What is Right

One of our employees asked me, “Is this a personal blog, or a corporate blog?” They went on to say, “If it’s corporate, then it must represent each and every one of us.”

This stumped me for a bit.

Our little company is blessed with a lot of different perspectives, which we try to take advantage of when solving problems, understanding customers, building relationships, etc. In that sense, there is no way I can represent each and every one of them—so of course, the blog is personal. I am the only author, though anyone is welcome to comment. As such, I’ll say things that some employees, some owners, some customers, some others would disagree with. I welcome the disagreement because talking things through is how we find the truth, and what is right is much more important than who is right.

That is the crux of the matter: the what—the stuff, the things, the details—are much more important than who gets credit or who authored the what. Let's work together to find the right thing to do and not worry about the scorecards. 

Here’s an outline of a conversation I had with a customer. He was hesitating to introduce an Innegra product to an old friend who builds boats. “But Doug is going to get all the credit and John won’t know it was me who made it happen.  I’ll be stuck where I am while Doug gets the raise.” (I’ve changed the names.)

I know this person and his heart well, so I responded, “Let’s just pretend for a minute that John doesn’t hold sway over all the rewards. What if you introduce this product to your friend and they put it in their boats and somewhere down the road a little girl is riding one of those boats and it gets in an accident and doesn’t sink, and she lives instead of dying, and goes on to give birth to someone who invents a way to grow corn in the desert that saves all of Africa from starvation a half century from now? John wouldn’t know and wouldn’t give you a raise, but maybe there is someone out there who does know and that’s why we’re having this conversation. The rewards may come a lot later, or may never come, but shouldn't you do the right thing anyway?"

I always get mad when someone tells me, “It’s not what you know that’s important, it’s who you know.” Not that there isn’t truth to this, but the depth is missing. One could mistake this to mean that it’s okay to do the wrong thing if it gets you in with the right people. In this case it could be interpreted to impress John rather than make the boat safe regardless of who gets credit.

Or it could lead someone to believe that the number and relationships and societal standing of the people matter, rather than the strength of the relationships and mutual respect and loyalty that are shared. Relationships are very important, but I tend to think of them in a how-can-I-help-or-be-of-value-to-this-person kind of way, regardless of their status, rather than a I-wonder-if-I-can-work-this-in-my-favor-later kind of way, which is sometimes how that original statement is used

I also find that doing the right thing consistently (and I fail sometimes) has a way of bringing about some pretty wonderful relationships, some of which would fall into others “important to know” category, and some of which would not.

With all of that in mind, this blog can only be personal and I take sole responsibility for what's in here.