CAN ONE PERSON MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
Never underestimate the power of one person to make a difference. Long ago a woman named Esther saved the Jews from holocaust. She was the wife of a Persian king. The king was about to be tricked into a decision that would lead to the extermination of the Jews. Esther's predicament was that if she tried to save the Jewish nation, she would have to risk her life. Her adoptive father gave her this message: "For if you remain silent...your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this."10 She chose to risk her life. By doing so, one person helped save an entire nation.
If you occupy a position of leadership then your actions profoundly influence those who follow your example. Considering the many qualities that are necessary for successful leadership, Desert storm hero General H. Norman Schwarzkopf said: "Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy."
A 1990 article in the Wall Street Journal reported the results of a Gallup Poll that found 84 percent of public school parents want moral values taught in school and 68 percent want educators to develop strict standards of "right and wrong." As a result of parental pressure, some state legislatures and education departments are urging public schools to teach students values such as honesty, respect, and patriotism. Hundreds of business firms, such as Digital Equipment Corp. of Maynard, Massachusetts and Glendale Federal Bank of Glendale, California, have provided millions of dollars for such programs.7
ReplyDeleteA 1987 survey of corporate executives administered by Touche Ross revealed that two thirds believed that high ethical standards improve a firm's competitive position but felt that "increased concentration on short-term earnings" and "decay in cultural and social institutions" are major threats to business ethics.8 Justice Elizabeth B. Lacy of the Virginia Supreme Court, in a commencement speech to graduates of the University of Texas Law School, said that legality is the minimum standard of action to follow, that a person's standard of action should be based on what is right and not merely what is technically legal.9
The battle to maintain a high level of accounting and business ethics is effectively a battle for freedom. As Solzhenitsyn, Colson, and many others have concluded, additional rules and regulations of government will be never preserve a free society whose people lack integrity. Ethics is the heart of America's economic freedom. Unethical behavior is a dagger in the heart.