Wharton MBA for Executives

I actually try to keep this blog free of mass media clutter…discussions around useless media news such as Jon/Kate + 8, Octomom, Kayne West, etc. But last week we had a somewhat interesting story on a slow news day that has some relevance to our Wharton classes this term. I will even say that I didn’t watch any of the initial broadcasts about the balloon because I simply didn’t care. But I did read a lot about it via facebook status updates.

Yes, I’m talking about Balloon Boy. If you’ve been in the US, you have seen the stories on the news, CNN, tabloid shows (Access Hollywood, etc.), and the newspapers about the 6 year old boy who was apparently on a homemade hot air balloon. When the balloon landed, he wasn’t on it so police began the search for the body (assuming that the boy fell out). The boy was later found in the house.

In negotiations class, we read some articles and had some discussion about signs of deception. Deception is an obvious part of almost all negotiations with lots of bluffing, information omissions, and downright lies. It’s critical to try to at least detect some obvious forms of deception.

It was funny in class watching Bill Clinton’s grand jury testimony. I’m not necessarily accusing our former President of lying under oath but watching him dodge questions while he stands there really stiff was funny.

This is in contrast to another interview where Clinton is much more comfortable (so you see more movement, etc.).

Another thing that we learned is that people get better at lying as they age. So children usually are not very good at lying while senior citizens are the best liars in the world.

If we watch the video below of the balloon boy and his family, we can clearly see that Falcon (the boy) is a bit confused and doesn’t know how to lie when he says something along the likes of “You guys said that we did it for the show.” I then find it somewhat humorous watching his father “um” and “ah” his way to filling the airtime with rather insignificant and off topic points while he tries to divert attention away from his son’s statement. We then also listen to his wife Mayumi stutter around as she tries to say something as well. It’s obvious that both parents are extremely uncomfortable with the situation so they just bring up random topics and you can see them thinking really hard. Maybe times “thinking really hard” == “lying”. Again, like our former President, I’m not necessarily accusing them of lying but it’s interesting to watch.