Our unethical behavior negatively affects our behavior, happiness, relationships, reputation, and performance. One lie usually leads to another, and the truth usually comes out eventually. When it does, it usually hurts relationships. Do you trust dishonest people who lie to you?

Individuals are ethical or unethical, not organizations. But individual unethical behavior affects others and organizational reputation and performance. Unethical decisions can have far-reaching consequences. It is important to understand the subtlety of how unethical behavior can take hold of you. The first lie is the hardest, and every time after becomes easier. Our memories fade as we repeat unethical behavior. Notice that some people lie regularly, and don’t even realize it, even about things that are not important.

Today we live in a time of ethical confusion with relativism saying there is no absolute truth or right or wrong. It’s tempting to change the truth and be unethical for personal gain, and justify the behavior by telling ourselves it’s OK “to do what works for me.” This often leads to unethical behavior. The things we do repeatedly determine our character.

Little white lies are not little. The subtlety creeps up on us because the more we engage in the unethical behavior, and especially if we don’t get caught, the easier it is to be unethical. Don’t take the first step that leads to escalation of unethical behavior. You probably already realize that because of their personalities, some people have a higher level of ethics than others.
Related to personality is our attitude toward ethics. Unethical people feel “it’s all about me and getting what I want.”

Some people are at the point that they don’t even realize they are dishonest and don’t see anything wrong with the habit of lying. But don’t just assume people are lying. Recall that people perceive the same situation differently and have different memories that are subject to bias.