In a world of corporate scandals and financial meltdowns, the integrity of leadership is currently being called into question more than ever in the history of US industry. Traits once thought to be the keystones of proper business conduct have been sacrificed at the altar of corporate greed. So, where have we strayed and for what reasons?

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Leadership Integrity - Essential for Business Survival
2008-10-22 15:10:55 by Dan English
In a world of corporate scandals and financial meltdowns, the integrity of
leadership is currently being called into question more than ever in the history of
US industry. Traits once thought to be the keystones of proper business
conduct have been sacrificed at the altar of corporate greed.
So, where have we strayed and for what reasons?
People First?
Starting with those now seemingly forgotten character basics, today’s leaders
have mistakenly substituted their own short-term personal good for the long-
term common good. The points appear to have been turned around on
themselves. It’s no longer a question of what’s right for the customer is what’s
right for the company. It’s no longer an issue of a multi-year plan of patience
and steady progress. Instead, it’s become a question of what’s right for next
quarter’s shareholder report. It’s become a question of which action items and report slants return the most
lucrative corporate bonuses at year’s end.
In addition to the blatant selfishness that now pervades our corporate and private elite, today’s leaders have
also confused the concepts of wealth and humanity. Executives no longer have a compassionate attitude
toward nor aptitude for recognition of the human aspect of their business. Instead, they look past the all-
important ingredients of their company’s success to the incidental results of profit potential. The days of
individual identity and contribution to the greater good of the company have been replaced with a cost-
competitive arena for simply filling a job role.
Short-sighted?
While these short-sighted, self-serving, careless attitudes have definitely contributed to the sliding scale by
which we measure todayís business leaders, the most disturbing trait that has arisen from the management
wastelands of the last half-century is the self-righteous sense of entitlement. Top professionals live lavish
lifestyles, greedily accepting luxuries and putting themselves on display without shame or explanation.
Always on the take, their economic and societal burden is then borne by constituents and co-workers in an
out-of-sight, out-of-mind manner that is reckless and demeaning.
Avoiding Accountability?
What is most amazing about the declining values and questionable characteristics of today’s 7-figure
leadership is the personal indemnity expressed at the first sign of trouble. One might assume that the
material rewards commonly lavished upon our managing bodies would at the very least buy the rest of us
some shred of accountability regarding their actions. The reality is quite the opposite however. Corporate
helmsmen invest a portion of their sizable earnings in cunning legal representation that provides them with
incentives rather than investigations, rewards rather than rebuffs. Today’s crafty corporate leaders are
actually walking away from legal and financial catastrophes of their own making with lucrative “golden
parachutes” and society interventions.
Having considered a few of the contributing factors to our falling, failing corporate captains, we must seek to
find the deeper cause. While the behavior of America’s business leaders is not excusable by any means, it
appears to be mirroring the reflection of our “me first”, glitz and glamour society.
The Monster of Materialism
As a result of our own industrial success, we have, as a country, succumbed to the fruits of our labor,
transparent and temporary as they may be. What was once the simple subsistence of our daily bread has
been revolutionized into the finest of wealth and waste who opulence has been plastered on the front cover
of glossy magazines and cabled onto high-definition 60″ flat screen televisions. Everywhere we turn, the
individual is “consumerized”, reduced to the lowest common denominator of our purchasing potential and
buying habits. In short, we have submitted ourselves to the concept that wealth is the greatest success and
existence that we might know.
Considering this truth, we might then realize that business administrators have merely become a reality of

2. our own making. The material has been prized over the spiritual, over the personal in these exemplary
character studies of excess. Theirs is an existence based on the concepts and edicts that our community
has been enforcing.
Call for Leadership Integrity
Regardless of the contributing factors and the underlying causes, the time has come for business leaders in
this country to grow beyond the narrowness of a devolutionary world view. The time has come for our
corporate captains to take responsibility for the direction of the ships they are steering. The time has come
for America’s executives to return to the moral and humane traits that truly advance business. And, in the
process, they might serve as examples that pull their co-workers to a greater future indeed.
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