Tenet of Leadership #6: Do the right thing
Focus on doing the right thing for the company, not your career. It’s amazing what human beings can detect or see through. Have you ever seen someone across a crowded room and known that he or she was looking at you with kindness, anger, or elation? How do we pick up such subtle clues in facial expression? People are fine-tuned to identify the intentions of others. We are hard-wired for it as a survival tactic. So it is with the words and deeds of those with whom we work. We can tell when someone has a hidden agenda, or when individuals’ words don’t match their beliefs. Are these the people we will follow?
When you make your decisions based on self-promotion or what will get you ahead rather than what is best for the organization, everyone knows it. Be as transparent as possible. Admit your mistakes. Make your decisions based on what is good for the organization, and the rewards will eventually come naturally. People will recognize honest and selfless intent, and as a result, the best will want to work with you.
For example, many years ago I was put in a position that could have made my career or destroyed it. More important, I was at crossroads in business ethics. To open what might have been a very lucrative path, all I had to do was lie. The salesperson asked me to lie to a very powerful customer by saying that quality problems on a product had been solved. There was implied compensation. The stakes were high. The trouble was that although good work had been done in engineering, the resolution of the problem had not been verified. I knew that I if I told the truth, even with careful explanation, the large order could be lost and there would be an inquiry. I knew that if I lied, the customer and the company could suffer in the end. I chose to tell the truth. The order was lost. The salesperson was angry. I went to my management to confess all. To my delight, but not really to my surprise, my management and others who heard about the incident applauded my choice, and the salesperson was reprimanded. Doing the right thing will lead to just rewards. If your company does not recognize this, perhaps you would be happier working for someone else.
In the book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t (HarperCollins Publishers, 2001), author Jim Collins describes seven unique elements of companies that have made the leap from good companies to great companies. While all seven of these elements are worthy of study, the one I would point out here is the presence of “Level 5 Leadership,” which Collins has described with these characteristics:
- Personal humility, self-effacing, quiet, reserved, even shy
- Relying on instilling inspired standards, rather than inspiring charisma to motivate
- Channeling their ego needs toward building a great company, rather than feeding themselves “The window and the mirror,” assuming responsibility for poor results and giving credit to others
- Unwavering resolve to produce long-term results
- Setting standards for building an enduring, great company
Collins describes individuals who have a fierce focus on the success of the company, rather than on lifting themselves up to enhance their own wealth, power, position, and fame. Perhaps Collins says it better in his book, which was born from examining reams of data, than I could say in a simple phrase: Do the right thing for the company, regardless of what it means to your career. And the rewards will follow.
Demelza commented:
Grade A stuff. I'm unquesitnoably in your debt.
savroD commented:
In response to larry...
Your points are well said and well taken; however, I submit the problem is more universal in the sociopathic pursuit of profit by corporations. To pull it back on topic when i could go off with more "generalizations", I would say that one should be very very carefull with respect to relying on faith in management; especially, knowing management and the human decision makers are sold on this notion of being sociopathic.
Larry Pendergrass commented:
In response to savroD: Thanks for your comment, and for relating your story. I am sure I do not fully understand the circumstances you describe savroD. We don’t have enough space in these comment boxes, nor is this necessarily the best venue for too much detail. But I will assume you were constructive in trying to help others understand the issues. (And here I am referring to the philosophy in my Tenet #5: Demand Constructive Contention) If this is true, and what you describe is a case of a company not recognizing a significant error it was about to make, I feel it is not just your right, but your duty to point out the flaw. This is true up and to the point until someone in authority makes a call… at which time you have a choice:
(1) Accept and support the decision that has been made. Stop arguing against it and especially avoid undermining it in either a passive or active way. Or…
(2) Find another place to work where you will be more satisfied.
To do anything else is probably not constructive. And as others have commented, there are a lot worse fates than realizing that you would be happier in another job.
I would also like to comment savroD on
your thought regarding executive management: “They just don’t care about anything but themselves.” It is true that the “CEO disease” is a real issue for many top leaders: the situation where top management can become out of touch, receiving little true feedback, run open loop and maybe feel overly empowered and overly important… hubris sets in. This can and does happen to some leaders.
But I have to say that I disagree with your generalization. Many and perhaps most top managers I have met have the same agenda as you do… to do excellent work for the company, to balance all of the conflicting issues to arrive at the best answer for all stakeholders: employees, shareholders, customers and even vendors. And often what leaves the rest of us scratching our heads about their decision is the simple lack of having the same information on which they are operating. I have learned over time to “suspend disbelief” when I see a management decision that doesn’t make sense to me. Because many times I am just not working with all of the facts. So my suggestion would be to keep asking the tough questions. Keep challenging with constructive contention. But also remember that leaders in your organization are privy to information to which you have no access, and this realization might persuade you to begin with a little more faith.
