Don’t tamper with the odometer just to sell a pre-owned car

Many times, within corporate circles, executives speak of dealing with ethical questions in doing business – in a moral sphere, which is full of dilemmas. These dilemmas or borderline ethical questions are in rarely talked about subjects like deception, bribery, theft, and pseudo morality.

I have heard many who would casually say that they keep their personal and corporate integrity intact – but, ironically, they look the other way when their subordinates engage in changing the price tags, concealing a product defect, and even entertaining clients beyond the acceptable bounds of good taste and decency.

The book “The Bottom Line on Integrity” takes an unflinching look at business practices across industries which tolerate unethical practices, institutionalize dishonesty, and condone wrongdoing.

Author Quinn McKay, a Harvard doctorate holder in business, begins his book with a story of Abner Sebald (real name was changed), owner of a 20-year-old successful car dealership business.

One day, Brian (Abner’s son) asked his father: “Dad, I want to know if you really believe all those things you taught me about honesty – or if it was just talk?” That floored Abner, who has been trusted by his community for his integrity. Now he is bothered that his son has doubted his sincerity.

Brian, the son, told his Dad that Joe, his sales manager, had been regaling him with stories of his successful sales exploits. That included changing the odometer reading of a Ford vehicle from 80,000 miles to 45,000 miles. Abner immediately called Joe and reminded him about not tampering with odometers.

Joe’s explanation was typical of a hard-nosed businessman: “Yeah, I know [you told me about it]. But you want this part of the business to be profitable, right? And that car is a lot better car than the 80,000 miles on the dash show.”

This response is representative of what’s happening in the corporate world. Author McKay advises entrepreneurs and enterprise managers to “rise above slogans that feed self-deception.”

“Integrity Initiative”

Calling on all top executives, perhaps including those who have signed the “Integrity Initiative,” to check if their published adherence to lofty ethical principles is somehow watered down or violated by subordinate officials and petty officers, who are perpetuating an almost institutionalized dishonesty in the workplace, at the business counter and in myriad transactional meetings.

The book is divided into 12 chapters, with the 13th chapter being a summary –with the following catchy titles: (1) Integrity Begins with Being Honest About Dishonesty, (2) Establishing a Definition of Integrity, (3) Avoiding Deception, (4) Pressure Affects Honesty, (5) Incremental Morality, (6) Moral Ethics Against Gamin Ethics, (7) Integrity Requires Skills, (8) Principles in Conflict, (9) The Perils of Whistle-Blowing, (10) None Call It Bribery, (11) Trust: When Is a Promise a Promise, and (12) Is Lying Sometimes the Right Thing to Do?

My advice is that every chapter may be chosen by the reader ahead of the other chapters – if he wants to address an issue that is somehow related to his personal or organizational situation.  He also suggests that individual study of the executive may lead to a group study where group members can freely take to task every black, white or gray area in their ethical struggle.

McKay uses the word “wrestle,” not struggle, in taking the bull by the horns when subjecting a practice to an integrity test.  In his book titled “Ethics,” martyred theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer pointed out that dealing with ethical issues is not an easy one.  He dealt with truth-telling, for example. In that chapter, Bonhoeffer said that that there are times when you must withhold the truth – but he did not call it “lying.”

He presents one dilemma in that book: The Gestapo asked the young son of a Partisan fighter at the height of Nazi Germany: “Is your Father home?” The son knew that his Dad was hiding under the bed, but he answered: “No, my Dad is not here.”  The son withheld the truth – or, in our daily parlance, he lied.

Misuse the truth

Bonhoeffer’s reply was the Gestapo would “misuse the truth,” by arresting the partisan fighter and could be sent to die by suffocation in Hitler’s hundreds of gas chambers – and so they are not “entitled to the truth.” The theologian added that the son “affirmed the higher truth” of his Dad, who is fighting Adolf Hitler’s evil regime.

McKay addressed this same issue in the chapter “Is Lying Sometimes the Right Thing to Do?” He says he asked his class about this dilemma: “If you were secretly harboring a Jewish family in your home in Germany, and the Nazis knocked on your door asking if there were any Jews in the house, would you lie?” the author narrated that most of his class replied that “lying was the right thing to do.”

Some observers quickly add that “lying” is not the word used in God’s Decalogue. It is “bearing false witness against thy neighbor.” The Holy Word reserves the strong words “great lie,” and “father of all liars” to the Devil – the great lie being the Devil’s stand that the Deity does not exist. Therefore, Bonhoeffer is more circumspect when he used “withholding the truth,” because some “will misuse the truth,” and others are “not prepared for the truth.”

McKay offers a chart that identifies three layers of means:  “Borderline Means,” “Moderately Unethical Means,” and “Ignoble Means.” And he juxtaposes it with “Noble Ends,” “Moderately Good Ends,” and “Ends of Questionable Value.” All this trouble is actually a takeoff from the usual debate on the question: “Does the end justify the ends?”

That’s why, McKay calls the process of ethical choices a “wrestle.”  The theologian solemnly calls it the “struggle of the soul.” Moral choices do not come as tidy as black and white: they come in shades of gray. We make choices, and we leave our appreciation of the truth to the grace of the Just and Righteous.

“Incremental Morality”

Speaking of wisdom, McKay wants us to look at “Incremental Morality.” In this chapter, he says: “Moral decay … follows the pattern of the “Frog Principle.” This principle states that you can fry the frog in a pan when you heat it up very gradually. Before the frog knows it, he has been fried to death.

“The kid who steals from the cash register, the bookkeeper who changes the entries, the CEO even who uses corporate prequisites for personal use such as travelling in company jets to vacation destinations,” McKay says.

The author identifies a “honesty-to-fraud continuum” where someone can slide down from the laudable practice of honesty and then sink to the depths of the despicable offense of fraud. He reminds executives of warning signs when petty dishonesty is tolerated, which will thus grow slowly but surely to the level and magnitude of plunder.

To prevent such an ethical almost imperceptible downslide, the author advises that the man/woman of integrity can really be consistently honest if he/she has the “skills for personal integrity.”  He cites the first skill:  “the skill and will of inquiry” – meaning, you don’t take things at their face value: probe and investigate.

Convey the truth

The second skill is the “ability to convey the truth.” Do not hide the truth with euphemisms like “customized intelligence” when you are spying. You do not hide “deceit” with a word like “spin.” You do not use “downsize” when you mean “layoff.”

“Bribery” is the next interesting subject in the book. The author is categorical this time: “No one can accept a favor or gift of kindness, no matter how small, from another person without incurring an obligation.” In plain words, McKay is saying: If you accept a bribe, you are compelled to “deliver the goods,” against the interest of others.

On the whole, this “integrity book” is completely honest about questions on ethics in our everyday existence and transactions. The author encourages readers to work on building or restoring integrity in their lives and in the organizations they lead.  It surely cannot be achieved overnight.

“Integrity is not like gold that when found and locked safely in a treasure chest will last forever,” he points out.  This book has an abundance of stories and ideas, and the reader might have an overload. My advice is pick up nuggets along the way – and when you feel the urge to probe deeper, go back to the ruminations of the Ethics professor.

Thankfully, McKay concludes his discourse well. “Integrity,” he says, “is more like a delicate gardenia; unless it is continually protected, watered, weeded, and fertilized, its beautiful leaves will turn brown, die, fall off, and cease to fill the eye with beauty and the world with fragrance.”

When you are tempted to tamper with a car’s odometer or to pad your expense account, go for the beautiful consistency of honesty. Then it becomes a habit –and, finally, a lifestyle.

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