Recently, I was researching the ethics of “bluffing” in business. Albert Carr wrote an article in Harvard Business Review about this very subject that stunned me with the depth of Mr. Carr’s rationalization for poor behavior.
He contended that “business is a game and that anything is fair in a game, if it doesn’t violate the law.” He believed that bluffing and deception are not only permissible, but necessary to succeed in business!
Surprisingly this article was written in 1968 by a man who had been part of Harry Truman’s administration.
Proverbs 26:26 teaches, “Their malice may be concealed by deception, but their wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.”
Bluffing, or any deception, will eventually be exposed, then, you will have undermined the biggest advantage in commerce: trust.
