Can you handle the truth?

In a recent post titled Can you handle the truth?, Neil Patel blogged about the need to be able to openly receive the 'truth' if we’re to grow a business.

He wrote:

Do you know what separates good entrepreneurs from great ones? Some say it’s the ability to learn from mistakes, but I think it’s the ability to handle the truth.

It doesn’t matter how smart you are or how good you are at executing, if you can’t handle the truth you’re in for a treat. At the end of the day, would you rather have someone sugar coat things to you…

or…

Would you want someone to be straight up with you?

I agree that searching for the truth about the way the world works and about ourselves is fundamentally important.

But when delivering the truth we have a choice in how we do it. Many people [especially in Silicon Valley it turns out] mistakenly believe that being direct means they are allowed to be an a*hole. To be all truthy for a moment, that's straight up laziness or sociopathy.

The 'truth' and compassion are not mutually exclusive.