You can run for President. When you run for President, especially in 2012, you can get away with lying most of the time. The reason? Because the lies get more attention than the fact that it’s a lie does. And because people are voting for one person or another, so you just have to be more appealing than one other person.

In business, there are times when it’s tempting to lie. It’s tempting for a marketer to promise the world, knowing your product can’t deliver, because that might mean more sales. It’s tempting for a business owner to overpromise the opportunities that will exist to employees in order to attract the best possible talent.

The problem is, in the business world, those lies are temporary. Someone somewhere will come along and point out the lie, and the lie will no longer work for you. In fact, in most cases it will work against you.

Open competition is good at weeding out the liars. So don’t take that risk.