Put the skeletons in your closet to work

Today, I’d like to take you back a couple of centuries.

“It is often wise to reveal that which cannot be concealed for long.”

— Friedrich Schiller, German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, and playwright. (1759-1805)

My man Friedrich was on it.

As the old Watergate adage goes, “the cover-up is worse than the crime.”

Be the one to tell them what they’re gonna find out anyway.

Everyone has flaws in their propositions, products, and their character.

If you don’t tell people your flaws, and they discover them on their own, they won’t be able to trust you.

You’re better off just getting it over with — calling out the elephant in the room — trotting out the skeletons in your closet.

Then acknowledge the concerns, doubts, and disbelief these revelations will create. Don’t ignore them. Neither your salesmanship nor sleight of hand will make them go away.

If enough time has passed between the “crime” and when you reveal it, you can often turn it into an asset.

As long as you’re beyond it, you can use it as a point-of-connection via shared life experience.

No one is “innocent.” The people you’re attempting to influence have many of the same skeletons. If they don’t, someone they know does.

Alcoholism, eating disorders, bankruptcy, infidelity.

The flaws you’ve repaired and problems you’ve fixed are what make you compelling to others who can relate. They create kinship. They create connection. They create trust.

You can either command your narrative to build and nurture trust — or hope for the best and let your past destroy it.