Long Term Benefits of Ethics and Service

After my short professional baseball career, I finished my education at Xavier University. Eager to enter the business world, I got my start in telecom by selling long distance service for Cable & Wireless USA. That turned out to be a very good, and fortunate, decision for my life. Why? My first leader in the business world helped mold me.

You see, I was a very energetic, hungry, impressionable, hard-working young man who had been exposed to some very nice things in life. It would have been easy for me to follow the likes of “Boiler Room” or “The Wolf of Wall Street” and chase the money. However, my first manager, Mark Bersani, helped me to see the importance and long-term value of ethics and service. Luckily for me, the seeds of those values were consistently planted by my father (who still owns his own business today), and the Jesuit high school and college institutions I attended. Those that have touched my life through that progression kind of remind me of “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” by Mitch Albom.

We are all too familiar with the newspaper headlines regarding CEOs making short-term decisions to line their own pockets, or the coffers of their corporations, only to end up in jail or, at a minimum, fired. We also see the decisions by politicians to be popular (for re-election) when they have to know they are making it more difficult for the next generation. I could belabor the questionable ethics related to lyrics in songs, music videos and celebrities’ actions.

Further, we have all encountered the frustrating decline of service offered by so many companies as they compromise quality stewards for increased profits. Nowhere is this more prevalent than my own industry. Imagine the trickle-down effect to younger generations witnessing this.

The good news, really good news, is that many leaders in Cincinnati and the surrounding communities are different than the aforementioned. I see my fellow CEO Roundtable members building strong businesses by making ethical decisions, treating their employees well and providing great service to their customers. I see Venue Media with two, 250+ page, magazines published multiple times a year chock-full of good people doing good things for their companies and their communities. I also see a plethora of organizations, from the smallest to the largest, sponsoring and supporting a wide range of philanthropic endeavors.

I can personally vouch for the long-term benefits of making more choices based on ethics and service. I owe a debt of gratitude to those who helped me look beyond my nose. It seems the more we give, the more our business grows.

The biblical phrase “you reap what you sow” comes to mind here. As leaders, we all make mistakes. We may even have one or two skeletons in our closets. Yet, as I see it, and I needed help, we all have a fiduciary responsibility to our families, our employees, our customers, our companies and our communities.

To all of those young and impressionable people in your sphere of influence, what if you were their Mark Bersani? What if we recruited more leaders, more people, to help us “pay it forward” so to speak? Imagine that trickle-down effect. Imagine that place to live and work.

David Goodwin is the co-founder and managing partner of Advanced Technology Consulting, Inc.