Fellow executives, America is in the mess She is in because we, as leaders, have failed Her, our communities, our companies and our families. We must change that starting today.
We are the world's business leader. We will continue to lead the world only by taking a good hard look at ourselves. And, yes, it is we who have the money, the authority, the leadership and the power that must look hardest at ourselves because, ladies and gentlemen, we have failed.
We've forgotten American Values! America is in the mess we are in because we in leadership have failed Her. We have failed to put integrity above profit, ethics above winning, and looking ourselves in the mirror above our paychecks. We have failed to lead our employees, our communities and our families by hope and integrity. We have failed to show that a free market and private capitalism can exist with the highest of moral and ethical values, concern for all of our fellow people, and justice for each of our employees.
CEOs have taken multi-million dollar bonuses while laying off hundreds or thousands. This is not right. They have taken “golden parachutes” for leading their companies into disaster, and this is not right. They have blathered on about principles when they have none, and have issued bland denials with one hand while their other was in the corporate cookie jar.
Things must change! We who have leadership have let down our companies, our communities, our families, our nation and our belief systems. But this can all change. And it MUST change, starting today.
We who have power and leadership must be at the forefront of demanding that businesses operate with impeccable integrity, flawless ethics, and real concern for all stakeholders. We who have power and leadership must be at the forefront of demanding that leaders who fail share the pain of their stakeholders.
Lay-offs are a failure! If employees are laid off, this is a failure of leadership. The one who does it should only not get a bonus, but should take a major salary cut. This man or woman has failed hundreds or thousands of employees. They haven’t led well enough, sold well enough, or managed well enough. They’re letting moms, dads, sons, daughters, husbands and wives go, many of whom will go bankrupt and many of whom will lose their homes. This is a failure on their part and they must take some pain for it. That they get a bonus is a sign of the moral bankruptcy of American capitalism and it must change.
We must stop being executives and start being leaders. If our boards won’t go along…quit. Few if any of you will bankrupt or lose your home, unlike the people who are laid off. Most of you have made prudent investments and have managed your money well. Don’t sell your integrity for a few hundred thousand dollars…it shouldn’t be for sale. If enough of us refuse to play the crooked game that has been played in the last few years, consumers, boards, and other executives will listen. You’ll be profiled as a hero on CNN, as well as looked on as a unique animal — a business leader with integrity.
Lead with impeccable integirty and unquenchable hope! Start leading by hope and integrity today. Make a commitment to your employees as the fine people at Gambro did not long ago that they would all share the pain, if there is any pain. Make a commitment to your families that you will lead from the high road and be the mother or father, husband or wife, that they can hold their heads up about. Make a commitment to your communities that you will not let them down. And make a commitment to your country that you will demonstrate the good old Yankee values of hard work, impeccable integrity, equality of opportunity, and excellence of product. If you do less, you do not deserve your job, your salary or even a shred of respect.
There is a new day coming. I’m a “voice in the wilderness” now about this. But I’m not a lone voice. There are others. Soon we’ll be in the majority, because American business is too good to be as bad as it has been recently, and Americans as a people are too honest to allow the travesties of the last few years to continue.
There is a new time coming — one of hope and integrity and excellence. Those of you who are of the recent school that you “take no prisoners” and do anything to win had better quit now while you’re able. Because those of us who have compassion, believe in justice and equality, and insist on integrity, ethics and hope are close on your heels, and we WILL overtake you and return our great nation and its businesses to the high road.
By the way, some of my friends advised me not to write like this, as I’d probably lose business. But my integrity isn’t for sale, either. I only want to coach and help executives in transition who have integrity and honor, anyway. It’s worked for me for 28 years…I suppose it will work now.
May God bless the United States of America…and everywhere else.
J.
Showing posts with label honesty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label honesty. Show all posts
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Integrity
“The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
We live in a country which has become bereft of honor and integrity. Integrity is a concept about which I should never need to write. In times past a man or woman without integrity would be ostracized by the community. Now, we elect Presidents who consistently lie, whether it be about blue dresses or weapons of mass destruction. We see corporate head after corporate head doing the “perp walk.” And cheating others has become a way of life.
I used to operate my business on a handshake. No more. If I did so now, I’d be broke. My contract, over the years, has grown longer and longer as “loopholes” have had to be sewn up to make it more difficult to defraud me of my fee for work performed. But integrity is the foundation of being a good leader, although, given the “role models” that we have, one would never know it.
I find that, increasingly, “C” level executives are taking honor and integrity less and less seriously. Rather than honoring one’s word, it has become “what can I get away with?”. Many top-level executives do not see their word, or even contracts, as having any meaning. Virtually before the ink is dry on the contract, they’re at their attorney’s office trying to find a way to break it. Here are a few of the things that integrity means to me.
