The Price of "Un"

POINT TO PONDER

"Somehow, we got into a discussion of the responsibility of management. Holden made the point that management's responsibility is to the shareholders – that's the end of it. And I objected. I said, 'I think you're absolutely wrong. Management has a responsibility to its employees, it has a responsibility to its customers, it has a responsibility to the community at large.' And they almost laughed me out of the room."

                                                – David Packard, Stanford Magazine

As a practical matter, ethical conduct cannot be assured by written policies and codes; it must be an integral part of the organization (family, company), a deeply ingrained tradition that is passed from one generation of children/employees to another.

STORY LINE 

Stories of “Un”-compromising Integrity (five out of many that I have gathered over the years)

1. In mid 80s it was a normal industry practice to include expenditure for material/product REWORK as part of annual plans. The director of the organization I worked for recognized that in order to be "the world-class manufacturing company" we needed to be, the behavior of doing things right first time had to become second nature. He issued the mandate of “NO REWORK” in manufacturing. The plant managers gladly accepted the challenge. A few weeks after the policy change, one rather large lot of expensive products with a high revenue potential were mislabeled. The manager of the plant came up with multiple reasons, requests, apologies, promises: “let me ship this time, promise it will never happen again...” In response, our Director stood firm with his 'NO REWORK' directive. Financially, it was a substantial loss but that action had tremendous impact on people's subsequent behaviors - resulting in a serious focus on preventive actions and providing real life lessons in leadership. He was leading by example. Many years later, he went on to become the CEO of that company. 
2. Back in India, during my school days, we used to have an annual celebration day. In addition to many fun activities, we had one special event where all the students would get together in our stadium, sing the school anthem, and participate in a flag raising ceremony. The unique part was that the person who would raise the flag was our school janitor, Trikam, and all of us (mostly children from the “upper class”) were supposed to salute him at the end of the ceremony, shake hands with him, and thank him for his services. Trikam was from a class which was not only considered lower but “untouchable.” Despite protests from wealthy parents and threats to pull substantial donations, our school principal, Vajubhai, stuck true to the Gandhian ideals that our school was committed to. 
3. In 1977, I was leaving my company to return to university for a higher degree. Sheldon Taylor, the manager of our group, called me in to his office to discuss my plans after graduation. Sheldon promised support if I returned to the company after I completed school. While I was in school, one day I received a call from none other than Sheldon. He told me that he was leaving the company for another opportunity but he had informed incoming management about the commitment he had made to me. The last thing said, “call me if you have any problems.” When I completed school, the new management offered me the job that Sheldon had committed. I have not spoken to him since, but I have never forgotten him and the commitment he delivered on.  
4. In a community college parking lot, a teenage boy that we know left a very small scratch on the car next to his when he opened his car door. No one was around but he still left a note on the scratched car with his name and phone number. Later that evening, the father of the girl who owned that scratched car called. The first thing he said was, “I want to specially thank you for leaving a note even though the scratch is insignificant. I am not sure my daughter would have done the same.” Ultimately, it costs $350 to get the scratch removed. Years later, the same boy’s car was left badly dented in a Union Square parking lot by someone who did not leave a note with his/her phone number. Upon coming home, sad and angry, he asked his father, “what do I do next time when I scratch or dent someone’s car,” to which the dad replied, “same thing you did the first time.” 
5. “There is too much money on the table. Just sign the deal and then we will figure out,” is what the VP of sales ordered the operations VP (1987). But Gary, the VP of Ops, refused because the company did not have the capability to deliver the level of performance in the time period the customer wanted. Gary was called many names; “simple minded technician” and “naïve” being a couple. Instead, he was honest with the customer and let them know when they could realistically deliver on the customers request. Ultimately, we got their business and later learned from the customer that our competitor was not capable of completing in the alloted time and appreciated our honesty.

 

REFLECTION

I have collected many examples of Uncompromising values through the years. Putting the word/letters “Un” in front of anything has huge implications, associated costs, and consequneces both positive and negative. "Un" means not compromising no matter the temtation or price one might have to pay. "Un" is a huge commitment requiring uncompromising focus and adherance. For me personally, I strive for uncompromising values but do not claim to be there. Just the other day, one of my staff members pointed out the hypocracy in my actions vs my words and I thank her for that. There are still so many things that all of us need to learn and do everyday, myself especially. 

Comments

[Realistic]

Let us be honest here. In the heat of passion leaders do make proclaimations that are not practical to implement. This is reality.

[old timer]

The Director mentioned in your story #1 is Dr. Craig Barrett Correct?

[Ramesh]

Responsibility to Employees/People: Story #1,#2, #3. #4.
Responsibility to Customers: #1. #5.
Responsibility to Community: #3.
Well Done with Mr.Packard's guidelines.

[Chen S.]

Uncompromising values extend to all aspect of life and interactions. If you do not commit violence but ignore your neighbor doing on his family then it violates Un.
If your internal dealings within your organization are ethical but if you sponsor external organization that is doing unethical practices then it is not uncompromising integrity.
America is founded on great values but when some presidents sponsored illegal activities in other countries then it was not Uncompromising Integrity. Bribing foreign officials, Iran Contra, sponsoring criminals in other countries to topple democratically elected governments.

[BH]

Very good (& diverse) examples of integrity… thank you for sharing.

Per the David Packard quote, my great grandfather owned a fairly large linen supply (laundry service) in Los Angeles in the 1940’s-1970’s. He told my father, who told me the same when I was quite small, “we are in business for two equally important reasons. One is to make money; the other is to provide honest employment for our people. That is the role of any good business.”

