I recently ran across an article I had clipped and saved from The Wall Street Journal
(www.WSJ.com) with the title “The Cheater Principle.” It described in great detail how individuals, many of them with the full ability to pay, and possessing the full knowledge that they are doing wrong, are cheating like never before. People were running tollbooths, sneaking into movie theaters, leaving restaurants without paying the tab, returning merchandise to stores soiled and dirty, from stores where it hadn’t been purchased.
For many years the American public has held business in very low regard. Poll after poll indicates that the leaders in business rank somewhere in the neighborhood of politicians. With a slow economy, and even in a good economy, everyone focuses on the bottom line. The greater the profits, the greater our individual share.
However, this comes at a high price. Long ago the scariest words in the English language were “Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes is here to see you.” Now, to criminal, crook and hero alike, it is a badge of honor to appear on a television show where we “bare all” and we do so without regret. We have become a society of the celebrity. As a society we no longer believe in doing the right thing. Our “honor,” if you can call it that, comes from being noticed, from being caught even though we tried to “get away with it.”
During the Tylenol tampering scare years ago, the leader of that company explained his case for dealing with forces outside of his control that threatened to destroy the reputation of his company. That leader received high marks for quickly going on television and asking that the public maintain confidence in Tylenol. The company immediately found a way to solve the problem through tamper-proof packaging, now the norm in consumer products.
Doing the right thing each and every day is an issue that needs to be addressed, not just for those of us in business, but for our customers and clients, and for all of those that look to us as examples. The tone of our business begins and ends with the person in charge. As business owners, we have to make a stand. Doing this may not win any popularity contests, but will benefit all in the long run.
There are four general rules to follow when you are trying to determine if something that you are doing or thinking about doing is the right thing.
The first is whether or not you would enjoy seeing your action exposed on the front page of the local newspaper. How you would face your family, neighbors and business colleagues if your activities were laid out for the world to read in Time magazine? Or see you on “Dateline?” Or on CSPAN in front of a congressional committee as you testify under oath?
The second is whether or not a jury of your business peers would favorably review your activities. Would people in your industry or in business in general approve of your actions?
The third test is whether or not you would like to tell your story to your mother or your minister. The love and affection that they give you is unconditional, but they may also be disappointed in you.
The fourth test is whether or not your actions are legal, within the spirit and letter of the law. While some may argue that this is not a valid test, the truth is that our system of laws and justice, despite flaws, is the best on the planet.
I can’t tell you what to value; I cannot tell you what is right. When I was growing up, my parents used to ask me if I was willing to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge just because “everyone else was doing it.” Once I figured out how high the bridge was, how far the drop was, and how cold the water was and what it would feel like to hit something akin to concrete going very fast, I was able to make up my own mind. I have, with all the courage that I have, charted a course of action for my life to do the right thing. How about you? What course of action are you taking to do the right thing?