1). Do what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it. This seems elementary to me, but, apparently, is not to many people. If you cannot do what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it, negotiate so that you are doing as close to what you said you were going to do and when you said you were going to do it as possible. But only negotiate if there are such overwhelming circumstances as to make doing what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it literally impossible.
2). Carry through on your word, even if it costs you money, time or other things. No, there is not a built-in clause in every promise or contract that says, at the end of something which must be performed, “if I feel like it.” If you sign a contract or make a promise and then find out that the contract or promise is more costly than you thought, follow through on it anyway.
Of course, I’m leaving out fraud here. If the person you made the promise to or signed the contract with was making false statements to you to induce you to make a promise or sign a contract, you are not, of course, bound by your word. But let’s be sure that we are sure that the other person lied before vacating our word.
3). Leave other people’s stuff and relationships alone. I’m truly amazed at the prevalence of adultery and theft in our society. No society can long survive if the basic institutions of society are not respected.
Marriage is being eroded daily. No, not by gay marriage. Two people of the same gender making a loving commitment to one another does not erode marriage. The incredibly high rate of infidelity and divorce erode marriage. This is an integrity issue.
So is the widespread fraud that is going on in American businesses today. Halliburton, for example, has made its stockholders wealthy by stealing from American taxpayers and not providing our troops with the necessities they were contracted to provide them with. And what will happen? Well, look at the people who own large blocks of stock in Halliburton. Probably nothing will happen. They’ve gotten away with the theft of billions of dollars — billions that we, the taxpayers, have paid them. But just because they won’t be held criminally accountable, doesn’t mean it is OK or make it right.
4). Behave as if everything you did will be on the 6 PM news or CNN. I won’t do business with someone I know is cheating on their spouse. Why? Because if your own spouse can’t trust you, why should I trust you? If you can’t keep a vow, what makes me think that you’ll keep a contract, hmmm?
Integrity is a seamless garment. You either have it or you don’t. You cannot be one kind of person and another kind of businessperson. You can’t be a lousy husband, wife, father, mother, friend, etc. and be, for example, a good doctor. You may be skilled, but you aren’t good, and there is a difference. Give me a man or woman who is less skilled, but a better person over a highly skilled fraud any day.
5). Don’t defend those who are not acting in integrity. Doctors do it. Police officers do it. Men do it for other men and women for other women. There seems to be a growing code that defends those who are not acting in integrity. I see this more and more in the business world. If you cover up for or defend those who have performed an act which is deceitful, fraudulent, or otherwise dishonest, you are no better than they are. I will not do business with nor otherwise trust an individual who defends someone who has been shown to be a dishonest person because they have displayed both personal dishonesty and poor judgment.
Remember, if you defend someone who is dishonest you are “hitching” your reputation to theirs. Do you really want to do that? (Obviously, there are times when defend someone before we know the facts. I’m speaking here of continuing to defend someone when it is clear and conclusive that individual is dishonest or dishonorable.)
6). Don’t “hang” with those who do not have honor. There is an old saying “if you’d steal for me, you’d steal from me.” This is incredibly true. If someone has betrayed a friend, you will be on the chopping block sooner or later. If they’ve stolen from others, watch your wallet. I’m continually amazed at the defensive circle which forms around business or political figures who have obviously cheated, stolen, and so on. It turns my stomach to watch the wives of politicians caught in the act of infidelity standing there smiling at the press conference next to the slime they married. Be careful who you have around you because Mom was right. You will be judged by the type of friends you have.
7). Defend your honor. If you have, indeed, acted in integrity and someone else has not, and you are being tarred with their brush, quietly but firmly defend your honor. This is sometimes costly, and usually inconvenient. But do not allow anyone to tarnish your good name — and they WILL try. Go to court if necessary, but do whatever you must do to defend your name and your honor if you, indeed, have kept it intact.
This certainly does not exhaust the topic of integrity. But it is a start. Every day you must ask yourself if you have performed in such a way that others will look at your integrity and feel reassured that they, too, are in good hands. Integrity is almost like being a virgin. Once it is broken it is difficult to go back. Don’t lose your integrity virginity.
John.
We live in a country which has become bereft of honor and integrity. Integrity is a concept about which I should never need to write. In times past a man or woman without integrity would be ostracized by the community. Now, we elect Presidents who consistently lie, whether it be about blue dresses or weapons of mass destruction. We see corporate head after corporate head doing the “perp walk.” And cheating others has become a way of life.
