ValueCentered Insight ®

Fifty Pounds of Principle

by

Chris Chaney

First Enron Corp., with Arthur Andersen LLP, and eventually followed by Worldcom.  Now included under the dark cloud of investigation Tyco International (TYC), Adelphia Communications (ADELA), Computer Associates (CA), Qwest Communications (Q), and Global Crossing, according to Business Week Online.

It doesn't end there.  CEO Martha Stewart now finds herself being queried for possibly trading stocks with inside or privileged information.  Finally, a financially troubled Kmart receives bad press for traveling to bankruptcy court in a million dollar private jet.  Once at bankruptcy court, Kmart's bankruptcy attorney ($695.00 per hour) argues many hours, convincing a federal bankruptcy judge to approve a $2 billion dollar line of credit-allowing Kmart to "give it another shot" at trying to make the company profitable.

Now, with all that said, if you think this article is simply going to talk about the "evil and greed" of corporate executives, then hold on to your hat!  I'm going to share a personal history from my early days of employment. That illustrates no matter what your station in life, acting in principled or unprincipled ways always makes a difference.

While working as a landscaper one sunny Southern California work day, another co-worker and I completed fertilizing a beautifully landscaped building on a Naval base.  We did excellent work.  We were so efficient in the use of fertilizer that we completed our work, with a full 50 pounds to spare-incidentally, all of which was paid for by the federal government.

After loading the truck, my co-worker and I headed back to the shop to conclude the work day.  First however, he made a quick detour through the parking lot, stopped at his personal pickup truck and quickly threw the extra 50 pound sack into the back of his truck.  He then looked at me and said, "don't you think that with all the money our company makes, and all the work I put in, and for what I get paid, I don't deserve a bag of fertilizer?"

My response was something like, "Do the contractor and company supervisors say it's okay?"  His response was, "They don't have to say it's okay; it's expected and they do the same thing when they drive the company trucks to conduct personal business."  Before I could say more, the truck was in drive and we were speeding through the parking lot, minus one fifty pound bag of fertilizer.

My point is to use recent incidents of corporate pillaging and malfunctions, as lessons to all of us.  Is the company executive who takes a multi-million dollar loan from a company that is pending bankruptcy, more evil than the man who threw the extra bag of fertilizer into his pickup?  Perhaps one might argue the significance of the damage, without examining the principle of action.

However, if you find yourself asking, "How could those executives do that?"  Then perhaps we should check his resume to see if he once worked as a landscaper, spreading fertilizer for the government!

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