I was probably told that story when I was 5 years old... but never forgot it.

Best regards and hope you have a good weekend

[A note from a Malaysian Friend]

Goodbye my friend. Thank u for all your sharing and friendship through the years. God bless always.

[key employee]

I used to work for a company that had Uncompromising Integrity and Professionalism as one of its values. One day my boss's Boss (VP) calls me for a private meeting and hands me an envelope. Inside was special stock grant. He informed me that I was considered a key employee so I was granted this options. I was not to tell anybody about it because only a few people got that in the company.I asked him if my boss, who was a very good person and admired leader by employees and customers, knew about it. The VP told me that kind information was shared only between VP and the employee who is selected. I was shocked and later found out that it was a wide spread practice though not across the board.

[Walk the Talk]

Here is a great example of Uncompromising Value.

Gandhi consistently preached non-violence to his followers and demonstrated in practice. When the British troops mercilessly beat Indians who were protesting injustice in a peaceful way, Gandhi and his followers took the beating but never raised hands at the troops.

But the real test for Gandhi and his philosophy came in Amritsar at the Jallianwala Bagh stadium on Sunday April 13, 1919. Britsh General Dyer was convinced that a major insurrection was going on, thus he banned all meetings. On hearing that a meeting of 15,000 to 20,000 people had assembled (which included women, senior citizens and children) at Jallianwala Bagh, he went with fifty riflemen to a raised bank, closed all exits to the stadium and ordered his troops to shoot at the crowd. Dyer kept the firing up till the ammunition supply was almost exhausted for about ten minutes with 1,650 rounds fired approximately. More than 1000 unarmed,peaceful men,women and children were slaughtered by General Dyer's orders.

Now Indians were very angry and wanted an armed revolution against the British.When Gandhi learned about the massacre (it took many weeks for the whole story to emerge), his initial reaction was criticize not only the British for the massacre itself, but also the Indians for the mob rampage (including the murders and assaults on British residents) that followed. This was consistent with Gandhi’s insistence that ALL violence is evil, no matter the provocation.

However his insistence on adhering to nonviolence and convincing Indians to follow the same exposed the hypocracy of "British" empire to the world and it was the beginning of the end of British rule in India.

[micro CEO]

I took this opportunity to look into the HP website, where there is a very impressive corporate "history museum" and overview of how it all got started (right out of a garage). Wikipedia also affirms the amazing generosity of Mr. Packard who donated millions to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation and research there. Then in passing, he left most of his personal value of approximately 4 billion USD to the Packard Foundation.

On the topic of "un", I am reminded of some of the amazing stories I heard as a boy at summer camp in the Berkshire Mountains in USA. Campers came from all over the country, from a wide range of cultures and economic strata. In fact, there were many, many stories to hear from fellow campers and from the counselors by candlelight chats at night. We had no electricity or other modern conveniences at the month-long camp, so there was mostly only nature, sports, and stories for keeping busy. Here are 3 that I feel compelled to mention:

One story was about un-wavering faith and un-failing positive attitude: "I am Third". this is the story of an NFL football player named Gale Sayers, who's motto was "God is first; Others are second; I am third". The act of putting oneself last seemed so paradoxical to me at the time...

The second story (actually from my parents) was the one of un-shakable perseverance. The story of Jackie Robinson, and his quiet perseverance to play professional baseball (the first black player) in the face of some really mean and rough treatment from teammates, other players, and also fans. Yet he absorbed it all and went on to be one of the greatest players in history.
The third story, of un-believable generosity, was the most impressive for me, and it was read every year at camp during the Sunday chapel service (non-denominational, outdoor meeting for reflections and stories, required for all campers, and we even had to dress up in our "formal" white camp shirts and white pants for that). The story was "Gift of the Magi", by O'Henry, and it is for me still one of the most powerful examples of "un" that stands in my memory, as a kind of beacon for me.

[Pragmatic]

To add to Realistic Point..
CEO wants his company to be The Best Bar None across the board, Not just the main business but community, ethics, service.
Create ancillary groups to support such programs. Hire the best. Guys/Girls take their jobs seriously. For Ethics proposal put forward by these "best" who have no business experience. Proposal states "Uncompromising Integrity." Now once it is on the table which CEO can say No, that is too much. He does not want to look bad in front of a rookie. So "Good Idea. let us go for it". Then reality pops in.
As stated by many other bloggers it is easy to make big statements but hard to sustain. Needs courage and Unquestionable leadership.
Having dealt with Mr. Packard I would say he was one such man. The other that comes to mind is Dr.Gordon Moore.
Time for a show "Where are they now?"

[Fr. Malaysia]

Very nice article! I like the 5 examples..especially No#2. I’m a strong believer of equality regardless of race, religion, gender, etc. Your principal was a very brave man…I blv worst could hv happened to him (pulling out of funds would hv been a very minor issue).

[Eastcaost]

I think Holden is right, the responsibility of management is to the best long-term interests of the shareholders and their investment. To attain this goal may certainly include (require) treating employees, customers, communities responsibly. Sometimes management has their own agenda which does not include the long-term interests of the shareholders and this is wrong. It’s not their money, it’s the investors money. If a person wishes to pursue a noble cause, they can start a non-profit, raise money and begin their quest.

[BHSC]

Great reflection… I cannot tell you how much I enjoy reading these

Thanks