In these parshayot, we meet the essence of Yaakov, truth=emet, in its truest form.
When Yaakov meets Eisav, he informs him that he lived with Lavan and yet held the 613 mitzvot.
Rashi adds that Yaakov also told Eisav that he didn't learn from the actions of Lavan. What do these extra words mean?
According to the Chofetz Chaim, Yaakov is introducing the idea of self-critique and introspection. He's saying to "himself," yes it's true I held the mitzvot, but did I perform them with the same passion by which Lavan carried out his evil scheming?
This was Yaakov's worry. He stood for emet and therefore any lacking in the spirit of the deed is falsity.
Yaakov passes on this quality of critique to Yosef who was able to bring his brothers to a full teshuvah.
Now, two stories in last week's parsha are more well understood.
We know that Yaakov took a detour to study by the yeshiva of Shem v'Ever. The verse informs us that he went to rest. The inference is made that he went to rest then, but for the 14 years by Shem v'Ever he never slept. If you want to encounter emet in learning, then here you have it. He fully met the line of emet. There were no considerations of duplicitous behavior, breaks or talking, just the truth.
In business, we see equal emets. When Yaakov arrives at the well, he sees shepherds slacking, not at work. He can't understand. He reproved them because as Rashi says, if they're being paid and not working then they are stealing money from their employer. This was inconceivable to Yaakov and we see this personified by his work of exactitude with Lavan.
One should adopt Yaakov's model of self-critique in order not to fall prey to shortcuts in learning, work, relationships or with oneself. Yosef was about to fall, but saw the image of his father. We must also see the image of Yaakov and test every aspect of our lives to reach the truth.