"TRUST IN CHECKMATE ON WALL STREET AND MAIN STREET"
AS MADOFF MADEOFF
By Russell T. Williams, Founder & CEO PASSKEYS and the Ethical Edge, "Inspiring Ethical Excellence"
The financial seismic tremors surrounding the $50 billion ponzi scheme perpetrated on institutions and individuals nationally and globally by Bernard Madoff is a story that will not be forgotten in executive board rooms on Wall Street and living rooms on Main Street.
Madoff's fraud reveals a startling fractured mosaic of the frightening consequences of misplaced and misguided trust. The multi-year scam of a supposed person of integrity...a Confucius-like, upright man.is uncovered and is, in fact, a blatant lie. Madoff's scumbag, deceitful manipulation of people in leadership positions in the higher echelons of America's corporations, non-profits, investment institutions and households of significant wealth was orchestrated for years to prey upon others to expand one man's personal power and financial stature.
Just Who Can You Trust
Since the story broke, America's national conversation about Madoff conducted on coffee breaks with professional associates, dinner conversations with friends, blog postings, email communications and the national media has raised a compelling and ageless question: Just who can you trust? The delicately dynamic and powerful bond of trust is exercised by people using their perception, shaped by judgment and experience. What does it mean when our perception of what we believe an individual stands for is, in fact, a charade.a disguise.a mask that is being worn by one who purposefully intends to bring big problems to you.your family...your business.your life.
Can you trust... should you trust...again... when your perceptions have failed you and you have been burned by someone in whom you placed your trust? As an individual exercising professional leadership in your role as an entrepreneur, business executive or corporate manager, do you now use your personal verdict on the Madoff Affair by placing a thicker, deeper layer of cynicism in your psyche, with the resulting belief that it is foolish to trust anyone about anything.financial or otherwise.
The ethical edge does not answer that question by saying...go consult your local counselor, psychologist or psychiatrist and spend a year in therapy addressing the psychological scars of misplaced trust. Neither does the ethical edge advocate that one's personal and professional healthy response be to vigilantly go on alert believing that every person with whom you work intends to use you to pursue their personal agenda of misplaced motivations that will hurt your wallet, your psyche or both.
Restoring Integrity... The Buck Stops Here
The ethical edge advocates The Buck Stops Here strategy in addressing the pathway for restoring trust and redefining integrity personally and professionally.
You will recall that Harry Truman made The Buck Stops Here expression famous when he placed a sign with those words on his desk in the Oval Office. Harry knew one thing about his new job: He was the final decision maker on all significant decisions for a nation. That meant that he understood his job description as President: He was clearly and simply America's final and ultimate Big Decisions problem solver. He understood it; He did not flinch from exercising that role.
Such must be the mindset of those who are in America's marketplace exercising corporate and institutional leadership. Each person who employs an office of leadership must think with The Buck Stops Here strategy as a problem solver who is committed to managing the Big Decision of managing integrity's broken trust. That is a requirement in the job description of leaders.they must embrace human failure and work with it.daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. Integrity is an unceasing management story. It is the continuous work of professional leaders.
Restoring Integrity... Leadership of Self-Reflection
When bad things happen with integrity like the Madoff Mayhem, they initially capture our attention with reactionary responses. Typically, that looks like fighting back against an enemy. Competent, self-directed leaders use their initial reactionary responses of bad news as a gateway for Self-Reflection. Self-Reflection always asks the question: What does this problem that I am hearing about, observing and feeling have to do with me and my world of influence?
Self-Reflection pursues the Concealed, the Below-the-Surface. Self-Reflection always seeks insight into how you strategically problem solve an issue that has captured the attention of your reactionary mind.
As an exercise of The Buck Stops Here problem-solving with an opportunity to exercise Self-Reflection on Integrity in Checkmate, the ethical edge points to the recent media work on this theme.
The Josephson Institute of Ethics, one of America's premier voices in ethics education, is encouraging adults throughout the United States to participate in the Personal Integrity Assessment. The assessment is an excellent self-reflection tool that allows adults to think about personal behaviors that shape the direction of integrity in action.
Here are 10 questions from the survey. As you read each statement, you can respond to how you agree with each one: Agree Strongly; Agree; Disagree; Disagree; Strongly:
- In today's society, one has to lie or cheat at least occasionally in order to succeed.
- People who take ethical shortcuts are more likely to succeed than those who don't.
- I am satisfied with my own ethics and character.
- I am more ethical than most people I know.
In the past 12 months, how many times have you engaged in or experienced the described conduct?
Never; Only One; Two or Three Times; Four or More Times; Not Applicable
- Was given too much change and kept the money.
- Inflated an expense claim for reimbursement.
- Concealed or distorted significant information in communicating to my boss.
- Lied to my boss about something significant.
- Misrepresented a material fact in a job interview (in past 5 years)
- Used the internet for more than 15 minutes for personal reasons during work time.
These 10 questions stimulate one experience: How do I think and how do I behave as I am guided by understanding that Integrity's measurements of trust must always begin with me. When I see, hear, read and converse about another bad news story of integrity-in-crisis, I must hold Self-Reflection's disposition that unceasingly directs me to return to my own inner home plate, stand in my own batter's box and have the ball of integrity pitched to me to see just how I am currently handling the curve, the slider, the knuckleball! Such exercises help America's leaders show up as The Buck Stops Here voice of integrity in the organizations they serve.
The Success Force Driving You Forward
Author Joseph Sugarman stated it well, "Each time you are honest and conduct yourself with honesty, a success force will drive you toward greater success. Each time you lie, even with a little white lie, there are strong forces pushing you toward failure."
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