When Telling the Truth Feels Risky

By Sabrina Kidwai, APR, CAE, PRSA NCC Ethics Office

When I was a kid, the one thing my parents instilled in me was to always tell the truth. My dad emphasized how when you lie to someone, you lose their trust and it’s hard to gain it back. There were a few times where I made a wrong choice, and I was honest with my dad. He always said, “While I’m disappointed in your decision, I’m proud that you told me the truth.”

As we work with our clients in communication, there are times when we have to make hard decisions about how to communicate issues, especially in times of crisis. Here’s an ethics scenario that I received from Torn.

Dear Sabrina,
I lead handling crisis communications for my company. We recently had to recall one of our products due to a defect. I was tasked with managing the messaging. My company’s leadership wanted to downplay how many customers were affected. While I tried to push back, I feared losing my job and in the end, agreed to many of their edits. How would you recommend navigating this situation in the future to stay true to our professional ethics?
— Torn

Dear Torn:

Thank you for reaching out. I’m sorry that this happened to you and you feared losing your job in this situation. It’s difficult to navigate because you want to be honest with your customers and loyal to your company. I had friends who felt the same way in similar situations.

There are three values with the code of ethics that you can use to advise your company next time a similar situation happens.

Advocacy is critical because you serve the public interest by acting as a responsible advocate for your company and your customers. You are the voice and need to provide facts to aid an informed public debate. If your company has a recall, it’s so important to give customers all the information. They need to know if they are impacted and how the issue can be addressed.

Honesty is so critical because sharing accurate information is essential to advancing the interests of who you represent while keeping the public informed about the situation. If you aren’t honest, it could impact your brand’s credibility, long term revenue loss, trust, and legal ramifications. If the recall can result in death or injuries, lack of honesty and transparency could cause long-term legal actions.

Loyalty to your company is important, but you also have an obligation to serve the public interest and your customers. If your customers find out that you weren’t honest, you will lose their business and future customers. It will have a long-term effect on the company.

You need to counsel your executives and ask them how much they are willing to risk if they aren’t honest with their customers. The long-term legal ramifications, revenue loss, and brand loyalty is on the line.

At the end of the day, ethics in communication isn’t just about checking a box—it’s about doing what’s right, even when it’s uncomfortable. It’s about being the person in the room who asks the hard questions and stands firm in truth.

Torn, your instincts were right. Honesty builds trust, and trust builds reputation—and once either is broken, they’re difficult to regain. My dad’s words still hold true: people may be disappointed in the moment, but they’ll respect you for your integrity in the long run. And that’s something no job title can replace.

If you ever find yourself choosing between your values and your job, I hope you choose the values. Because that’s what defines your professional legacy—and your personal one, too.