Arvind Mohanram
1 November 2010
RD3
Dear Class of 2010,
It is my honor to be invited to talk to you and share my life experiences with you. I want to thank the board members, chairman, and director for inviting me on this beautiful day. Today I have decided to talk with you my thoughts on honesty and ethics. [Thesis] High ethics are high character are key to leadership, success and fulfillment in life. With this you could have everything, without it you have nothing. [Thesis]
Generation Y, you are the Winning Generation. It is the best time ever to be youngster because you have power in your finger tips and knowledge within a mouse click. This generation believes in giving and cares for the environment. Social consciousness is high. You will not buy cloths produced using child labor. You like to ‘save the juice when not in use’, recycle and reuse. In a recent survey it was found that 61% of youth between 13 to 25 years feel personal responsibility of making difference in the world and 81% had volunteered in the past year (Jayson). While I salute these traits, there is a growing evidence of unethical behavior in the schools and colleges which I don’t get it. It is ironical that same generation that believes in the art of giving is also involved in cheating, malpractice and lying. In the case conducted among 10,000 students between 1992 to 2002, it was found that cheating increased from 61 % to 74% and number of students admitted to have lied increased from 83 % to 93% in 2002 (2002 Report Card) . I have been there, as I recall my time at middle and high school I have done things which they would call cheating today. During exams the question was multiple choice and we used sign language for right answer. We were group of five so it was easy we were complementing each other so ultimately it was win-win situation. I wouldn’t even for second doubted that this is cheating until I got caught and the cute girl would not talk with me after that. I had to break up with her.
The cause and reasons for lying is often complex and difficult to comprehend. Some of the many reasons that can be traced back to the environment that kids are – the family, the group, the circumstance, course work, teachers and competition. Competition within themselves and others has forced kids to resort to unethical behavior. Jon S Katzman the president of Prince Jon S. Katzman, president of Princeton Review, says that "ten years ago students were stressed because they wanted to be the winner. Now they are stressed because they don't want to be the loser” (New York Times)
From poor to rich kids every one cheat. For rich kids are primarily to live up to the expectation of the unrealistically high standard set by their parents.. The kids are frustrated and resort to cheating. Indeed parental expectations were consistently ranked among the top five reasons for lying and cheating in class (Schab). Another growing reason I can readily identify with is peer group. You are ‘cool’ if you belonged to certain group in class or college. A recent study by UMass interviewing the parents of kids between age group of 11 to 16 showed that t the more social you are the better you are at lying. (Amherst). Even worse, studies have shown that lying shows loyalty to ‘primary group’. There is support when the kids cheat to assure them it is OK.
Another reason the kids are not directly responsible are the curriculum set by the schools and colleges. The demanding work load and too much emphasis on ‘right’ answer kill the creativity of the individual. When they realize there is no room for more option or their words, they are not involved in the process of learning and hence resort to cheating. For the first time it makes you feel guilty, when you do it more often, it becomes normal. There is no feeling associated with it. In the end one dialog in the famous movie Rainmaker still gives me chills “Every lawyer, at least once in every case, feels himself crossing a line that he doesn't really mean to cross... it just happens... And if you cross it enough times it disappears forever. And then you're nothin but another lawyer joke. Just another shark in the dirty water.”
In a recent study conducted world wide looking at moral index of people. What they did was take a nice leather purse put in $50 equivalent and ‘lost’1,100 wallets it in a public place with name, address phone number of the owner. What they found was that interesting. At top of the list were the people in the countries from Norway and Denmark, 100% of purses were returned. At bottom of the list was Hong Kong and Mexico, only 20% returned the purse to the owner. For US the return rate was 67 %( Character Matters). Honesty is not a personality trait of a individual, but roots go deep to the value system that these nations personify. What does this nation personify? What do you see in television, media all the time? Pervasive negativity. Why does CNN show Tiger Woods cheating 24 by 7 when it first made news? Because, bad news sells, good news does not. How about TV serials promoting unethical behavior such as FOX channels Dr House, movies such as Wall Street and video games- all say that it is OK to cheat. This is far from truth. If you decide to go to work in any company, unlike what Gordon Gekko in Wall Street would want you to believe, Greed is not good .All of you are familiar with the Enron and Water Gates scandal that are real examples of people motivated by greed.
