Selling is important.  It’s what makes the world go round.  But sometimes selling crosses the line and gets a little too close to misrepresenting or worse, lying.  After all, there’s always been a healthy dose of deception built into selling.  In sports, teams and athletes sell their opponents on the idea they’re going to zig when they in fact zag.  Governments seek to sell a vision in order to successfully lead their people.  Sometimes the vision is wrong, out of synch with what the people want.  Look no further than China’s Zero Covid policy.  Companies must sell their products and services to succeed.  Startup founders must sell investors on the merits of investing in their companies.  Buyers don’t want to buy an “OK” product or service.  No one ever said, “…hey, let’s go with those guys, their product seems flawed but they’re really honest about it”.  Much of what is sold is imperfect.  Sellers have incentive to craft approaches that distract from imperfection while accentuating strengths.  Even the salesman with a crappy product has to eat.  It’s no wonder we’ve become skeptical.  It’s essential to our survival.  Storytelling is a form of selling.  It often seems the best storytellers are selling the worst products.  Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX and Adam Neuman of WeWork come to mind.  My family loves the classic Christmas movie “Elf” starring Will Ferrell.  There’s this great scene when his character, “Buddy”, first arrives in New York.  He passes by a coffee shop with a sign in the window that reads, “World’s Best Cup of Coffee”.  He sees the sign and runs inside full of excitement to congratulate everyone, much to their bewilderment.