Trust and Character Matter

Every business or organizational entity should be able to put their trust in the people they employ, work with and represent them. Their character, integrity and ethics matter. If they fail to vet these people properly they put their company reputation and their financial future at risk. Responsible entities carefully vet those they hire or represent them, but this is not always the case due to insufficient internal processes, oversight, falsification of records, and lack of due diligence in those they put their faith in. No one can guarantee those they trust are worthy, so checks and balances should be instituted to weed out bad actors to the best of their ability.

Many large Silicon Valley firms do an exhaustive interviewing and vetting process before hiring staff or work with firms representing them. This includes an assessment of their hard skill set to their fit with the company’s soft skills, such as being a team player, fitting the company values, culture and trust. Personality tests are but one step in this process. Multiple interviews by various people in the company serves to get past ones interviewing veneer and this process can take up to a dozen sessions and background checks before making a job offer or engaging with a third party.

Here are some examples where the process fell down resulting in loss of reputation and monetarily

1. A client had engaged with a firm under an annual contract which they tried to abrogate. The client found a collection agency to recover the remainder of the unpaid invoice. The collection agency recovered those funds but did not remit this to client. Upon checking that agency’s references after the fact, the client found out that this was a common situation with them and the “check was in the mail” was a routine practice of nonpayment. A reference check of course should have been done before the engagement, but was not.

2. Another party had signed an annual contact, with a money back guarantee with a marketing outreach company to provide quality leads. The contract had an upfront annual retainer but with a substantial commission paid based upon results. This company didn’t perform and missed deadline after deadline. The client did only a cursory reference check which they thought was sufficient due to the commission to be earned. After a couple of months of non-performance the contract was terminated by the client who asked for their money back, only to find there was no trace the marketing outreach company or its owner. Their trust was misplaced as well as the time lost in performing the marketing outreach program.

3. Then there is the case of a charismatic public servant who was elected to address the perceived grievances and wrongs by the voters. That person was never seriously vetted for office by their party, the media or the voters. They abused the power for their personal aggrandizement and financial gain, broke many of the norms of the office but were not held accountable due to the power they held, the influence with their voters which avoided the traditional checks and balances and other unique factors. This situation unfortunately has happened far too many times in our history, at various levels and by both parties. Amazingly, there are no prerequisites or requirements for holding public office as there are for the even the most basic jobs and activities from being a beautician to even getting a driver’s license.

In summary, take your responsibility seriously in all aspect of your corporate and personal life.