There are certain invisible laws like gravity that is key principles in life; one of them is high ethics and high character. Wherever you go, whatever you do your employer will value honesty above anything else. A survey was developed by Robert Half Management Resources interviewing 1,400 CFOs from a stratified random sample of U.S. companies with 20 or more employees showed top managers rated Integrity (33%), Interpersonal skills (28%) and Initiative (15%) as top three qualities they look in candidate (Comment). Please note there, intelligence did not feature in any of their requirements. Because you will be tested all the time with problems and challenges you face. Problems are signs of life. As Steven Covey says everyone can manage when the sun is shining, your true inner core is shown only during crisis or under stress. Your boss will not go through pain of hiring a person with mixed character and no one in organization wants to do business with a person who is manipulative and filled with duplicity. I like the way Warren Buffet puts it “In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you”.
Recall the men and women you deeply admire, you will find that most of the time they were people of integrity and honesty. We are proud of 28 year old First Lt. Ehren Watada, a HPU graduate, the first person to openly refuse to fight Iraq war during Bush administration, even if it meant termination and jail. (Anonymous). Another example is golfer Brian Davis who displayed impeccable character when he accidentally committed brushed a reed on his backswing that even cameras could not detect He lost the first place in the tournament because he confessed his mistake (Dixon). As Emerson said, “Guard your integrity as a sacred thing. Nothing is at last sacred by the integrity of your own mind.” (Emerson). It is difficult to keep your word, it is choosing between microwave thinking and delaying gratification. But I promise you long term fulfillment and greatness if you keep integrity and high character to guide you through your decision making process.
As my friend Gregory Jenkins nicely puts it “The most compelling reason to be honest at all times is for self-respect. Self-respect affects the way I impact my family, culture, and society as a whole. If I am not honest to others I am not honest to myself. If I am not honest to myself then I am a dishonest part of society and the world.”
Finally I part with you in the words of World War II General and President of United States, General Eisenhower
“In order to be a leader, a man must have followers. And to have followers, a man must have their confidence. Hence the supreme quality for a leader is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office. The first great need, therefore, is integrity and high purpose.”
Works Cited
Amherst, University Of Massachusetts . “UMass Researcher Finds Link Between Lying And Popularity.” 14 December 1999. Science Daily. Webpage. 19 October 2010 [http://www.sciencedaily.com¬ /releases/1999/12/991214072623.htm].
Buffett, Warren. “Quotes on INTEGRITY”LeadershipNow.com. n.d. Webpage. 20 October 2010. [http://www.leadershipnow.com/integrityquotes.html].
Comment.“STUDY: Execs cite integrity as most important trait for future leaders: communications skills rank second ”College Sports Information Directors Of America.5 October 2010. Webpage. 20 October 2010. [http://www.cosida.com/news.aspx?id=2913].
Dixon, Peter. “Brian Davis's honesty costs him $1 million win” The Sunday Times. 19 April 2010. Webpage. 20 October 2010 [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/golf/article7101963.ece].
Emerson, Raph W. “Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes”Brainy Quote n.d.Webpage. 20 October 2010. [http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/ralphwaldo108805.html].
Eisenhower, Dwight D. “Leadership Quotations”InspirationalSpark.com n.d.Webpage. 20 October 2010.[http://www.inspirationalspark.com/leadership-quotations.html]
Jayson, Sharon.” Generation Y gets involved.” USA Today. 24 October 2006.Webpage. 19 October 2010. [http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-10-23-gen-next-cover_x.htm].
Lickona, Thomas. “Character Matters: How to Help Our Children Develop Good Judgement, Integrity, and Other Essential Virtues” Original edition. New York:Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing, 2004,14-15.
Rainmaker.Dir. Coppola, Francis. Perf.Matt Damon, Danny DeVito, Claire Danes, Jon Voight. Paramount Pictures, 1997. DVD
“Record Number of Applicants Are Reported by the Top Colleges," New York
Times, 18 February 1996.
Schab, Fred. "Schooling Without Learning: Thirty Years of Cheating in High School," Adolescence 26, no.104 (Winter 1991): 840).
“Soldier Ready To Face Jail For Refusing. Deployment. Lieutenant Says’We Were all Deceived’ ”. 7 June 2006. KITV.COM. 20 October 2010. [http://www.kitv.com/news/9338465/detail.html].
Wall Street. Dir. Oliver Stone. Perf. Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Daryl Hannah, Martin Sheen, Sean Young. 20th Century Fox. 1987. DVD
