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Making
things happen - with integrity. A weekly CyberMemo designed to keep you on task. Monday December 30, 2002 Volume IV Number 52 |
FOCUS - Whistle Blowers
It is, I suppose, intended to be a commentary on our era when TIME Magazine comes to the end of 2002 and names three Persons of the Year, commending them all as “Whistle Blowers.” The role the three played in a year of turmoil and upheaval, seems on the surface an odd distinction. Generally, we do not elevate the snitch, the stooge, the tattle-tale, to the status of national hero. Most of us consider the informer to be something less than admirable. He/she is a traitor. A turncoat. He consorts with the enemy. He seems more worthy of condemnation than praise.
But 2002 was an unusual year.
You might say that 9/11/2001 forced us to take our excesses seriously. We were newbies, forging into the unknown, entering the dawn of a brand new millennium. We had this haunting awareness that our newfound technologies were highly overrated. Overvalued. Predictions of a new era of prosperity and creature-comforts and ease and affluence were seductive enough, but somehow seemed hollow. We couldn’t decide on a President. We vacated our obsession for the latest computer technologies. (By the end of the year 2000, everyone had a fresh upgrade.) We were living off the fat of the land. Stock values were high, unemployment low, governments enjoyed record surpluses. It seemed the boom times would never end.
But something happens in human nature when times are good. We lose the edge. We aren’t hungry anymore. We don’t train. We don’t dream. The dream’s already realized, so what’s left? Emerson used the label “conservative” over one hundred and fifty years ago, but it had little to do with political theory. His conservative was not aligned with a partisan group or political faction. A conservative for Emerson is one who has reached the pinnacle; already attained success. One whose only real concern is to protect the assets he’s accumulated and the position of high status he’s attained. One who has given up on innovation and risk and invention. A conservative in Emerson’s world is in retreat. He has given up on the Great Advance. His conservative values preservation above all else. He is regressive, not progressive. And so he wrote, “Men are conservatives when they are least vigorous, or when they are most luxurious. They are conservatives after dinner.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
By Emerson’s definition, as we closed out the previous millennium on December 31st, 1999, the world as we knew it was fat and happy, reclining after the all-you-can-eat banquet of the 1990s decade. We became least vigorous. Most luxurious.
We quit working. We took early retirement (even though we showed up at the office). We didn’t need to work. The storehouse was full. The bins brimming. The tanks overflowing. The reserves at a high watermark.
We were, with reason, proud.
Like King Midas, everything we touched turned to gold. The ancient King of Greek mythology was granted a single wish (by Dionysus) – that everything he touched would become lustrous solid gold. It betrayed the belief that money (wealth) can solve every problem of the kingdom. With a limitless supply, Midas would become a great king, his subjects grateful and happy. Not long afterward, the realization of this grandest fantasy became a nightmarish curse. When he reached out to smell a rose, it turned to cold hard metal; gleaming and radiant, but the fragrance and rich color of the rose, gone. When he reached out to take his dinner, the appetizing plate and the steaming gourmet feast set upon it disappeared into a heavy bright golden sculpture, inedible. You get the idea. Midas returned to Dionysus and recanted, pleading, disavowing his wish. Dionysus took pity and relieved Midas of his terrible burden, recognizing that greed had prompted it in the first place. And the kingdom was spared, saved from a wonderful blessing that was really a terrible curse.
King Solomon studied wisdom and he recorded his findings. Pride is a feeling of superiority. It is a hideous kind of arrogance. A self-serving conceit. (This definition is to be distinguished from a healthy pride, e.g. pride in one’s craftsmanship.) Long ago, in an entirely different time, Solomon stumbled across a timeless truth: this kind of pride is a prelude to destruction. A “haughty spirit,” or condescending attitude, is a set-up for taking a fall.
As a nation, the excesses that came to an end in 2001 became a set-up for the house-cleaning of 2002.
And TIME Magazine paid tribute to three women who played a pivotal role in exposing the abuses - the violation of trust, the exploitation of position, the contempt for the rules of fair business practices and generally accepted accounting principles, the heady temptations of wealth and power – that damaged some of our highest profile institutions.
They are now and will forever be known as Whistle Blowers.
* * * * * * * *
The three women confess that they are uncomfortable with the recognition. None of them feel like heroes. All of them believe they were simply doing their job. They were paid to watch the store, and that’s what they did. It was assumed that they would report irregularities or danger signs. They would exercise their professional judgment, and tell it as they saw it.
