General James Mattis on Ethical Standards
On August 4, 2017 General James Mattis, the United States’ Secretary of Defense sent the following memo to every member of the Department of Defense. Ethical behavior from our military’s leaders is expected by the public and by the military itself. General Mattis makes it clear how each officer, enlisted, and civilian personnel should behave as Leaders of Character (my words not his).
This guidance is true for the business and the family each of us lead as well. Read the following memo and evaluate your own character against this standard.
I admit, I have fallen short of this standard at times in my life. But I am inspired by the simplicity and the strength of General Mattis’ guidance to those he is responsible to lead.
What It Means to Be a Leader of Character
August 4, 2017
Subject: Ethical Standards for All Hands
Those entrusted by our nation with carrying out violence, those entrusted with the lives of our troops, and those entrusted with enormous sums of taxpayer money must set an honorable example in all we do.
I expect every member of the Department to play the ethical midfield. I need you to be aggressive and show initiative without running the ethical sidelines, where one misstep will have you out of bounds. I want our focus to be on the essence of ethical conduct: doing what is right at all times, regardless of the circumstances or whether anyone is watching.
To ensure each of us is ready to do what is right, without hesitation, when ethical dilemmas arise, we must train and prepare ourselves and our subordinates. Our prior reflection and our choice to live by an ethical code will reinforce what we stand for, so remain morally strong especially in the face of adversity.
Through our example and through coaching of all hands, we will ensure ethical standards are maintained. Never forget, our willingness to take the Oath of Office and to accept the associated responsibilities means that even citizens who have never met us trust us to do the right thing, never abusing our position nor looking the other way when we see something wrong.
I am proud to serve alongside you.
James N. Mattis
General Mattis’ Main Points
This blog has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with becoming Leaders of Character. General Mattis has laid out a framework for every member of the Department of Defense to follow.
Being a Leader of Character is not complicated. But it is hard.
Here are the Secretary of Defense’s main points:
- Leaders must set an honorable example.
- Leaders must avoid the ethical gray areas.
- Leaders do what is morally right in all circumstances.
- Leaders must train their people and prepare them to make these decisions as well.
- Leaders accepted the responsibility to lead ethically when they said yes to being a leader.
The Bottom Line:
This is not just a letter to people who work in and around our armed forces. It is a letter to all of us, and we should all take it to heart.
Some of you may read this and start pointing fingers at others. That’s a natural reaction but…
STOP IT!
Just pause and look in the mirror. We can’t control how others follow these five points. The only person we can control is ourselves. When we automatically begin to look at others before examining ourselves, we are running away from our own responsibility to learn and grow as leaders.
Now pause again and look in the mirror. What do you see? How have you been doing in following these standards?
Question:
How would the people you lead rate you on each of these five points?
Dave Anderson is coauthor of the Amazon Best-Seller Becoming a Leader of Character – Six Habits that Make or Break a Leader at Work and at Home with his father General James L. Anderson (USA Retired).
You can order Becoming a Leader of Character on Amazon by clicking here:
You can also find Becoming a Leader of Character at Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million and other retailers.
An inescapable fact is that the character of an organization/ industry/ technical community is largely a reflection of the character of its internal oversight and external oversight (including regulators), and, of course, vice versa . Competence, integrity, compliance, and transparency or their lack seldom exist on only one side of a principal-oversight interface . Principal-oversight interfaces can be internal, e.g., manufacturing-QA, or external, e.g., finance-outside auditing.
Observation: In order to be of high character in high hazard endeavors an organization is expected to have competence, integrity, compliance, and transparency and to be able to identify its own weaknesses in them.
Observation: The earlier non-reporting by persons who knew or should have known about the problem is always part of the causation of the eventual magnitude of the problem. Examples include the Flint (Michigan) Lead Contamination, the Takata Air Bags, the VW Emissions Cheating Software, the Peach Bottom Inattentiveness Episodes, and the Fat Leonard Naval Bribery Affair .
Quotation: Timothy J. Sloan, Wells Fargo’s chief, said, “To regain the trust we have lost, we must continue to be transparent with all our stakeholders and go beyond what has been asked of us by our regulators by reviewing all of our operations — leaving no stone unturned — so we can be confident we have done all that we can do to build a better, stronger Wells Fargo .”
Observation: Organizations, agencies, and individuals of weak character tend to seek out, be attracted to, attract, and connect with other entities of weak character as customers , suppliers, contractors, independent third party oversight and the like.
Quotation: “It is hard to dance with a skunk without picking up the smell.”-Bill Corcoran
Quotation: “It takes two to Tango.”-A song
Observation: Unintended lack of transparency is the essence of the lack of competence.
