Threading Integrity Deeply Into Your DNA
Posted on March 18, 2009 in Leadership by beafields
I am a news junkie…I admit it.
But I have found myself recently not turning on the news…or should I call it the “olds?” The same old, same old stuff. Madoff takes off with billions of dollars, AIG is begging for million dollar bonuses, and Anna Nicole Smith’s boyfriend and doctor are in trouble for prescribing medications for her to the point of stupification.
As an executive coach, I am always looking for the bigger message. From where I sit, the problem is not with the actions (although they are staggering)…the problem is with our DNA. As Americans, we have this code being woven into our DNA that reads:
1) Do anything to get ahead
2) To be successful, you must be rich!
3) Go to extreme measures to either be a celebrity or be around a celebrity
4) Bend the rules…just this one time, becuase you deserve it
5) So what if I get a $1 million bonus while the economy is falling apart…you HAVE to have me, so PAY ME!
You see, the issue is that we don’t have integrity sewn deeply into our DNA. Even our government is having problems with integrity, and it is like a twisted maze to see how to get out of this.
We are going to have to start practicing some behaviors and holding people accountable to:
1) Telling the truth
2) Following the rules
3) Being transparent
4) Disclosing information to our customers and constituents
5) Doing the right thing when no one is looking
6) Enforcing consequences when the above 5 are broken
Sounds simple, but this is so difficult to follow. Somewhere along the way, we went down a path as a nation that was built on greed, sex appeal, power and manipulation. And, the more we have of these things, the more we crave them.
Today, as you are reading this post, I encourage you to take one step…a step in the direction of walking closer to the line, telling the truth and disclosing more of what you need to. If each person in our world just took one step to get back to some strong core values of integrity and doing the right thing, our world would be a much better place.
I could not agree with you more! Once again, you get right to the core of the issue and with such eloquence.
What strikes me in what you have written is that it seems to chronicle and mirror what happens during the downfall of all affluent societies. I was reminded of the Roman Empire and, though I am in no way a historian, from the little I remember, it sounds so similar. Greed, entitlement, fudging on the rules in a little way that becomes a big way over time — it completely seems as if it is in our DNA.
The desire… no, the NEED… to have more seems to be programmed in our bodies, in our mind and easily in our society.
So what do we do? Nature tells us that when an animal grouping grows soft and lazy, ofttimes make their way to extinction by destroying their habitat through over usage or routed out by a rival grouping. I think the answer lies in your conclusion. WE MUST MAKE A CONSCIOUS CHOICE. It is our only hope. The thing that separates us from the animals is our abilities to be self-aware and to use our executive brain functioning to make conscious decisions that are not based on instinct. Unless that conscious choice is bred into us at the personal, family and societal level, we will be destined to go the way of all “soft and lazy” species and cultures.
I wonder if we are too late?
Comment by Roger DeWitt — March 19, 2009 @ 6:51 am