They embraced traditional American values about honesty and integrity. They understood that sometimes, people are uncomfortable with the truth, and will resist, cover up, maybe even retaliate. But those values taught them to expect opposition when truth and right are on the line. So they were not surprised, only disappointed, when they encountered outright suppression.
Cynthia Cooper discovered
that, with the blessing of accounting firm and auditors Arthur Anderson,
WorldCom capitalized millions of dollars of fees that should have been
expensed. She knew instinctively that this improper posting enhanced the
bottom line, but not until later did she comprehend the magnitude of the
misrepresentation. The fakery turned a multi-billion dollar loss into a hefty
profit, pleasing Wall Street analysts and stockholders, but in reality, lit the
fuse on a time-bomb certain to destroy the company. Attorney Colleen Rowley,
FBI agent, uncovered documents that proved that agents were closely watching
Zacarias Moussoui, a French Morrocan who took flying lessons and boasted about
his desire to fly a 747, but put aside their watch because of bureaucratic red
tape. The same man, since 9/11, is on trial as a co-conspirator in the
attacks. The FBI was clearly on the trail of the terrorists, but they let it
go. (How might things have been different had the FBI uncovered the plot?)
Rowley wrote a thirteen page memo to her superior; it got leaked to the press.
And now, it is the basis for a complete review of FBI policies and procedures,
not to mention a Congressional inquiry. Sherron Watkins, like Cooper, was an
accountant doing an internal review of her employer Enron when she discovered
that many of the liabilities of partnerships created by Enron executives (in
supposedly unrelated business ventures) had been secured by Enron stock. She
knew instinctively that this is an SEC violation, and worse, diminished the
corporation’s net-worth, and thereby stock value. Later, as those business
ventures failed in the recession of 2001 and 2002, Wall Street realized that
Enron executives had cleverly disguised the fact that Enron was indeed
bankrupt. Watkins took her case to Chairman Kenneth Lay, who understood that
wiz-kid CEO Jeffrey Skilling might well have single-handedly destroyed one of
the largest corporate enterprises in the world. But Mr. Lay hedged. Watkins
stood firm, all the way to the floor of Congress.
For their courage and determination and professionalism under pressure, TIME has named the three as 2002 Persons of the Year.
When they finally met for the first time, in preparation for the cover story, they learned they had a great deal in common. The first observation is the easy one. They are all three women, women who emerged as people of influence in the rough and tumble world of the corporate boardroom. The other two points of commonality suggest something, but what that might be is unclear: They are all first-borns. They are all primary bread-winners. While they are all married with children, their husbands are all stay-at-home dads.
In years past, I’ve been thrown off balance by TIME’s year-end choice. This year is no exception. On first look, I shook my head in disbelief at TIME’s announcement. But on reflection, I see some interesting lessons for us all.
Ordinary people matter. Integrity matters. Determination matters. Honesty matters. Diligence matters. There is a place for a relentless pursuit of truth.
The three women are all, in their own way, women of faith. Sherron Watkins, when she testified in a Senate hearing on Capital Hill before inquisitive Senators and a full bank of cameras and microphones, had her Presbyterian pastor seated in the row behind her, just for moral support.
And that may well be the stuff that holds great our system together.
Let these value go, and we all suffer.
* * * * * * * *
It’s the final Monday morning of 2002. You are a leader.
Sometimes, compromise is required. Sometimes, compromise violates something far more valuable than making the deal. We leaders are called upon to make those judgments. It’s rarely easy.
We almost snicker now at the thought of those easy days when it all seemed to happen in spite of us. They were naïve days. Silly days. Now, we are fully aware: if we are to fulfill the promise of 2003, it will not be in spite of us, but rather, because of us.
The three Whistle Blowers set the pace - not for retribution or revenge or self-righteous indignation. Instead, they set the pace for hard work and deliberate effort.
What is the reward? It’s more than money.
King Midas learned it the hard way. As did King Solomon. As do we.
A blind self-serving pride is in itself a danger sign.
Humble service to the things that matter most, well, that’s what brings the best rewards:
A good night’s sleep.
Family who draw near.
Energy for the day.
Hope for tomorrow.
May your 2003 bring them all.
Posted in Valley Center, California
© Copyright Kenneth E. Kemp 2002
Special Thanks to my good friend David Belcher, owner of Rhino Media Group and creator of WisdomGram
LeaderFOCUS is a service of Good Stewardship Associates
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