Laying the foundation of an honest organization
built with strong integrity and ethics is important to set the culture,
direction, principles and priorities for any new company.
The lead has to be taken by the founder, the leader
of the young startup, by setting the right example and setting the right
standards at every step of the way. Values and principles established in the
beginning will stand the tests of time. Shortcuts and unethical business
practices will get enshrined in a young company at the start and will be very
difficult to change at a later date.
The oft heard line “this is how it happens
here” will be repeated by all future managers of the young company.
There
is no Grey in Honesty – Only Black or White
To me, honesty is a simple black and white
subject. There neither is grey in honesty nor is there any shade of white and
black as I have heard many people say. Either you are honest or dishonest. I
tell my young colleagues that before they leave home morning when they are
alone shaving and look in the mirror, can they look at themselves directly in
the eye and tell themselves
“I did no wrong yesterday and I did not
knowingly harm anyone yesterday and I was honest to myself”
This I believe is the only explanation they
would ever need to give to themselves. What anyone else thinks of them or their
actions is of no relevance and does not matter. My advice to my young
colleagues is
“If someone asks you to compromise your own
ethical standards or asks you to do something you don’t think is correct, hear
them out. You don’t have to implement their decision if you disagree. Go with
your conscience. What you think is right is what the organization expects from
you. You can’t please every manager or everyone in the company”.
Threshold
of Conscience
As I progressed through my early working life,
I began to understand that honesty had shades of grey and each person had his
own threshold of conscience.
I have often argued with colleagues and friends
whether using a company car to drop children to school or to take your wife
shopping or charging a personal expense as official entertainment or converting
a business class ticket into two economy tickets when travelling overseas on
company work (so that your partner can fly free) is right or wrong. Most times
the answer I got was that there was nothing wrong in this and these were
“perquisites” of the job|
These are examples of when we change our own
threshold of conscience to suit our own needs. We accept a position that we
would normally not accept for our subordinates. We would also not accept this
as correct if we hear someone else has done something similar. Then how can we
rationalize this for ourselves?
On the other hand, I have recognized that very
often in order to get work done, I have to accept what is the normal pattern of
working in our country and I have learned not to question why most times,
favors need to be done to get what is yours by right and not because you are
asking for something to be done that is incorrect or out of turn.
A senior bureaucrat in a South East Asian
country once told me that there was no corruption in his country. They believed
in the philosophy of Cooperation, not Corruption.
“If you are going to do business in my country
and make a profit, you need to cooperate and share a part of this profit with
us”, he said. Quite an interesting perspective though not necessarily something
to be emulated anywhere.
Gifting is another area where can always
interpret several shades of grey. In our country, it is almost a culture to
give gifts at Diwali every year and if a gift is not accepted, it is seen as an
affront by the person giving the gift. Yet, if the person who the gift is for
makes it abundantly clear that gifts are not welcome, then the practice of
giving gifts comes to a stop. I had set in place a system whereby all Diwali
gits received were handed over to the head of Human Resources and these were
then given away to staff members at a Diwali party through a raffle. Senior
managers were not permitted to participate in the raffle.
In conclusion, the leader sets the standards
for integrity and honesty in any organization or indeed in any family. If the
leader willingly compromises his ethical standards it is impossible to expect
people down the line or other members of the family to comply with a dual
standard.
As long as your own conscience is clear and as
long as you know that what you are doing is right, keep moving forward.
*******************
The author is the founder Chairman of Guardian Pharmacies
and the author of the best-selling books, Reboot. Reinvent. Rewire: Managing
Retirement in the 21st Century; The Corner Office; An Eye for an Eye and The
Buck Stops Here - Learnings of a #Startup Entrepreneur.
Twitter: @gargashutosh
Instagram: ashutoshgarg56
Blog: ashutoshgargin.wordpress.com |
ashutoshgarg56.blogspot.com
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