I used to operate my business on a handshake. No more. If I did so now, I’d be broke. My contract, over the years, has grown longer and longer as “loopholes” have had to be sewn up to make it more difficult to defraud me of my fee for work performed. But integrity is the foundation of being a good leader, although, given the “role models” that we have, one would never know it.
I find that, increasingly, “C” level executives are taking honor and integrity less and less seriously. Rather than honoring one’s word, it has become “what can I get away with?”. Many top-level executives do not see their word, or even contracts, as having any meaning. Virtually before the ink is dry on the contract, they’re at their attorney’s office trying to find a way to break it. Here are a few of the things that integrity means to me.
1). Do what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it. This seems elementary to me, but, apparently, is not to many people. If you cannot do what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it, negotiate so that you are doing as close to what you said you were going to do and when you said you were going to do it as possible. But only negotiate if there are such overwhelming circumstances as to make doing what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it literally impossible.
2). Carry through on your word, even if it costs you money, time or other things. No, there is not a built-in clause in every promise or contract that says, at the end of something which must be performed, “if I feel like it.” If you sign a contract or make a promise and then find out that the contract or promise is more costly than you thought, follow through on it anyway.
Of course, I’m leaving out fraud here. If the person you made the promise to or signed the contract with was making false statements to you to induce you to make a promise or sign a contract, you are not, of course, bound by your word. But let’s be sure that we are sure that the other person lied before vacating our word.
3). Leave other people’s stuff and relationships alone. I’m truly amazed at the prevalence of adultery and theft in our society. No society can long survive if the basic institutions of society are not respected.
Marriage is being eroded daily. No, not by gay marriage. Two people of the same gender making a loving commitment to one another does not erode marriage. The incredibly high rate of infidelity and divorce erode marriage. This is an integrity issue.
So is the widespread fraud that is going on in American businesses today. Halliburton, for example, has made its stockholders wealthy by stealing from American taxpayers and not providing our troops with the necessities they were contracted to provide them with. And what will happen? Well, look at the people who own large blocks of stock in Halliburton. Probably nothing will happen. They’ve gotten away with the theft of billions of dollars — billions that we, the taxpayers, have paid them. But just because they won’t be held criminally accountable, doesn’t mean it is OK or make it right.
4). Behave as if everything you did will be on the 6 PM news or CNN. I won’t do business with someone I know is cheating on their spouse. Why? Because if your own spouse can’t trust you, why should I trust you? If you can’t keep a vow, what makes me think that you’ll keep a contract, hmmm?
Integrity is a seamless garment. You either have it or you don’t. You cannot be one kind of person and another kind of businessperson. You can’t be a lousy husband, wife, father, mother, friend, etc. and be, for example, a good doctor. You may be skilled, but you aren’t good, and there is a difference. Give me a man or woman who is less skilled, but a better person over a highly skilled fraud any day.
5). Don’t defend those who are not acting in integrity. Doctors do it. Police officers do it. Men do it for other men and women for other women. There seems to be a growing code that defends those who are not acting in integrity. I see this more and more in the business world. If you cover up for or defend those who have performed an act which is deceitful, fraudulent, or otherwise dishonest, you are no better than they are. I will not do business with nor otherwise trust an individual who defends someone who has been shown to be a dishonest person because they have displayed both personal dishonesty and poor judgment.
Remember, if you defend someone who is dishonest you are “hitching” your reputation to theirs. Do you really want to do that? (Obviously, there are times when defend someone before we know the facts. I’m speaking here of continuing to defend someone when it is clear and conclusive that individual is dishonest or dishonorable.)
6). Don’t “hang” with those who do not have honor. There is an old saying “if you’d steal for me, you’d steal from me.” This is incredibly true. If someone has betrayed a friend, you will be on the chopping block sooner or later. If they’ve stolen from others, watch your wallet. I’m continually amazed at the defensive circle which forms around business or political figures who have obviously cheated, stolen, and so on. It turns my stomach to watch the wives of politicians caught in the act of infidelity standing there smiling at the press conference next to the slime they married. Be careful who you have around you because Mom was right. You will be judged by the type of friends you have.
7). Defend your honor. If you have, indeed, acted in integrity and someone else has not, and you are being tarred with their brush, quietly but firmly defend your honor. This is sometimes costly, and usually inconvenient. But do not allow anyone to tarnish your good name — and they WILL try. Go to court if necessary, but do whatever you must do to defend your name and your honor if you, indeed, have kept it intact.
This certainly does not exhaust the topic of integrity. But it is a start. Every day you must ask yourself if you have performed in such a way that others will look at your integrity and feel reassured that they, too, are in good hands. Integrity is almost like being a virgin. Once it is broken it is difficult to go back. Don’t lose your integrity virginity.
John.
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