Jonah Lehrer is having the worst summer ever. Last month, the once-celebrated author of three books and (now former) staff writer at The New Yorker, was caught self-plagiarizing. He posted content from his bestselling book Imagine: How Creativity Works word for word to The New Yorker’s blog without saying it had been previously published; a minor indiscretion in relation to his latest. This week, journalist Michael Moynihan broke the news that Lehrer fabricated and “mashed up” quotes from Bob Dylan in Imagine. Here are a few lessons we can learn from Lehrer’s deceptions, regarding what not to do in our presentations.
Don’t Lie
After Moynihan questioned Lehrer on the location of his sources for the Dylan quotes, he says, “Over the next three weeks, Lehrer stonewalled, misled, and, eventually outright lied to me.” Not only did it come to light that Lehrer had consciously fabricated quotes, but it took him more than three weeks to actually admit to his mistake.
As individuals, and as presenters, our credibility is everything. Without trust, there’s really nothing left. Take Lehrer’s very public fall of grace as a testament to that fact. He has resigned from his coveted position as staff writer at The New Yorker, and he’ll be lucky to find a publisher that will work with him again.
As a presenter, like a writer or a journalist, you are disseminating information to an audience. If your credibility is called into question in any way, your message will be lost– without question– which is really the lighter end of punishment. As with Lehrer, your name can be easily disparaged as well.
Bottom line: Don’t lie. Ever. And always provide sources and citations with the utmost transparency.
Don’t Quote out of Context
Another huge problem with Lehrer’s Dylan quotes, Moynihan points out, is that they are “contextually problematic.” Lehrer attributes Dylan’s “tantrums of genius” to the frustration over the process of writing or recording music, whereas the original source attributed those “tantrums of genius” to sexual frustration.
Essentially, Lehrer uses the original idea completely out of context in order to support his thesis. Considering that Lehrer’s Imagine is discussing the creative process and attempting to explain creative genius, this inconsistency is important.
Just like your mother told you as a child: withholding information is lying by omission. And when you quote out of context, withholding information is precisely what you’re doing. Be as transparent as possible when using quotes in your presentation. Make sure the sound bites retain a similar meaning in your presentation as they have in the original source.
Don’t be Arrogant
Perhaps the most disturbing thing about cases like Lehrer’s (and this happens much more frequently than writers and journalists would like to admit) is the arrogance of such a person. This is the 21st century. It’s 2012. Anything we want to know, anything that we want to fact check, can be found on the Omniscient Internet. It’s ridiculous for anyone–– writers, journalists, presidents, celebrities, presenters–– to think they can lie and mislead without being caught.
Lehrer finally apologized for his deception, and resigned from his position at The New Yorker: “I couldn’t find the original sources. I panicked. And I’m deeply sorry for lying.” You should be deeply sorry for lying, Mr. Lehrer. Without credibility, there’s nothing.
