Cover ups don’t work.  Simple as. 

A sure way to shine a light on something is to cover it up.  After decades and centuries of evidence and examples have proven this to be true.  Nations have: hidden nuclear accidents, US Presidents have lost their job or reputations, and countless corporations have denied product failures.  All have been found out and had to face the consequences.  So, why haven’t we all learned to fess up and deal with the flack yet? 

Recent events, and there have been many of them, have provided clear examples of the pitfalls of cover-ups.  Celebrities, politicians, royalty, and business leaders have continued to seek to hide what they perceive to be inconvenient truths, to gloss over uncomfortable realities, to deny ill-judged relationships, or to erase moral or legal errors.  Think speeding tickets, workplace romances, HR process swerves, nepotism, abuse of power, tax-avoidance, lockdown misdemeanours – the list is easily endless. 

What appears to happen is these events trigger an instinct to retreat to virtual bunkers with a gaggle of PR and legal advisers.  New realities are constructed, and scripts of distraction and denial written and rehearsed.  Then the advisers release their client to the world, whilst they themselves prepare their invoices.      

Everyone makes mistakes, we aren’t infallible, we are human.  Mistakes are by definition not intentional.  That differentiates from deliberate and conscious choices, wholly different matters altogether. 

I follow the principle that it isn’t the mistake that is important, it is what happens next that counts.  The signs of cover up are numerous.  It starts with the feeling that stories simply aren’t adding up, that there are tongue-tied and unnatural scripted verbalisms, the body language disconnects with what is being said.  This all fans the flames of intense curiosity and scrutiny.  It multiples times ten what interest there would be if you had confessed right away instead.  A ripple of reactions of suspicion and doubt starts to build, with the potential to become a wave, and then an overwhelming and destructive tsunami.   

It is the emotional reaction that then causes all the damage.  A cover up’s wake destroys trust, nothing seems truthful or believable anymore, little can be taken on face value, and relationships suffer with all stakeholders (such as friends and family, colleagues and managers, clients and customers or end-users, advertisers, and the public).

So, what is the alternative?  Here are five suggestions:

1. Take responsibility for the mistake.  Own it.  You did it after all. 
2. Apologise.  You didn’t mean to do it did you?  Say sorry, express regret.  Acknowledge its consequences.
3. Make reparations.  Make sure you do what you can to repair some or all the damage or consequences you have caused.   
4. Prevent it happening again.  Identify the root cause and consider what can be done to ensure the mistake isn’t repeated.  And put in place that preventative action.
5. Do better things next time.  Those cringeworthy moments are things to learn from. “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything (Einstein).