Ethical Guardrails
I know all too well the pain of an unethical choice. My husband recently lost his job because he broke a policy and notarized a document that he didn't see his client sign in person. He had been in professional banking for 15 years. He had recently started working for a new bank as an executive banker. He loved his job and he was good at it. In less than a year, he was one of the top bankers in his region. He had a client referred to him that needed a small loan. The loan was taking much longer than it should have and the client was moving to a new state and was anxious to get it taken care of. Finally my husband agreed to email him the loan documents which my husband notarized and sent on its way.
He knew that this wasn't the correct way to do things but he had seen dozens of his fellow employees do the same. He constantly had mortgage guys coming in and asking him to notarize documents without the client being there. He would always tell them "no" so they would just move on and get someone else to do it. In this one situation he felt justified in putting his customers needs first. The human resource director fired my husband even though he was an outstanding employee and even though my husband's boss didn't agree with their decision. They said because of all the unethical things that had taken place at Wells Fargo, they had no choice but to let him go.
This sent shock waves through his company. He had so many people come up to him and tell him that he was the most "squeaky clean" banker that they knew. People came and told him all the things that they had done that were far worse, all in the name of helping the client.
Was he trying to lie and cheat for personal gain? No. Did they make an example out of him? Maybe. Could they have taken less drastic action? Probably. Did it sometimes seem unfair? Yes. But, my husband always accepted responsibility. He made a mistake and has had to face the consequences.
My 14 year old son said the moral of the story is don't try and help people but I hope he comes to realize what we have learned.
Always do the right thing.
Every single time.
Even if it doesn't seem important.
Even if no one else is.
I can without a doubt say that my husband will never break policy ever again. Ethical guardrails need to be reviewed constantly. We can't get complacent. In the book, Launching Leaders it talks about calibrating ourselves to God. At work, we do robotics on Fridays. If the kids have problems getting their Ozobot to stay on their path that they have drawn for them I calibrate the robot. Calibrating it tells it, "this is what your looking for, this is what you should be following." When we calibrate ourselves to God, He can remind us of the path that we should be following, and the path that we should be seeking. It was a great reminder that aligning our will with God's takes vigilance. We need to constantly be asking what we lack, what we need to be doing better. If we are always checking in with out Heavenly Father, He won't let us get off track. We will never even get close to our ethical guardrails if we are making small and consistent course corrections along the way.
He knew that this wasn't the correct way to do things but he had seen dozens of his fellow employees do the same. He constantly had mortgage guys coming in and asking him to notarize documents without the client being there. He would always tell them "no" so they would just move on and get someone else to do it. In this one situation he felt justified in putting his customers needs first. The human resource director fired my husband even though he was an outstanding employee and even though my husband's boss didn't agree with their decision. They said because of all the unethical things that had taken place at Wells Fargo, they had no choice but to let him go.
This sent shock waves through his company. He had so many people come up to him and tell him that he was the most "squeaky clean" banker that they knew. People came and told him all the things that they had done that were far worse, all in the name of helping the client.
Was he trying to lie and cheat for personal gain? No. Did they make an example out of him? Maybe. Could they have taken less drastic action? Probably. Did it sometimes seem unfair? Yes. But, my husband always accepted responsibility. He made a mistake and has had to face the consequences.
My 14 year old son said the moral of the story is don't try and help people but I hope he comes to realize what we have learned.
Always do the right thing.
Every single time.
Even if it doesn't seem important.
Even if no one else is.
I can without a doubt say that my husband will never break policy ever again. Ethical guardrails need to be reviewed constantly. We can't get complacent. In the book, Launching Leaders it talks about calibrating ourselves to God. At work, we do robotics on Fridays. If the kids have problems getting their Ozobot to stay on their path that they have drawn for them I calibrate the robot. Calibrating it tells it, "this is what your looking for, this is what you should be following." When we calibrate ourselves to God, He can remind us of the path that we should be following, and the path that we should be seeking. It was a great reminder that aligning our will with God's takes vigilance. We need to constantly be asking what we lack, what we need to be doing better. If we are always checking in with out Heavenly Father, He won't let us get off track. We will never even get close to our ethical guardrails if we are making small and consistent course corrections along the way.
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