When competitors cheat, it's often tempting to do likewise. But getting your hands dirty destroys your ability to use the law in your favor. The system takes time to work, and in the meantime it's frustrating to watch others gain advantage by cutting corners. Remind yourself that they will get what's coming to them, and the longer it takes, the more consequences will come. You can use the system make things right as long as you have nothing to hide. Let's see how this worked for Tom, Dick, and Harry, ace international sales reps at Digital Widget.
Tom pays kickbacks to foreign buyers that demand it. He disguises corrupt payments so skillfully that he's sure he won't get caught. He lands huge deals, making Dick and Harry's track record look puny.
Dick and Harry's foreign buyers press for kickbacks too. Dick resisted by focusing on other buyers. But now that he's lagging behind, he fears the boss will penalize him. He feels penalized at home too because it takes so much time to make sales the honest way. Dick wonders if he shouldn't just "respect the culture" when foreign buyers demand bribes.
All it would take is a wink and a nod, Dick muses. The experts would set up the back channels and a big chunk of change would transfer from the buyer's employer to the buyer's secret bank account. Who am I to judge, Dick tells himself. And why should Tom have a monopoly on the good life? So Dick winks and nods, and soon his sales quota is topped.
Harry feels pinched at work and home too. But he doesn't even consider paying bribes to foreign buyers. He values his ability to sleep at night more than anything else. Instead of dwelling in bitterness about the sales numbers of his rivals, he focuses on his own responsibilities. But he looks and listens.
Digital Widget's annual sales training rolls around, and speeches are made about company ethics. Tom, Dick and Harry listen to the speeches and retreat to the entertainment. Dick is worried about getting caught, and buys Tom an extra drink, hoping to throttle back the rivalry. Harry goes home early and reads the company ethics documents carefully.
Another year goes by. Tom is richer. Dick is tenser. Harry is savvier about the documentation of international revenues. When he hears the ethics speeches again, he understands them mechanically instead of dismissing them as rhetoric. He is able to assemble evidence that gets the attention of corporate officials.
In the end, Harry saves the company from what could have been a huge scandal with huge losses. New procedures are implemented to prevent the corrupt practices Tom had specialized in.
Soon, new corrupt practices will be pioneered by new Toms. New Dicks will jump on the bandwagon. And new Harrys will trust that a clean conscience is their most valuable career strategy.
Harry snitched on two colleagues, it's true, but he saved countless other colleagues from a corporate downfall. Snitching violates the ethic of the playground and the Mafia. But you want to go beyond playgrounds and organized crime, so you will interpret the rules for yourself instead of letting tough guys do it for you. The "everybody does it" indemnity is an illusion.
