| When Merriam-Webster assembled their list of most | | | | management spun off the compliance program and |
| searched definitions for 2005, they could easily | | | | left the scorecard and training program under my |
| reason why certain words would make the list. | | | | responsibility while a different team was chosen to |
| Levee, tsunami, filibuster, and refugee were tied to | | | | automate and expand the compliance program. As it |
| events during the year. Even insipid was explainable | | | | grew to a nine figure income stream, my continued |
| due to the timing of the hits and comments made by | | | | training and consulting duties solidified vendor |
| Simon Cowell of wannabe singers during American | | | | thoughts that it was still my program.Knowing what I |
| Idol. Yet one word, the top word, seemed to be | | | | know in hindsight, integrity would have taken me |
| more wide-spread than caused by a single event. The | | | | down a different road.So it is with integrity. People |
| word: Integrity.More people searched for the | | | | do not judge your integrity by motives or intensions. |
| definition of integrity than any other word during the | | | | They discern your integrity by outcomes.My |
| year. The searchers were potentially hungering for | | | | experience, exhaustive research, and interviews with |
| the days when one's words coincided with their | | | | experts, I developed a concept I call Trust Ball (TM) , |
| actions under an umbrella of honesty and morality. | | | | a vivid correlation of integrity, honesty, and trust built |
| There was a day when one could trust their | | | | on the game of baseball. It follows a simple notion |
| supervisor to have concern for their interests and for | | | | that trust is disciplined game with procedures and |
| the heads of the organization to be concerned about | | | | rules that make it easier to follow and understand. |
| the future of the people working for them. You could | | | | Just as in baseball, you get to go straight to the |
| work for a company your entire life and depend on | | | | batter's box when you first encounter a new |
| them in retirement.Yet in 2005 we saw cuts in | | | | individual or team. If your initial impression conveys |
| pensions for retirees, the threat of double digit pay | | | | honesty, integrity, and trust, you get to move to |
| cuts, and hefty benefit reductions for workers | | | | first base. Specific attitudes and actions will allow you |
| across industries and supply channels. Even former | | | | to move around the bases, one at a time, until you |
| lifelong employers like Ford, Sears, GM, Kmart, and | | | | eventually score a home run. If at any time you |
| others announced new layoffs while upper | | | | break one of the tenets of trust, it constitutes an |
| management seemed oblivious to the hardships | | | | out and you must return to the dugout. No longer |
| created for their employees.For Baby-Boomers, | | | | can you simply go to the batter's box, from this |
| integrity in the business world seems to have | | | | point on you must make a stop at the on-deck circle |
| vanished - evaporated from a glass once | | | | before you can get back into the game.Five |
| half-full.People want to trust their customers, | | | | Important QuestionsWhen you are faced with a new |
| employees, and employers. At the same time | | | | situation, policy, procedure, or opportunity (which I'll |
| employee theft is on the rise, pension funds are | | | | refer to singularly as an "event") ask yourself these |
| being raided, and customers are increasingly treated | | | | questions:1. How does this event apply to my |
| as interruptions.Integrity slips away quietly even | | | | personal belief system?2. How will others view this in |
| under the loud cries of those that inevitably see it | | | | hindsight when the event is over?3. If something |
| happening. Customers complaints silenced by uncaring | | | | goes wrong or is changed/expanded/shifted in |
| frontline employees or deaf managers and owners. | | | | mid-stream, how will others in hindsight view me?4. |
| Leaders isolated from the frontlines of the | | | | What can I do in advance to prevent a negative |
| operations. Employees seeing owners buying beautiful | | | | impression of my integrity and honesty when the |
| new cars and homes while payroll and benefit | | | | event is occurring and when it is completed?5. Is the |
| deductions are reducing discretionary income. A Life | | | | price worth it?Integrity is an essential leadership |
| Lesson from Kmart Failed integrity is often the result | | | | quality. What are you doing in your day to destroy |
| of good intentions derailed by business needs. While | | | | trust? Are your words consistent with your actions? |
| working at Kmart in the mid-1990s there was heavy | | | | Do you catch others off guard or do they know |
| investor pressure to the number of out-of-stock | | | | what to expect from you? Master integrity and you |
| items in the stores. Wall Street was bitterly | | | | will build relationships stronger and faster than you |
| complaining about Kmart's slumping market share, | | | | ever imagined possible.Rick Weaver is an |
| blaming the empty store shelves as a customer | | | | accomplished business executive with a wealth of |
| turn-off. Anderson Consulting had been brought in to | | | | experience in retail, market analysis, supply chain |
| assist in determining a way to get the merchandise | | | | enhancement, project management, team building, |
| on the shelves, especially during ads. At first the | | | | and process improvement. Building on a strong retail |
| program had noble intentions.A vendor report card | | | | background, Rick moved to full supply-chain |
| would show each manufacturer which shipments | | | | involvement, working with hundreds of companies to |
| were late so that supply chain impediments could be | | | | improve sales, processes, and bottom-line results.As |
| identified and eliminated. Unfortunately red ink was | | | | Rick's interaction in varied industries expanded, he |
| beginning to show on initial balance sheets and the | | | | became troubled as he increasingly noticed that |
| scorecard became a way to generate revenue | | | | people and companies had untapped or unfocused |
| through penalties. Kmart's president at the time had | | | | talent.Coupled with Rick's passion for training and |
| used the same tactic to save a supermarket chain ad | | | | development, popular style of interactive workshops |
| previously led from almost certain bankruptcy. Before | | | | and seminars, and strong desire for continuous |
| long the program was assigned huge income goals | | | | improvement, he founded Max Impact Corporation to |
| which destroyed many longtime vendor | | | | be singularly focused on helping individuals and |
| relationships.As the manager of vendor development, | | | | organizations achieve high performance.Rick is a |
| I had been the most visible executive on the | | | | popular speaker at seminars, workshops, and |
| program in its early days, teaching vendors how to | | | | conferences. He has spoken in 43 states, including |
| use the scorecard. As pressures built to generate | | | | Alaska and Hawaii, and in Canada and Puerto Rico. He |
| revenue from the scorecard through vendor fines, I | | | | is available to speak at groups of all sizes. |
| resisted. As the face of the scorecard, upper | | | | |