I was raised to love baseball. I ate, drank, walked, talked, and slept baseball. Many electric Sundays were spent sitting in Fenway Park cheering on the likes of Yaz, Evans, Guerrero, Fisk, Louis Tiante... So naturally I played Little League.
At a mid-season game on a really hot day, I hit a long fly ball that reached the fence in center field. Running like no tomorrow, I rounded first and then second base, taking a huge risk that I could get to third - the outfielder looked to have a weak arm.
I was wrong. That ball landed into the third baseman's glove in what seemed like an hour in front of me. It was a little kid - probably his first year. I was older, bigger, faster... but he was determined. He stood there holding his ground in front of third base, holding tight to that ball in his glove.
In what seemed like a good idea at the time, I decided to try and knock the ball loose. Running at full speed, I lowered my shoulder and rammed into that poor kid with everything I had. It knocked him out cold. Lying there on the ground, all sprawled out, his hand still had a tight hold on the ball - I was out.
I remember having these feelings in relative order: Disappointment. Disbelief. Admiration for the kid's courage and determination.
But then... I saw his mom and dad running up to him, crying, beside themselves. It started to dawn on me that I'd stepped over the line of acceptable sportsmanship -- I'd been out by a mile - running into him given our size differences was just being a bully. I started to get a pit in my stomach and I started worrying about the kid being okay... I remember being so relieved when he started waking up and coughing.
Remorseful, I slunk unnoticed back across the diamond toward the dugout. My coach came running up to me and I was preparing myself of a tongue-lashing. Instead he whispered intensely to me: "Hey, sorry I couldn't praise you out there - wouldn't have been right, okay? BUT THAT WAS FANTASTIC -- THAT'S HOW YOU PLAY BASEBALL -- GREAT JOB!! WAY TO SET THE EXAMPLE BUDDY!"
I quit the team after that day. I stopped talking about baseball. I did end up joining a different team the next summer, but I'll always remember that awful experience vividly: knowing I'd done something wrong and having someone I'd looked up to praise me for unethical behavior.
At the time I didn't have the words to experess why to my parents and friends, but I knew that I didn't want to be around a coach like that.
...
An attendee at a recent seminar in Portland, Oregon showed me a USA Today graphic in the lower left corner of the Money Section. The "Snapshot" displayed the results of a poll conducted by the IABC Research Foundation as a pie chart titled, "Bad behavior's consequences."
The question posed to 1827 communications professionals was, "If a manager is discovered to have engaged in unethical behavior that results primarily in corporate gain, should he/she be reprimanded?"
51% said yes , 13% said no and 36% said they weren't sure. (Margin of error was + or - 1%.)
What? Nearly half of the respondents would either say there should be no negative consequences or they weren't sure!?
I have yet to meet anyone who would disagree that conducting all your affairs lawfully and with integrity is categorically imperative if you wish to stay in business. Those who cannot do this don't tend to pass Go and collect $200 very often, and sometimes they head straight to the lower left-hand square of the Monopoly board.
I don't care what the result was - gain or loss. Those conducting their affairs in a way that is unlawful or lacks integrity must be reprimanded if we are to have any hope of creating and sustaining a culture of principled entrepreneurs. If we talk a good game to the public, but do the wink and nod behind the scenes and say - "NOW THAT'S THE WAY YOU DO BUSINESS!" - we're going to lose all our talented and virtuous people.
People don't want to just make money. At least not the one's I'm interested in working with. They want to profit by making a difference - by creating real value for society while faithfully conducting their affairs lawfully and with integrity.
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