Be Ethical. Be Honest. Do What You Say You Are Going to Do.

Barbara Jordan was my favorite teacher at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. She was a Texas senator, U.S. congresswoman, and a distinguished professor. Her class on political values and ethics was inspiring. It was her hope that “participation in this course will enable you to develop a clearer notion of your personal ethics…”

The questions for discussion were fundamental: What is the nature of man? Are humans inherently good or inherently evil?

We read widely and discussed the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, deTocqueville’s “Democracy in America,” Rousseau’s “The Social Contract,” Aristotle’s “Ethics,” the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Articles of Impeachment of Richard Nixon, and Rawls’ “Theory of Justice.”

I’ll never forget the class when she pounded her fist on a copy of Rawls’ “Theory of Justice” and thundered this question to me: “Brad, what IS justice?!?”

She wanted us to become ethically sensitive to our own—and to other’s—behavior. Her definition of ethical behavior is simple: “…being honest, telling the truth, and doing what you said you were going to do.”

We all have worked with people who are inherently evil and who are comfortable with not telling the truth. You cannot fight them in kind because they are very good at what they have learned to do. Non-violence is the best course of action. We have to fight evil with the truth, courage, fairness, and yes, even kindness.

One time, a sales rep tried to get one of my directors to approve a contract knowing they did not have the authority to do so. I reported this ethical lapse to his company and he was justly fired.

Large organizations can also become comfortable with not telling the truth and not doing what they say they would do. One company did not assign the proposed personnel for our project—not one. Turns out that these resources were already dedicated to another client. Later the same company tried to bill us for work that had not yet started. Soon after, the company was dismissed.

Be ethical. Be honest. Tell the truth. Do what you say you are going to do. Thank you for this simple creed Professor Jordan.