you need to hear, but no one is telling you?”
Below are some of the most common truths we avoid across different business contexts and what might be waiting for us on the other side of them.
For Sole Traders and Independent Business Owners
The lie: “I need to be everything, to everyone, all the time.”
When you’re on your own, it’s easy to believe your value lies in doing it all, the delivery, the sales, the invoicing, the content, the admin. But the truth is, constantly switching hats burns you out and blurs your brilliance. The more you try to please every client and cater to every opportunity, the further you drift from what you’re actually best at.
The truth:
“You’re not scalable. Your energy isn’t infinite. Your magic lives in the work that only you can do. Focus on that and outsource the rest!”
This isn’t laziness or admitting you can’t do it all it’s leadership.
For Small to Medium Businesses
The lie: “If we just push harder, get through this next quarter, things will settle down.”
Growth rarely brings calm. In fact, it often brings more chaos. Many SMEs convince themselves that a little more hustle, one more hire, one more late night, one more deal will finally create the space to breathe. But growth without strategy leads the danger of burnout, increases workload within a reducing capacity (as you aren’t working as effectively). Yes you can hire more people to do more work, but then this brings increased expenditure.
The truth:
“You don’t have a scaling problem, you have a systems problem. Pause to clarify strategy, build structure, improve processes, and refine roles.”
Otherwise growth will always feel like strain, not progress.
For Large Businesses
The lie: “Our people know we care.”
In large organisations, we often assume our values and vision are self-evident, that employees feel heard, seen, and understood because we have policies, surveys, or internal comms strategies. But if we’re not regularly in rooms with our people, listening with intent and acting on what we hear, the distance grows. And often the bigger you get the greater that distance becomes.
The truth:
“People aren’t disengaged because of change. They’re disengaged because they don’t see how their voice fits into the change. They don’t feel heard and understood.”
Without active, consistent connection, even the best talent will quietly check out.
So, how do you become a better truth-seeker?
Start with this practice: Before you look outward, at your team, your clients, the market, look inward. Ask yourself these three questions:
- What am I avoiding thinking about?
- What do I keep telling myself is “fine,” but really isn’t?
- Who in my world might already know the truth, and what would it take to ask them honestly?
Then take one action to explore it. That might mean journaling it, saying it out loud, or having a tough but needed conversation. The goal isn’t to fix everything overnight, it’s to get honest about where you really are. Because until you face it, you can’t work with it.
What’s my hard to hear truth…
Having written this piece, I feel it’s only fair to offer with transparency and authenticity my hard truth. The truth I might well be hiding from as share by another…
“You already know what your work wants to become. But you’re still asking for permission to become it.”
They continued – “You’re credible, creative, and capable and yet, perhaps still quietly hoping someone else will tell you you’re ready, or give you the nudge to step fully into it”
The truth:
“No one is coming to tell me it’s my time.”
This is mine to own. And when I do, my best work will follow.
Well that’s got me thinking!!!
If you fancy chatting about any of this, give me shout at kurt@bemorelnd.co.uk or via the contacts link.