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What Do You Do When No One is Watching? A Lesson in Integrity

Guest post by: Michael O'Grady

Article Overview: In business, when you consistently choose to do the right thing by your customers, there are more rewards beyond just a more business. Your integrity is the root from which your character, your intentions and your competence grows, leading you to the results you see in all aspects of your life.

What Do You Do When No One is Watching? A Lesson in Integrity

Recently, a Yankees game was rained out. They were scheduled to play the Tampa Bay Rays while Derek Jeter was just 2 hits away from getting his historical 3000th hit. A monumental task in major league baseball.

As I flipped through the television channels for something else to watch I came across a show on the ABC network,“What would you do?” The premise of the show is to stage controversial social encounters to see who would do the right thing by other people. A pregnant woman binging on hard liquor, a man in a bar getting mysterious powder dumped into his drink, a bike being stolen in a busy park. The hidden cameras in these actor-staged scenes revealed a lot about integrity, character and what people do when others aren’t watching.

It was shocking to watch just how many bystanders chose not to do the right thing, to look away, or in some cases, even knowingly participate in a crime. What does that say about strength of character and integrity?



When you sell to people and you consistently choose to do the right thing by your customers, there are more rewards beyond just a closed sale. Your integrity is the root from which your character, your intentions and your competence grows, leading you to the results you see in your life.

I was recently at a customers home in Union, New Jersey. The Hispanic couple was born and raised in the Bronx. I closed the job and during my post-close evaluation, they told me, “You’re the only sales person we’ve met that didn’t treat us like we had no money”.

In fact, they did have money to make the purchase. The man works for a large corporation in Manhattan and his wife is a nurse at a hospital in the Bronx. Both are the first in their families to move out of the Bronx and own a home.

Forget about sales for a minute. As far as right and wrong go, it was disappointing to hear how these two kind, smart, driven people were treated by other sales people.

How do you treat customers when no one is watching? What if there were hidden cameras on you all day and night long? Would your behavior and actions be consistent? Would you make good decisions regardless of whose watching? This would be a good measure of your integrity, the strength of your character and the kind of results you\\\'ll see in your sales career.

Speaking of people with integrity - and the results to prove it - you might know that Derek Jeter, #2 on the Yankees, did get his 3000th hit. Did you know it was during the 2nd game of the series, during his 2nd at bat of the game, at 2pm on the button? It was a home run, only the 2nd player in baseball history to get his 3000th hit with a home run. I think I know what Derek Jeter does when no one is watching.

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Article Tags: business ethics, business integrity, sales psychology



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Re: What Do You Think Of My Breaking News Video? - Hi Zac, I agree with Mal. I think it is very effective and not too hyped either. Watching the newsreader I almost felt as if I was watching the equivalent of a press release. Good luck with it! DH
Re: Celebrity Apprentice - [quote="Evan":2fj2rm0l]Thanks for the heads-up Kevin. I didn't even realize the new season was starting! Looks like they need to do some more promotion! I've got a Mastermind Group Thursday night but will hopefully catch a rerun later on in the evening![/quote:2fj2rm0l] I've never watched any of these Apprentice shows. Watching someone tell other people bluntly, "You're fired," has never appealed... Is it really possible to [i:2fj2rm0l]learn [/i:2fj2rm0l]anything from watching this show?
Dan Kennedy Marketing Methods - We haven't sent out the physical letter yet as the person owning the list wanted to make modifications to the letter that we knew would work well but the List owner had a point - it didn't reflect her personality so her clients would know it didn't come from her. Lesson learned for me. We're back to the drawing board with the list owner more involved in the development of the letter and emails. I should have known better being a Business Analyst in my day job that you never leave the end-user out. So Evan we haven't had the opportunity to test any of it yet but it's been a fun process for me to stand back and look at.
Re: The Celebrity Apprentice Finale - Well, the results are in and Piers is The Celebrity Apprentice. I know Piers raised more money than Trace and I know this was a race for raising money for charity, but I'm still disappointed with the ethics that Piers used in order to win. I like how Trump's son asked Piers something along the line if Piers would have won if Trace would have had as impressive of a roladex. I also like how Trump's daughter asked if he would have raised as much money if he had actually been nice. Personally, I would enjoy working with Trace and be able to trust him on my team. I'm not sure I would trust Piers and this means I would not prefer to partner with him. Integrity is incredibly important to me. I think a values based model in business is where we need to head as a society. If this doesn't happen, the results will be less than savory. I'm not sure I like the message this show has portrayed.
Re: Disney to refund Baby Einstein DVDs for Marketing Blunder - Hi Kevin, I have found television and especially DVDs to be excellent sources of stimulation and education for my daughter. The opinion that exposing kids to tv is always harmful is a corruption of the sensible opinion that tv and DVDs should be used with discretion. If I remember rightly, my daughter had gone through a whole library of the Japanese Anpan Man DVDs, Winnie the Pooh and - this was my choice! - Tom and Jerry to name a few. She was also keen on the Pink Panther cartoon, but I was less keen on it because of the lack of dialogue (Okay, Tom and Jerry doesn't have much, but a lot more than the Pink Panther...). Watching stuff on tv did a lot to help my develop her English as well as Japanese language skills at exactly the age when you want that to start happening (er, "before they are two"). When I read the comments on the report, I realized that the fuss may have been about children not turning into geniuses because they were being left in front of the tv to watch the DVDs without any adult supervision. I doubt that was what Disney intended. I trust all those who receive refunds from Disney will feel ashamed enough to donate the cash to children's charities, and while they are at it, they might as well donate the DVDs to a charity shop.


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