After reading the article by Kramer about how/why successful
leaders makes meteoric rises to the top only to come crashing down a short
while later, the first real dilemma that comes to mind is a very basic
principle that we all are faced with quite often: integrity. Integrity is a rather simple idea that has
many definitions. The nuclear navy has a
pretty easy one to remember that I am a fan of: doing what is right even when
no one is looking. For example, you come
across a valve out of position. You know
why it is in the wrong position and could easily reposition it with no one ever
knowing but you also know that you should report this. The nuclear navy would hope your only
response would be to report the valve out of position and thus you have
integrity. Unfortunately however this is
not always the case. In my opinion, you
either have integrity or you do not; you will either do what is right or you
will not, and I think part of the problem with some of these leaders is a
result of that.
The article directly mentioned that many successful CEOs
have a winner take all mentality and are willing to do whatever it takes to
succeed, including as we saw in the article, lying and cheating the
system. For example, the CEO of
DreamWorks who forged a UCLA diploma in order to advance up the company. Clearly this was a dishonest act aimed at
promoting only himself. I would venture
to say that that was also probably not the only time he acted in a selfish,
unethical manner. So why then is it
surprising to us when they do exactly what they have always done just because
they are at the pinnacle of success?
They had no integrity to get to the top so why would they have any once
they are at the top? They aren’t going
to change who they are; after all, it did lead them to some of the most
powerful positions in the country.
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