Alastair WallaceCEO. Lead Consultant. Trainer. Coach, Brainfood Ltd · Leadership & Management Training for Busy Managers. Helping senior leaders stop handholding | Brain-friendly, diary-friendly | Save 5+ hours a week | 23,500 managers trained | 200% ROI guaranteed. TED

False accusations

19 Oct 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:04

In this YouTube monologue, Alastair Wallace advises managers on how to respond when they are falsely accused at work. He explains that the natural reaction is to defend aggressively, but doing so escalates tension. Instead, he recommends slowing the conversation, acknowledging the seriousness, and moving toward factual clarification. He suggests a specific opening line, asking for concrete details (what happened, when, who was present), and taking notes if appropriate. Wallace emphasizes that listening does not imply guilt and that this approach builds fairness and a foundation for a skillful response. He also promotes a free “Say This First” guide linked to the post for further conversational scripts.

Chapters

When you're falsely accused of something at work, most people's first instinct is usually the worst one. They want to interrupt and defend, explain, correct, maybe fire something back. It's human instinct, right? It's understandable. I've made this mistake more times than I care to mention. But if you react too quickly, the conversation temperature just gets hotter and angrier. Your job is to slow it down. And move it towards facts. Take a deep breath and say this. I take that seriously. I don't agree with your version of events, but I do want to understand what has led you to say that. Then ask for specifics. What happened? Uh, when was it? Who was there? Take some notes if it's appropriate. This works because listening is not admitting guilt. We're creating fairness, process, and the foundations for a skillful response. If you want the words for more of these awkward manager conversations, just like this, grab my free Say This First guide. I've put it with this post.