Integrity and Compliance

Integrity is doing things right when nobody is watching! Organizations whose edifice is built on a bedrock of strong Integrity and Compliance always create a conducive environment for employees to thrive and succeed. By the same token, organizations which fell from grace all had fractures and fault lines in their ethos. Warren Buffet once said ‘It takes 20 years to build a reputation, and five minutes to ruin it’.

I have always nurtured a strong belief that when people hang up their boots, or leave an organization, the only gift they take along with them is their reputation. The corollary is that the only product they leave behind is their legacy. One ought to be proud of both – reputation and legacy. In career, if ever one reaches a moral crossroad, one should Stop, Think and Consult. Likewise, in the moral staircase of corporate life one must always follow the Three-Point-Contact safety rule, so as to not slip and fall. The three points of contact are:

• Moral Compass inside us
• The Newspaper Test (on whether you would like to read a damning article on what you did), and
• The ethos of an organization

If any one of these points is weak, you are likely to fall and get hurt. There is nothing more gratifying than a good night’s sleep after having done our job right, and nothing more dreadful than losing sleep over a smoking gun we left behind at work. Anecdotally, a shattered glass can never be fixed. And, reputation is more fragile than glass. Therefore, it has been my personal crusade to constantly strengthen my organization’s edifice, walk the talk on this topic, and help my team and colleagues to eschew this strong value and belief system. Lastly, I am happy to say that I sleep well at night!