Cheating at Solitaire: Self-Deception, Executive Mental Health, and Organizational Performance

An attempt is made to help people understand something about self-deception and in particular its potential influence on executive mental health and organizational performance. This is done by addressing 6 questions: 1. What is self-deception? 2. How does one deceive oneself? 3. What are the consequences of self-deception? 4. Why does one deceive oneself? 5. How does self-deception occur in organizations where more than one individual is involved? 6. How can self-deception be prevented, or at least its negative effects minimized? Some solutions are presented: 1. conscious acknowledgement that one is capable of lying to oneself, 2. future visualization: understanding that if one lies to oneself, one hurts oneself, and 3. rational precommitment not to lie to oneself. Looking forward to the future, 2 perils await: 1. believing there is no problem, and 2. believing there is no solution.