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» Picking your path » Influence speaks quietly
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ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID SWANN / DSWANN@STARBULLETIN.COM Picking your path
Business and government leaders have
strayed from traveling the ethical road
When speaking recently about integrity in business and government, a respected local senior executive said, "It's harder to find than gold!"
"It's more like mining for Australian fire opals!" I responded quickly. In explaining why, I commented that when you happen upon a nugget of gold, you could see its sparkle quickly. On the other hand, fire opals are generally found caked in a very thick layer of hard mud, so their brilliance is not as easy to see with the naked eye. In fact, the opal can be missed entirely if the layer of mud is not broken through.
Sadly, finding integrity in business and government these days is more like mining opals than gold. Thick layers of mud cover true quality. This mud is comprised of a variety of lies we tell ourselves to justify not doing what we know in our hearts is the right thing.
Enron's senior leadership must be taken to task and held accountable for their unethical acts, both of commission and omission, that have ruined the financial lives of tens of thousands of hard-working families. But, make no mistake about it; those who are made to pay did not act alone. There were an untold number of co-conspirators within the corporations of Enron and Arthur Anderson who chose to remain silent and bury their heads in the sand; just as there were in Watergate, and just as there were in the Bay of Pigs crisis. In the last case, we have documented evidence that trusted members of President Kennedy's cabinet willfully withheld facts because they didn't want to say things they thought the boss didn't want to hear. In that case, "groupthink" almost cost us more than several hundred million dollars. In the Bay of Pigs, the results could have been catastrophic because the boss had his hand on a little red button.
As concerning as this dynamic of silent collusion is, the justification for the behavior is even more disconcerting. When local fiascos become visible -- like the Aloha Stadium rotting, or a 10-year, multimillion dollar overrun of a building project at the University of Hawaii -- the phrase we most often hear, accompanied by a helpless shrug of shoulders, is "That's just politics." We hear a similar phrase when fiascos like Enron become visible, again accompanied by a helpless shrug of shoulders: "That's just business."
In contributing to and tolerating a society driven by two separate sets of ethical standards -- one set for our businesses or public servants, and one set for ourselves -- we have colluded in creating a very dangerous situation, most importantly for our children. In those precious few years when they are young and still at home, we struggle to teach them values like honesty, trustworthiness, courage, and integrity.
Then we send them into careers in organizations -- organizations we have helped to create, manage and lead -- where they will spend more than one-third of their waking hours for most of their adult lives. And in these environments -- again, environments we have created for them -- we are teaching them that while the IRS frowns on keeping two different sets of financial accounting records, keeping two sets of ethical accounting standards is in fact the way things are.
If we continue to allow this gap in our concept of integrity to exist between our personal and business or political ethics, there will be neither lodes of gold nor of fire opals for our children to enjoy. Instead, we will leave them a legacy of spiritual and financial bankruptcies.
For in the business of living, we are all CEOs accountable for our actions and choices. It's up to us to make choices that are commensurate with both our dreams of personal fulfillment and our sense of what is right for all of us in public life.
Irwin Rubin is a Honolulu-based author and president of Temenos Inc., which specializes in executive leadership development and behavioral coaching, communication training, and large system culture change. His column appears twice a month in the Honolulu Star Bulletin. Send questions and column suggestions to temenos@lava.net or visit .
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Those with
the most influence
speak the quietest
My accountant, Pauline Becker, died last month. She was 53 and had breast cancer. It's amazing that we never really understand how much someone can touch or change our lives until they are no longer in it, how their actions can make you successful or cause much consternation.
Pauline became my accountant six years ago after my mother, who was my tax preparer, became too sick with her diabetes to help me anymore. She recommended Pauline, and I knew who she was as I had often seen her walking Kapiolani Park. You could not miss her with her flaming red hair and rose-colored glasses.
I had always thought of her as a throwback hippie with her crystals and naturopathic herbs and medicines, but she was the consummate professional and soon became my Mother Confessor and good friend.
Whenever I had a question or a problem, she always had the answer and would get back to me quickly so we could resolve it and move on.
She was comforting during the most stressful times in my business. Pauline was rebuilding my accounting programs to get my company moving into the 21st century when she passed away.
At her memorial service, I saw she had some major corporations and a lot of local celebrities as clients. I learned that about dozen or more of my friends worked with her, but none of us knew it until that day. She knew about other people's money concerns, but never said a word. In these days of Enron, she was above reproach. She was the quintessential consultant, never name dropping or marketing herself on the coattails of clients, but everyone knew her and appreciated her integrity and loyalty.
I believe what Pauline did for her clients was to create a chance for many of us, particularly those of us who run small businesses, to have a better life by getting us organized. Doing this took away our fear and agony over money matters and taxes. I don't think anyone in the world enjoys paying taxes, but Pauline, with her calm presence, always made everything seem OK even when writing out those checks to the IRS and the state.
She planned and helped many groups through volunteer efforts, from Winner's Camp to quarterly garage sales in her neighborhood. She was a director for the Society of Public Accountants, organizing the very controlled bean counters.
Pauline's cancer surfaced four years ago, but she didn't tell any of her clients until the last few months. She did not want to scare or worry us and was even comforting me on some of my business problems the week before she died.
In my consultancy, I meet people from all walks of life and I often find that the most effective and strongest influences in the world are the ones who are the quietest, the calmest.
In business there are two distinct types of people, the concept person and the implementer or the one who gets it done.
A great mentor of mine, the late University of Hawaii professor of accounting Joseph Miccio, often said to me, "If you want people to listen to you, speak softly, then they have to focus to hear you."
Pauline was such a person by speaking quietly and firmly to get her clients to make decisions and get things done.
I know I am a better businessperson because of what she taught me and for the fact that she passed through my life. For this I shall always be grateful and she will be sorely missed.
People have said to me there are many accountants and she can be replaced. But while I can find someone else to help me with my finances, how do you replace your role model, your Mother Confessor?
Stephany L. Sofos is the owner of SL Sofos and Co. and a licensed real estate broker and appraiser. She can be reached at stephany@slsofos.com.
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