I found the exception to the rule on Day one.
I once worked for a large corporation that touted itself as a people’s company. The owners were current and former management employees whom earned their shares by giving their loyalty and time to the job. The policy of promotion from within gave everyone the hope to enter management and go as far as their ambition and performance would take them. I worked my way from clerk to driver to supervisor when the opportunity for a managers job was presented to me and I seized it.
The district manager was a man named Jefferson D Clay. Clay was born in a little town on the Ohio River near the West Virginia and Kentucky border. His family never accepted the fact the Union defeated the Confederate States and he disliked Yankees.
Like most of the upper management, Clay worked his way up the ladder. The air delivery business started in the mid 1980’s to compete with Fred’s delivery company. The Cash Cow was busy developing a network and expanding exponentially each year. People were getting opportunities for promotions and relocations to fill job needs as they were created.
JD Clay helped establish the first central air operation. There were thousands of jobs created and JD was a superstar that could make the factory workers and farmers into wealthy businessmen upon his recommendation. He had the nickname Caesar’s Ghost because of the way he would sneak up on people and scare the devil out of them.
On the day of my promotion, Mr Clay called me to his office with my boss to have a formal swearing in ceremony. He made up an oath that I repeated after him to make it official. Then, he took me for a tour of the plant.
We walked around the building outside to view the many aircraft parked while waiting to be loaded. He explained his wishes for the short and long term goals. We then walked around inside until he found a part time supervisor. I saw Caesar’s ghost sneak up and make the young man chase his tail for the next twenty minutes. As we walked away, he had a huge smile on his face from the enjoyment of using his power to intimidate someone.
The last stop of the day was to sit with one of his buddies to talk about strange. Clay introduced me as a new manager and talked about the old days. There was a Holiday Inn that he frequented so much they named a conference room after him. After his interviews, he could get some strange. This new assignment left him wanting strange because he got it less often. I had never heard the term before that day but soon realized the connotation of the word strange.
I will never forget that day and the impression JD Clay made upon me. My concept of integrity had always been that integrity should include the total behavior of a person. Now I was forced to see some people believed there was business integrity vs. personal integrity. I maintain that integrity is the sum total of a person’s behavior and can not be compromised. You either have it or you don’t.
Please note this is a composite of a personality and no one named JD Clay was involved in this event.