ducted. A company’s true ethics are reflected by ‘‘where we stand as
Honesty and Integrity
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individual managers and how we behave when faced with decisions
which require us to combine ethical and commercial judgments. What
are our personal rules of conduct? Who else will be affected?’’15
How important is it for leaders to have actions congruent with their
stated beliefs and ‘‘good intentions’’? Don’t just ask the head of a choco-
late company. Put the question to James, one of the twelve disciples of
Jesus: ‘‘Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is
like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at him-
self, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.’’ ( James
1:22–24)
SYSTEMS, SAFEGUARDS, STANDARDS
Individuals tend to exercise increased integrity and honesty when the
group culture supports these behaviors. It takes very strong individuals
to maintain these traits, particularly when they are in a position of
power, with no checks, balances, or rules.
The rule of law is repeated many times over in the Bible, as are the
actual laws. There are particularly strong warnings about abuses of
power by those in high authority, as well as commands for leaders and
followers at all levels to behave ethically.
The following passage was written by Moses, centuries before Saul
was anointed the first king of Israel. Moses was keenly aware of the
potential for abuse of power by any leader, no matter how upright.
Therefore, he suggested some safeguards, which we have too often ig-
nored in selecting our modern business and political leaders (or which
they have ignored even when they were in place):
The king . . . must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or
make the people return to Egypt to get more of them . . . He must not
take too many wives or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. When he takes the throne of his
kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law . . . It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life . . . [He should]
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THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP
not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or the left. (Deut. 17:14–20)
If only our modern business leaders paid more attention to these
guidelines! Moses realized what Lord Acton centuries later expressed so
succinctly, that ‘‘power corrupts and absolute power corrupts abso-
lutely.’’ He recognized the intrinsic threat that too much power might
pose to a leader’s honesty and integrity. Moses’ warning addresses the
dangers of greed (too many horses or large amounts of silver and gold
can dull a leader’s ability to spot injustice in other places), lust (too
many wives or affairs can also hurt a leader’s judgment and credibility),
and arrogance (no leaders, corporate or political, are to hold themselves
above the law).
Even kings and CEOs (or perhaps especially kings and CEOs) need
written standards and guidelines to help remind them how to act ethi-
cally. When Solomon was about to succeed David on the throne of
Israel, David’s biggest priority and most fervent prayer was for his son
to continue his tradition of integrity: ‘‘I know, my God, that you test
the heart and are pleased with integrity . . . And give my son Solomon
the wholehearted devotion to keep your commands, requirements and
decrees . . .’’ (1 Chron. 29:17–19)
A company with a well-developed system of ethics—which is actually
used rather than merely stated—does not spend a lot of time deciding the ethicality of each decision. In fact, a strong code like Johnson &
Johnson’s credo makes the decisions easier. An action either fits the
code or it doesn’t, and the stronger the code and the more often it has
been put into practice, the clearer the ethical path.
John Pepper, chairman of Procter & Gamble, believes that ‘‘ethical
business is good business.’’ Moreover, it tends to attract and retain ethi-
cal people.
There are any number of people in this company who came here—and
stay here—because of our ethical standards. When we move into places
like Eastern Europe and ask new employees why they sought us out, it’s
wonderful to hear them say, ‘‘Because of what you stand for.’’ I remember
Honesty and Integrity
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a former P & G chairman saying if it ever got to a point where we didn’t think we could uphold good ethics and stay in a country, we’d leave that country . . . It’s wonderful to have things you don’t have to talk about.
When we are discussing a product and there’s something wrong with it,
you know it’s not up for discussion anymore until it’s fixed. 16
Herb Kelleher, CEO of Southwest Airlines must be sitting in the
same tent as Pepper. He also feels that maintaining an ongoing set of
ethical standards
. . . makes everything a lot easier. If someone makes a proposal, we
don’t spend a lot of time on it if it’s contrary to our values. We just say,
‘‘No, we’re not going to do that!’’ You might be able to make a lot of
money, but it doesn’t make any difference. It’s not what we stand for. We can move quickly and say, ‘‘Okay, what’s the next item?’’ 17
There are probably a lot of business and political leaders who wish
they had ‘‘moved on to the next item’’ rather than embarked on a
course of action that was ethically questionable. But it takes a set of
standards to be able to know when to ‘‘move on.’’
It also helps to ‘‘select capable men . . . trustworthy men who hate
dishonest gain,’’ Jethro’s instructions to Moses in selecting his ‘‘officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.’’ (Exod. 18:21) But just in
case a few ‘‘bad apples’’ have fallen into the barrel, it’s good to set up a system for detecting and removing them. After the Minuteman nose
cone scandal in which they were found guilty of padding payroll rec-
ords, GE instituted an ethics program, a component of which was a
booklet called ‘‘The Spirit and the Letter of Our Commitment.’’ The
booklet, reproduced in all languages, explained that an ombudsman and
hotline had been placed in every facility to field reports of potentially
unethical activities. Says Welch, ‘‘We tell employees exactly who to call
. . . Out of the messes you create new levels of excellence. Something
has to come out of every serious event . . . How do you take it to the
next step?’’18
A system of ethics and standards can even cut across seemingly im-
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THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP
pregnable religious boundaries. Gary Heavin is the founder of Curves
for Women, an international franchisor of health clubs for women.
Heavin, a conservative Christian, has based his company largely on New
Testament principles. But ironically, he has attracted Chasidic Jews as
franchisees. Why? ‘‘They tell me, ‘We appreciate your value system and
your integrity. We wouldn’t trust someone without a value system.’ ’’19
Dennis Bakke and Roger Sant, leaders of AES, a giant electric utility,
also feel that the special ‘‘buy-in’’ they get from their employees is based on their value system: ‘‘Our main goal . . . was to build a company
that embodied the four principles that we felt mattered in any kind of
community, be it a business, church, village or whatever: fairness, integ-
rity, social responsibility, and fun.’’20 (Who said an ethical company has
to be boring?)
WHO’S WATCHING, ANYWAY?
In an old folk tale, a farmer tells his hired man to take a chicken and kill it ‘‘where no one can see.’’ The hired man returns in a few hours with
a live chicken. ‘‘Why didn’t you kill it?’’ asks the farmer. ‘‘Everywhere
I go, the chicken sees,’’ answers the hired man.
Behind this humorous story is a subtle message: Someone is always
watching, even if it is only the victim, the perpetrator, or the perpetra-
tor’s conscience. King David’s forces were aligned against the forces of
his own son, Absalom, who was trying to take over his father’s throne
a few years before the father was ready to hand it over. (Sounds like a
typical family business.) David commanded his troops, ‘‘Be gentle with
the young man Absalom for my sake.’’ (2 Sam. 5:5) Absalom, riding his
mule, got his hair caught in a tree and was hanging by it when a com-
mon foot soldier from David’s side came upon him, but did not harm
him. He reported this to his commander, Joab:
Joab said to the man, ‘‘What? You saw him? Why didn’t you strike
him to the ground right there? Then I would have had to give you ten
shekels of silver and a warrior’s belt.’’ But the man replied, ‘‘Even if a