We had a speaker in Organizational Behavior on Monday who lectured at length about the importance of honesty in business. This very charismatic and succesful executive stressed the role of absolute honesty: a very black-and-white portrayel that seemed inadequate to me. In his defense he said that he struggles every day with implementing this — that’s he’s not perfect either. But still.
What bothered me about his presentation was his background. This individual was privilaged and from privilage — both socially and economically. Furthermore, his career (accounting/budgeting) expects and richly rewards stark honesty. He has never actually dealt with customers. He has never been faced with losing significant business due to being honest. In short, he’s never really been challenged.
Like (I hope) everyone else, I strive to be honest in business and, as a manager, be trustworthy to my team and my customers. I know that without trust you have nothing. And I would most benefit from lectures by professionals who have been in positions like mine; who sometimes face challenges to their ethics in day-to-day business.
