I have a meeting with an “executive training coach” tomorrow, whatever the fuck that is. It’s not for me. It’s for my company’s COO, who’s apparently trying to better her leadership skills. She asked for candid interviews with a few of her underlings so that this coach can give her feedback, apparently under the auspices of confidentiality and immunity.

The thing is she’s a complete and total sociopath. Long before I started working for her she told me, and I am quoting verbatim, "I have no empathy." This is a woman who will do shit like send you negative Slack messages while you're in the middle of a presentation. Or wave her hand in your face and say (yell, really), "MY TURN. I'M TALKING. STOP." A former colleague, who she considers a good friend though the feeling is far from mutual, says that "She will never do or say anything that doesn't directly benefit her."

All this is to say that I'm torn between lying and telling the truth. Lying is the easy thing to do. It's also the cowardly and non-productive thing to do. Telling the truth is the brave and potentially productive thing to do. But. Lying brings me no potential pain, and telling the truth puts me in a really sensitive position should this "coach" relay to her what I had to say (there are like 4 to 6 of us doing this...it won't take 2 minutes of figuring to guess who said what, all other things equal).

My gut from the start has been saying "LIE, LIE and LIE SOME MORE." But I've shifted into a mode of the extreme opposite. Just tell the unvarnished truth and let the chips fall where they may. Honesty is what she asked for. Not sure I can be held responsible for any fallout. I already talked to my direct boss (the company's CSO), and he's planning to lie like his job depends on it. I think I'll gamble and hope it doesn't come up snake eyes.