The Three Filter Test
Legend has it that an acquaintance met the great philosopher Socrates and asked, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"
"Wait a minute," Socrates replied. "Before you talk to me about my friend, take a moment to use the triple filter test on what you’re going to say.
The first filter is truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"
"Well, no," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and…"
"Ok," said Socrates. "So, you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Try the second filter, the filter of goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"
"Umm, no, on the contrary..."
"So," Socrates said, "you want to tell me something bad about my friend, but you’re not certain it’s true. There’s one filter left, the filter of usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really."
"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true, nor good, nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"
Until next week…
The Coaching and Leadership Journal
