Answer the Question You’re Asked
I walked into the insurance office carrying a letter — not marked up or highlighted, just folded neatly in my hand. I had read the cover page earlier, but one clause left me uncertain. So I came to ask a simple question: Who pays the flood insurance — me or the company?
The representative smiled politely and said, “You’ll just pay the government directly.”
I paused. That didn’t sound right. The letter seemed to suggest that the insurance company handled the payment. Standing in her doorway, I offered the letter hand to hand, inviting her to take a look. She didn’t. She waved it off, keeping her gaze steady and her answer unchanged. The paper — the evidence — remained unread.
That moment wasn’t about flood insurance anymore. It was about a behavior I’ve seen in countless interviews, investigations, and leadership encounters: people giving answers that protect their comfort instead of serving the truth.
The Anatomy of Evasion
TruthLens™ calls this pattern narrative distortion. It’s not always malicious, but it always matters. It happens when someone reshapes reality to avoid uncertainty or accountability.
Three tactics usually appear in these moments:
Deflection – redirecting attention to another source (“Just pay the government”).
Compression – skipping the detail that complicates the story.
Substitution – supplying a convenient answer rather than the accurate one.
The representative didn’t lie; she simply collapsed the truth into something easier to manage. That’s how distortion spreads — quietly, politely, efficiently.
When Leaders Stop Reading the Clause
Leadership failures often begin in small, quiet refusals: the refusal to read, to verify, or to pause.
In a culture obsessed with quick responses, many leaders reach for certainty before comprehension. They confuse confidence with clarity. But reading — literal or metaphorical — is a moral act. It says, I care enough to see what’s actually there.
When someone hands you a document and you decline to read it, you’re not just avoiding paper. You’re avoiding accountability. That’s how trust erodes, one unread clause at a time.
The Psychology Behind the Deflection
Why do people do this?
Because uncertainty feels like a threat to control. When a question risks exposing confusion, the instinct is to redirect. The mind races toward closure — any closure — to protect the self-image of competence.
TruthLens™ tracks this through the Veracity Confidence Band™, measuring how confidence and accuracy drift apart. When words outrun understanding, confidence becomes camouflage.
In that insurance office, the deflection wasn’t arrogance; it was fear. Fear of being uncertain. Fear of losing narrative control. That fear is what makes so many organizations sound authoritative while quietly misinforming the people they serve.
The Discipline of Reading Before Responding
Honest leadership begins with a simple discipline: read before you respond.
That means:
Listen until the question finishes breathing.
Read what’s offered before assuming what it says.
Ask clarifying questions before giving conclusions.
Let accuracy slow you down.
Truth requires patience. Efficiency requires repetition. Only one of those builds trust.
The Real Lesson
That exchange wasn’t about an insurance premium — it was about the value of attention.
Every day, people hand us their versions of that letter: a question, a report, a story, a plea for clarity. What we do next defines our credibility.
We can repeat what’s easy, or we can slow down and read what’s true. Reading delays the conversation, but it speeds up understanding.
TruthLens™ teaches that distortion rarely starts with lies. It starts with habits of inattention — the quiet erosion of curiosity. The representative’s answer was just one small act in a much larger pattern: the reflex to protect authority instead of pursuing truth.
Final Reflection
Here’s the rule I carried out of that office and into every leadership conversation since:
If someone offers you a document, a detail, or a doubt, take it.
If someone asks you a question, answer that one — not the one that keeps you comfortable.
Truth isn’t fragile; it’s just often ignored.
It’s not the lies that corrode trust first — it’s the lazy listening.
Critical Question:
When was the last time you actually read what someone handed you — instead of responding to what you assumed they meant?
Citation List
Rabon, D. (2016). Investigative Discourse Analysis: Statement Analysis Principles. Carolina Academic Press.
Ekman, P. (2009). Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage. W. W. Norton & Company.
Navarro, J. (2008). What Every Body Is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People. HarperCollins.
Adams, S. (FBI Behavioral Science Unit). Forensic Statement Analysis Training Notes, Federal Bureau of Investigation.
TruthLens™ Field Handbook (2025 Edition). Narrative Distortion and Veracity Confidence Band Protocols.
