Maybe George Washington couldn't tell a lie, but that probablydoesn't hold true for your employees. The average person tellsapproximately fourfibs a day, and not all of them along the order of “yes, thosepants look quite flattering on you.”

When employees lie, it's a serious matter. But sometimes alittle dishonesty can be helpful to your business.

Charalambos Vlachoutsicos, an adjunct professor at AthensUniversity of Economics and Business in Greece and a formerbusinessman, writes about his experience lying to a superior ina blogpost for the Harvard Business Review.

“One company I worked in while studying for an MBA at Harvardwas an electric appliance wholesaler managed by its founderautocratically and whimsically,” says Vlachoutsicos. Thebottom-line driven business owner purportedly ruled with an ironfist, demanding “sales now, no matter how” from his employees, whoworked on commission.

Vlachoutsicos admits the competitive–and frequentlydishonest–atmosphere that this policy created did not sit well withhim. “Fairness has always been the cornerstone of my value system.So although I was selling aggressively, I was always emphasizing'honest' sales… sales not obtained under false pretenses.”

So after attempting to curtail dishonest practices like claimingthe company's vacuums were the fastest on the market (when theyweren't) to no avail, Vlachoutsicos decided to tell a lie.

He called a meeting with his boss, and explained that one of thecompany's biggest customers had called to protest after being “liedto” about the features of one of their products. This wasn't true.No one had complained. But Vlachoutsicos felt that the company'sfalse advertising policy would backfire–and thatthey would lose business because of it. Read complete Inc.com article.