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Dr. Gregory House.

Clive Griffiths
Clive Griffiths

Dr. Gregory House, fictional diagnostician, built his practice on one core belief:

“Everybody lies.”

For him, diagnosing disease meant uncovering the truth patients didn’t reveal.

⇢ They lied out of fear.
⇢ They left critical things out.
⇢ They didn’t know what mattered.

The same principle applies outside medicine, for us as leaders.

Diagnosing real problems - harder than it looks. Why?

⇢ Incomplete briefs.
⇢ Biased storytelling.
⇢ Unrealistic expectations.
⇢ Withheld issues.
⇢ Self-deception.

Like House, we can’t take every word at face value. We must:

⇢ Ask tough, open-ended questions.
⇢ Expect truth often unfolds over time.
⇢ Create space for honesty without fear.
⇢ Cross-check with data and context.

Diagnosis, in any field, starts with curiosity … a dose of skepticism ... and relentless pursuit of truth.

Which of your assumptions is keeping you from the truth?


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