Observation: Purposeful lack of transparency is the essence of the lack of integrity.
Observation: The desire to look better than reality often seems to be behind the lack of character in organizations and agencies on opposite sides of interfaces.
Observation: Integrity is achieved when individuals, groups, and organizations do not falsify, fabricate, conceal, mislead, misrepresent, turn a blind eye, plagiarize, obfuscate, euphemize, or otherwise deceive intentionally or unintentionally and do not tolerate those who do. Integrity is achieved by owning up to shortfalls. The integrity of individuals reflects the integrity of their leaders.
Observation: When the gullible and the captured regulators accept investigation reports that do not address the extent to which the causation of the harm involved noncompliance with requirements or the inadequacy of those requirements they are displaying shortfalls in independence of character.
Quotation: “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”-Plato
Quotation: “If you don’t want it printed don’t let it happen.”-Aspen Daily News (newspaper)
Quotation: “I’m shocked, shocked to find that there is gambling going on here. ”-Captain Renault in the movie Casablanca.
Quotation: “If you see fraud and don’t say ‘fraud’, you are a fraud.”-Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Quotation: “Incentives undermine ethical motives.”-Economist Samuel Bowles
Observation: The 2016 Wells Fargo Account Fraud Case is a prime example of lack of character at all levels of the company in both line positions and oversight positions.
Quotation: “Whatever it takes .”-A license to kill?
Quotation: “If you’re famous enough the rules don’t apply.”-Maureen Dowd
Quotation: “It is a short step from ‘can do’ to ‘wrong do.’”-Bill Corcoran
Quotation: “Quis custodiet ipsos custodies?” -Juvenal (Roman poet-2nd Century CE) A modern translation is “Who will oversee the overseers?”
Observation: Morally corrupt organizations tend to be overseers, certifiers, evaluators, suppliers, customers, and partners of morally corrupt organizations.
Observation: Incompetent organizations tend to be tend to be overseers, certifiers, evaluators, suppliers, customers, and partners of incompetent organizations.
Quotation: “Birds of a feather flock together.”-Old saying
Quotation: “A company will be known by the companies it keeps.”-Bill Corcoran
Quotation: “A deal with the Devil is a devilish deal.”-Bill Corcoran
Quotation: “An organization’s de facto standard is the worst it just put up with.”-Bill Corcoran
Observation: Industries degrade public trust and confidence by repeatedly showing that they do not live up to what they say they live up to. This is especially troubling in high hazard industries such as nuclear power .
Observation: The Xcel Energy Cabin Creek Fatal Fire is among the tragic examples of insufficient character on the parts of both the purchaser organization and the contractor organization.
Observation: The Black Elk West Delta 32 Fatal Explosion indicated lack of character on the parts of both the purchaser organization and the contractor organization. The character of the hired investigation contractor could be in question as well .
Observation: The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Fire Recall indicates lack of character on both sides of multiple interfaces, reflecting serious questions involving competence, integrity, compliance, and transparency.
Observation: The demise of the Enron Corporation and its accounting auditor Arthur Andersen who knew about the financial shenanigans and did nothing illustrates lack of character on both sides of an interface.
Observation: The causation of the Crash of X-31 Experimental Fighter Jet included multiple instances of failure to speak up for safety , which included individuals from the pilot and chase pilot through mission observers. This relates to lapses in competence, process integrity, compliance, and transparency. (See the excellent video of the X-31 Crash Analysis on YouTube .)
Observation: The details of the 2016 Crash of LaMia Flight 2933 illustrate multiple character weaknesses by multiple entities including regulators, suppliers, and customers .
Quotation: “Those who go along to get along often do not live long.”-Bill Corcoran
Quotation: “Get good before you get cheap. The other way around is a formula for disaster.”-Bill Corcoran
Observation: The fact-based movies that explore the characters of respected organizations and positions include: “Sully ”, “Finest Hours ”, “The Big Short ”, “Deepwater Horizon ”, and “Spotlight .”
Observation: The deceptive Harvard research on the health impacts of sugar reflects on the character of both Harvard University and the sugar industry .
Lesson to be Learned (LTBL): It is a mistake to allow the lack of character on the other side of the interface to induce, justify, or promote a lack of character on the other side of the interface.
Recognized and Generally Accepted Good Investigation Practice (RAGAGIP): When character is part of causation, look for the earlier, better, cheaper, safer ways that the character flaws could have been detected and addressed.
Recognized and Generally Accepted Good Investigative Practice (RAGAGIP): Create a table of all of the harmful conditions, behaviors, actions, and inactions that 1) involve competence and/or integrity and 2) were part of the causation.