George Schultz was the Secretary of State in the Regan administration.  During those years, in the 1980s, I had just become the assistant superintendent of Building Services at Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale.  This was my first exposure to management and I was 29 years old.  I watched Secretary Schultz, in a television interview, state that he would never accept a job that he was not willing to walk away from, if he were asked to compromise his integrity.

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Secretary Schultz’s words were a lodestone for me and a compass.  During my 25 years in management/administration…I encountered numerous occasions that I had to choose my sense of right and wrong rather than the expediency of what the boss wanted me to do.

I watched as others chose to compromise their values or to ignore their conscience…many times due to being afraid of loosing their employment.  There is, indeed a dynamic of doing what the boss wants done…often when it is ethical…and sliding into continuing to do what the boss wants done….When it is not ethical.

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The most egregious violation of integrity or an ethical compass is the abuse of people.  This comes in many forms which includes; listening to staff’s concerns but not addressing them, assuring staff that you will assist them and subsequently failing to do so, toying with people or moving them about…as if on a chessboard…with no clear managerial need.

Dishonesty or lying to members of your staff are some of the most devastating of lapses in doing what is right.  I have walked out of numerous management meetings where others disparaged and demeaned those that they perceived were beneath us!

For years I worked for a leader who felt that the best way to demonstrate that our organization needed more help…was to stage a slow-down of the housekeeping that we produced.  I refused to do so!  It was my belief then…and to this day that it was our job to clean the campus as well as we possibly could.

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Former chancellor Argersinger was terminated in less than a year on the job.  Jo Ann was not only a breath of fresh air but an inspiration to the university community.  I stood up for her, as did many of my colleagues, but it was scary!  I not only had my job threatened but the jobs of my colleagues in Building Services!

It occurs to me that it sounds like that I am bragging on myself…but on the contray…I often felt like the ‘skunk at the garden party!’  I wondered if I was not only a bit to altruistic…or a simple minded oaf…or lacking in understanding on how to get ahead!

Mind you, I was not the only one, but rather I worked with hundreds of stelar colleagues that were examples to me in the art of, ‘To thine own self be true!’

So, you may find yourself in a position that, to your dismay, you are misplaced in!  Perhaps your best efforts are misunderstood and met with retaliation or disdain.  I have lived my 62 years being a believer that if your efforts are not appreciated…find somewhere that they will be.

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