Being Honest in the Little Things
Dear Champions,
The short excerpt is from Dave Ramsey's book Financial Peace, and the Scripture is Luke 16:10 "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much."
Doug Parsons tells an interesting story about character. One of the richest and most powerful men in America owned a huge company that employed thousands of people. This gentleman pointed out an up-and-coming low-level manager to his upper-level staff. This young man worked very hard and was very good at his management position. The owner noticed the young man because of his work ethic and talent and commented that someday this young man would be a regional manager long before his time. Sure enough, the young man continued to work hard and was promoted up through the ranks to the point that the next promotion was to be regional manager. When the owner became aware that this promotion was to be made, he decided to fly down and personally give that young man the promotion over lunch.
The big day arrived and the owner flew in to take the young man to lunch. But as the young man and the owner were going through the cafeteria-style line for lunch, the owner noticed the young man very deliberately hide a one-cent pat of butter under his roll so as not to be charged for it. The lunch went fine-except that no promotion was given-and when the owner returned to his offices he had the young man fired. Not only did the young man miss a several-hundred-thousand-dollar-a-year position, he even lost his job.
A close friend of mine suggested that such an extreme action was a bit severe. Maybe he wanted the warmth of the roll to warm the butter, making it easy to spread. Whatever the other circumstances surrounding the story, the point is that the owner understood that the young man's character flaw of dishonesty would be magnified under pressure.
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining
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