Larry Pendergrass
savroD commented:
I worked on a new technology with respect to the way building were wired for lighting. If the company restructured it, instead of killing it, they could be making money now to offset the loss of the market downturn. Their parent company, who was touted as a "Technology" company went along with the whole thing. I stuck to my guns and told the truth to all involved. They helped me out the door sooner because I was making them all look like the fools they were. Even though honesty is ALWAYS the best policy; when it comes to executive management, it doesn't make a difference. They just don't care about anything but themselves.
Larry Pendergrass commented:
In response to Rob G: I really like your rules to live by. Sometimes it IS the better choice to “go with your boots on”. And I agree unethical behavior will always come to light eventually. There is always a line in the sand we draw… a line where we say “to this spot only, and no further!” We draw this line perhaps without much thought about its existence, maybe even not knowing it is there until someone comes close to crossing it.
As to “leave with the one who brung ya.”… I understand you to speak of loyalty to those who have helped you in your career. I agree with you Rob G… to a point. I am sure neither of us can, in a short comment box like this, describe the complex decisions we would make in a variety of situations. And I am just as sure that what follows is something to which you would agree. But I have to say the words anyway… loyalty to people comes after adherence to principle. Loyalty is among the most important traits a human being can have, as long as it isn’t blind loyalty that would allow one to follow another into unethical behavior.
Perhaps I can be so bold as to alter your words in this way? “Gravitate to those you respect the most. Stick as close as you can to them, for as long as you can. Learn everything possible before going on to surpass them, your greatest gift to them. And always give homage to those who made you who you are.”
Larry Pendergrass
Rob G commented:
While not a pearl of wisdom, nor a suggestion of earth shattering proportions, but something I have tried to live by, is that sometimes the best you can do is go with your boots on.
I think everyone has had an experience or incident serving as their professional, if not personal, denoument. That moment of truth when you have decide right then and there who you are and what you will stand for.
Sometimes you will lose your job, which is no smal consideration in these economic times. But cover ups, misleading communications and otherwise unethical and questionable behavior will only allow you to keep your job for a short time longer. Eventually, all the
misdeeds will be uncovered, and the guilty parties exposed. You will lose your job anyway.
In a similar vein and just as important a component of doing the right thing, is the matter of maintaining commitments and loyalties. Though economics and business dynamics can operate under shifting sands, you will never lose if you leave with the one who brung ya. Keeping those promises and sustaining the relationships will, despite short term impediments, will always pay off in the long run. Loyalty to partners, staff, customers and vendors is equally about doing the right thing and true leadership as any event or decision you will encounter.
Larry Pendergrass commented:
In response to “Honesty is not always the best policy” (hinatbp): I am sorry, hinatbp, for your job loss and especially the circumstances surrounding it. I hope you are able to land back on your feet quickly after this setback. At the risk of sounding as though I cannot fully empathize with your plight, I would applaud you for stepping up in the end, standing your ground and making your dissatisfaction with the unethical behavior known.
hinatbp, I personally think that your story supports, rather than refutes my Tenet. Although we always hope that standing up for what is right will garner rewards in our current company, we know that we take some risk as we show this courage. What we declare to ourselves as we step forward is that our integrity is more important than any given job, and we accept the consequences should it come to that point.
In the end, I feel life is a white-water adventure. And while we would like to think we have some level of control, the best we can do is strap in, enjoy the ride, get a little wet every now and then, spill over, dry out our socks and jump back in for the next ride. All the while, we need to keep our compass solidly in hand when we make decisions on which fork to take. The next ride for you will be new, with a renewed sense of personal integrity, and renewed understanding of what you want in a job and the people with whom you work. And I think that’s the ultimate reward.
By the way, I should point out that the “do the right thing” Tenet is not just meant for such life-altering decisions. It is also a guide to daily choice. It is meant to remind us that just managing “upward” so that you look good to the boss in spite of the impact on others in the organization will be found out, and hurt you and everyone in the end. Focus on doing the right thing for the company, not on what is right for your career.
Larry Pendergrass
Honesty is not always the best policy commented:
Over the last several years, I was involved in several cover-ups. There were several incidents where we knew about hot carrier degradation in products that we were shipping to customers such as American Megatrend and Motorola. In the AMI case, we totally covered up the facts and continued to ship. In the Motorola case, we pretended that we discovered the problem after the customer alerted us of the symptoms. The discovery process took an additional 6 months. There was another case where we were supposed to withold 30% tax on foreign IPs sold in the USA. Our accountant alerted us to the problem. But since it would have meant more than $1M in lost IP revenue, we chose to cover that up as well.
In both cases, the decision and the instructions to cover up came from corporate management from overseas. Disagreement or dissension were not tolerated.
At some point in time, I was asked to assume the position of USA office President. Due to all such accumulated liabilities, I declined the new position. Earlier this year, I was laid off from my position as GM.
