October 8, 2024
by Stephen T. Messenger
As a young Army officer, I was once assigned as an investigator for a crate of stolen sunglasses. While not quite a high-profile crime, I was young and felt pretty important trying to solve a case of government larceny. All those years of watching Scooby Doo as a kid were about to pay off!
Everyone around me knew I was trying to solve this felony and casually watched with interest. After an exhaustive investigating and grilling witnesses over a few days, I finally found our culprit. It was a young soldier a few platoons over who fessed up to the crime.
Telling the tale of my heroic detective skills to the onlookers, one of them casually dropped this tidbit: “Yeah, I knew he did it last week. He offered me some of the sunglasses when he stole them.”
I almost lost my mind. This guy watched me investigate (apparently not as exhaustively as I thought) for days and could have told me who did it from the beginning. Yet, he chose to keep it hidden and underground, protecting his fellow soldier but hiding the truth from me.
I knew the theft violated organizational values, but I couldn’t believe this other person covered it up for so long. I just assumed that we all had the same value system and would help each other out.
When trying to serve without a hint, sniff, or whiff of impropriety, we have to remember that not everyone is aiming for the same goal. If every single one of us strived for perfection, we’d all hold each other accountable to be the best version of our ethical selves. But that’s not the case.
We all were raised with different values. Very few people come to complete stops at every stop sign, ask others to keep them accountable for their values, and hold others responsible for ethical mistakes. We must be aware that everyone is at a different stage of their ethical journey, and our job is to make incremental cultural improvements.
George Washington’s Fallible Army
In this unproven account but widely told in most elementary schools, George Washington as a young lad used his new hatchet to chop down one of the family’s cherry trees. When confronted by his father, Washington immediately confessed. His dad gave him a hug and told him that honesty was worth more than 1,000 of those trees.
While most likely fictional, the story is meant to impress on us of Washington’s high ethical standards. As General of the Continental Army, he is known for his soldiering with high professionalism and morals. His army, on the other hand, not so much…
Our most optimistic view of the Army that beat back the British has them as brave patriots who fought for freedom and the American way of life; however, this was an idealistic way of seeing them. The realities of war and the brutality of soldiering in the 1700’s drove many men to crime.
Problems were persistent such as being absent without leave, insubordination, and enlisting in multiple units to collect double or triple pay. I would imagine one even stole a crate of sunglasses!
Our schoolbooks lead us to believe soldiers were fighting for their freedom, but many left after their first enlistment contract and were not in it to win a new country. In fact, many deserted before their time was completed. They abandoned the Army and the cause.
George Washington’s high values were not always aligned with his soldiers. At times, Washington was incredulous about the lack of discipline, but he and his men were two very different people. Washington was from a high-class family and the soldiers were mostly laborers.
It was not an all-volunteer army. In many places, the militia was mandatory for males of certain ages, and nationally Congress established soldier quotas each State must provide to the Continental Army. Fighting, gambling, and drunkenness were not surprising. What was shocking to George Washington was commonplace to many soldiers.
General Washington’s solution was to implement corporal punishment. The most common method was flogging, but he established several tools to keep his men in line. Ultimately, Washington attempted to keep order through harsh penalties enacted upon his soldiers. A little extreme for our day.
Values Mismatch
Similar to the Continental Army, all organizations experience a values mismatch. If we as the leader are attempting to be above reproach, that’s great! But don’t expect everyone else to emulate us. What we find unacceptable, they may find ordinary. Profanity, drunkenness at home, gambling off duty, bending the truth, or unfaithfulness are all legal, but should be frowned upon as a professional.
Our people’s values may or may not line up with ours. We need a plan to mitigate this.
1. Clearly Articulate Organizational Values. In the Army, it’s pretty clear. There are seven Army Values to abide by: loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honesty, integrity, and personal courage. West Point has the Cadet Honor Code which states, “I will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.” The Non-commissioned Officers Creed says, “I will not compromise my integrity, nor my moral courage.”
There are sayings everywhere to uphold the highest standards. In any organization, we need to articulate early and often what those values are to ensure everyone knows the standard.
2. Encourage Picking Up Trash. I have a habit whenever I see trash on the ground to pick it up and throw it away. If I don’t do it, who will? It’s the same when we see an ethical violation. If we don’t make an on-the-spot correction, who will? We need to foster an environment that encourages others, especially peers, to correct ethical mistakes.
We’re probably not seeing drunkenness, fighting, and desertion in our ranks, but correcting smaller, ethical lapses in a professional manner is a cultural shift we need to teach.
3. Raise the Ethical Climate. George Washington did this to the extreme. In our organization, we have to be the ones to raise the standard without flogging. We will never be perfect as we all make mistakes, but talking about morality, holding others accountable, demonstrating what right looks like, and upping everyone’s game is critical to ethical success.
Acknowledge where we’re at, set a goal to where we’re going, and constantly take steps to raise the ethical climate.
It’s a Long Game
This will take time, and we have to pick and choose our battles. But with constant focus, we can acknowledge that we are all at different stages of our ethical journey, professionally take action to improve, and mentor others to be a better version of themselves.
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This series is part of our BRAG+1 Leadership Philosophy. If you’re just joining us, start from the beginning on 16 January: A Team to BRAG about and continue from there:
Boots: Put Boots on the Ground
Regimentals: Place Service over Self
Armor: Be Resilient to Life’s Attacks
Gun: Close with and Destroy the Enemy
+1 (Belt): Not a Hint, Sniff, nor Whiff of Impropriety
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