For those who know me, I love to sell and "puff the whole truth" every once in a while. But Inc Magazine had a great article on American business called Exaggeration Nation :
..a hip-hop impresario was outed for serially — and wildly — inflating the revenue of his company, Phat Farm. Appearing on CNBC in 2003, for example, Simmons claimed sales of $350 million; in Newsweek, the figure was $240 million. And in his book Life and Def, he cited 2001 sales of $150 million. Unfortunately for Simmons, he’s stuck in litigation with a former business partner; in a deposition, he was forced to reveal that his actual sales never topped a mere $14.5 million.
Why did Simmons — one of Inc.’s "Entrepreneurs We Love" in 2004 — stretch the truth so far? The inflated figures, he said in his deposition, were a "good brand-positioning statement." He’s right, of course. Torrid growth sends a powerful message. In today’s hypercompetitive environment, where success often is measured by the scorecard of growth, the temptation to fib is intense. "
I have felt this intense pressure and learned this lesson the card way early in my career.
