Ford Quality: Snobelen Nails It

The real lesson of the J&J response to crisis was the championship of the company's principles, to serve people and communities, over the immediate financial concerns.  J&J, at least in that moment, were clear about their priorities.

People are generally a cynical lot - and not without good reason.  When people say "all politicians are all the same, they're just in it for themselves" or "corporations care about nothing but lining the pockets of their CEOs" they have plenty of examples to turn to prove the point.  In fact, there seem to be new examples almost weekly.

What we don't hear a lot of are stories of people and institutions who are prepared to stick to their mission statement (i.e. respect the taxpayer's dollar, run an open and accountable government) in general practice.

It doesn't means stories like that don't exist - in fact, there are some companies out there who seem to be walking the walk both through crises and times of smooth sailing.  Integrity doesn't make for a sexy story, though, so the media isn't selling it and if they were, odds are we wouldn't buy it.

Therein lies the great social paradox - there's not a lot of public reward in doing the right thing.  If you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, sure, but if you aren't used to living your principles on a daily basis it can be difficult to switch gears under the blinding light of public scrutiny.

What's the answer?  It's by embodying what Simon Sinek describes as the essence of great leadership:

"Quality means doing it right when no one is looking."

  - Henry Ford

There's no need to fear getting caught when you're always doing what you know to be right.  Seeing a record of integrity, when accidents happen - as they invariably do - people will be willing to forgive you.