Always Do the Right Thing by Following Simple Commandments
The bottom line should never be the bottom line
Photo by Bambi Corro on Unsplash
An older man sat down next to a younger man on an airplane. They had never met.
After a few moments of silence, the older man made a proposition to the younger man. He asked the younger man to steal something for him. In exchange for the stolen item, the younger man would receive a sum of one million dollars.
The younger man initially was offended, but when he heard the amount, he listened carefully. He became excited at the prospect of becoming a millionaire overnight. He agreed to the man’s offer. The two men then arranged the details and the rest of the conditions.
As the older man prepared to leave the plane, he made a confession.
“I’m sorry. In my excitement, I may have misled you. Everything I have said is true, but one thing. I don’t have a million dollars. But would you consider the same proposition for, let’s say, 10 dollars?”
The younger man had to resist punching him in the nose. Offended, he snapped back at him, “What type of man do you think I am?”
“The type of man you are has already been established. Now, we are just haggling over the price.”
. . .
Years ago I heard a version of this story. It’s hard to decide who to like less: the older man who propositions someone to commit a crime, or the younger man whose morality has a price. I initially despised the older man. Now I fear becoming the younger one.
If we don’t do what’s right, then nothing else matters. But doing the right thing is not always easy. Sometimes we may not even agree on what’s “right.”
But doing the right thing is the foundation of living well.
I’ve found three ways to help make sure we do the right thing.
. . .
1. Start All Relationships With This One Thing
I was a little scared. I wanted to get to know the guy who just sat down next to me. He was smart, funny, and probably the best soccer player I’ve ever seen in my life.
It was the first day of high school physics class, and we were both early. We ended up really hitting it off, but then he asked me a question I wasn’t sure how to answer.
“Do you remember last week when I scored that amazing goal from 5 yards past the 18-yard line?”
I had no idea how to answer. I was at the game he was talking about. But I did not remember him scoring that goal.
I really wanted to be friends with him, though. If I said I didn’t remember the goal, then I would face embarrassment because I wasn’t paying attention. I pictured him not wanting to be friends with me since I didn’t even remember his amazing goal.
I wanted to impress him. But I also didn’t feel like going along with his story by lying about what I remembered.
I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
So I told the truth.
“I honestly don’t remember that goal, but it sounds amazing,” I said.
Silence.
“Good,” he said. “I never scored that goal. I wanted to see if you would just go along with what I was saying. Too many people in my life just want to be friends by agreeing with me. I like to spend time with people who are honest and will do the right thing.”
We became good friends after that exchange.
Dan Sullivan has said that all progress starts with telling the truth. He’s right. Great relationships start that way, too. And so does anything else worth doing.
. . .
2. The Bottom Line Can’t Be the Bottom Line
I recently had to make a choice. For ethical reasons, I can’t reveal many of the details. But in my law practice, I had to decide whether to stick up for a client, or to cave into the demands of another client, whose fees to our firm dwarfed the other client’s.
Early in the situation, I had to make a choice. Did my action depend on the “size” of the client — or the potential for profit to me or my firm? Or was my decision about the ethical and moral decision independent of the amount of money involved?
It’s not easy to make decisions when you know the exact amount of money that is at stake. But here’s what I learned: the right thing does not depend on how much money is involved.
That sounds fine in theory, but it’s harder in practice. It takes confidence and trust to act in a way that hurts financially.
A person who helped me think through the situation stated it this way: the bottom line can’t be the bottom line.
If we treat money as our guide, we will always be lost.
. . .
3. Do It Right When No One’s Looking
A builder once told his apprentice that he was about to retire. He needed help building one more house, and then the apprentice would take over the business. Since it was the last house, the apprentice cut corners, saved money, and used less than the best materials. He wanted to be finished. But when the house was complete, the builder surprised his apprentice. The builder gifted it to the apprentice, as appreciation for all of his years of service.
Broken, the apprentice realized his mistake. He assumed that no one would ever discover that he cut corners. He thought he was building the house for someone else. Instead, every house he built he should build for himself.
I’ve heard variations of that story, and I am moved each time. Would you want to live in a house that you built?
As an attorney, I often wonder whether I would want to use a contract that I drafted.
Would you want to use the product that you create? Or would want someone exactly like you to serve you?
Doing things right means doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.
. . .
Do the Right Thing
Doing the right thing doesn’t have to be hard.
All progress starts with telling the truth.
Don’t make the bottom line the bottom line.
Do the right thing, even when no one is watching.
The line between right and wrong is not somewhere far away. It’s not in a book somewhere or even in a law or rule. The line between right and wrong is in our own hearts. We stare at that line every day.
Don’t be like the young man who leaps at the high-priced compromise, but then later reveals that no price is high enough to become the type of person that doesn’t do the right thing.
Do the right thing, always.
. . .
Learn the one lesson that has changed my life more than any other.