by Bill Current, President and Founder
Being Current: 25 Years in the Making—Lessons Learned About Why Drug Testing is So Valuable
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I founded the Current Consulting Group (CCG) in September of 1998, nearly 25 years ago. To celebrate our upcoming 25th anniversary, each of our monthly newsletters will feature a special article entitled “Being Current: 25 Years in the Making” which will highlight some of the most important lessons I’ve learned about drug testing and about being in business since I started the #1 consulting firm in the industry two-and-a-half decades ago.
Lesson #7: Honesty Is the Best Policy
There’s an old saying that every child in America learns (or used to learn) at home, at church, or at school: “Honesty is the best policy.”
In the nearly 25 years since I founded the Current Consulting Group in 1998, I have found this axiom to be true. There are always people who want to claim credit for things they didn’t really do or didn’t do to the extent that they want others to believe. But being honest establishes a reputation for having integrity that wins business in the right way.
The trend to inflate credentials is most often found in a resume or personal bio. According to a poll conducted by the staffing firm Office Team, “Almost half of workers (46 percent) … said they know someone who included false information on a resume, a 25-point jump from a 2011 survey. Job experience (76 percent) and duties (55 percent) were cited as the areas that are most frequently embellished.”i
Sometimes embellishments happen by no fault of our own. I made a presentation many years ago at a convention of medical doctors. The person introducing me got a little carried away and introduced me as Dr. William Current. I told the audience it was a proud day for my mother to finally have a doctor for a son, as I proceeded to correct the introduction.
During my career I have read countless resumes and bios. It’s hard not to be suspicious sometimes. Many people who read resumes and bios will accept all claims on face value, but in a relatively small, tight-knit community like the drug testing industry, the truth catches up with false claims sooner than later.
Companies can stretch the truth about their qualifications as well. Anyone can build a state-of-the-art website that can make a company appear bigger or more accomplished than it really is.
The sad part is most people, and most companies, are pretty impressive just as they are without embellishing the truth. And telling the truth in business just makes life so much easier and more peaceful. During an episode of one of my favorite TV shows, the West Wing, the character Toby Ziegler was asked if he advised his presidential candidate to tell the truth about a potentially unpopular thing he had done. His rejoinder, which I paraphrase here, was classic: “I told him to tell the truth if for no other reason than when asked, it’s the easiest thing to remember.”
I’m grateful for the hard-working, honest people I have had the pleasure of associating with during the 25 years of the Current Consulting Group. I won’t name names here because someone might think an omission of a particular person is meant to say they are not hard working or honest. But the drug testing industry is filled with good people who exemplify that honesty is the best policy and it has been a blessing in my life to learn from so many of them the right way to do business.
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