> total honesty makes life easier to live for yourself That may all be true, but let's not forget we are talking about a successful life, not an easy one. And

> total honesty makes life easier to live for yourself That may all be true, but let's not forget we are talking about a successful life, not an easy one. And I don't expect success to be easy to come by. The secret to a successful life is to never lie to yourself, to get people to trust you (for example, convincingly claim that you never lie), and then lie them intelligently so that they never figure it out or when they do they can't do anything about it anymore. This is fiendishly complex trick to pull and requires some sociopathic inclinations, so it should not surprise us that many successful business leaders are indeed sociopaths. We are not talking about famous singers or athletes who succeed based on their talent. In the business world, the talent is convincing people better than the competition and that, unless you have built the perfect company with the perfect product and the perfect employees, requires lying.