Call me Pollyanna, but I believe that events have never before conspired to establish such a bright line between winning the right way or the wrong way as they have recently. Now if only we can learn from them.
Goldman Sachs creates an investment vehicle that it sells to its customers, the questionable contents of which are selected by a billionaire hedge fund manager who proceeds to bet against it. Investors lose a billion, hedge fund manager Paulson makes a billion. He selected the dog investments and surprise, surprise, he wins! Goldman looks to lose.
My beloved Pittsburgh Steelers have a 28 year old quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, whose gritty toughness and excellence has delivered two super bowls to Pittsburgh since 2006. The only problem is his established pattern of boorish, arguably predatory behavior against women. He’s now on the trading block.
A peer of mine from many years ago, was recently the star witness against his CEO (of KB Homes) when he admitted that they backdated stock options to enrich themselves, and later lied to the FBI and SEC about it. They made millions, but now face certain jail time.
When and where did integrity go in these situations? Are we so self-centered as to believe that there is such a thing as “success at any cost?”
I think not.
If we have learned nothing from the near melt-down of our economy, driven by insatiable greed, it is that integrity matters. Not as an adjunct to success, but as a prerequisite. I believe it to be an immutable law of the universe. There can be no long term success without integrity.