TRUST (March/April 2002 Issue)

"Hey, career counselor, I want to be a CEO! That way I can have all tools of financial manipulation at my disposal. I can rake it in. The sky’s the limit." And the pit has no bottom.

Corporate skulduggery is reaching a new low and it is a good time to think about the role that "trust" plays in the career choices of our clients.

Is it any wonder that those new to the career game (the youth culture) are cynical, as they view Enron players fleecing employees and stockholders of their hard-earned money? If I were eighteen years old, I might be wondering whether cheating, deception, and lying are necessary career skills. I might wonder if money is the only goal of careerists. I might wonder how I am going to compete in an economy where people who lie seem to gain lots of advantages.

Integrity is not simply a concept talked about by ethicists. It’s not a mere philosophical position. Integrity is not something to honor in ones words and then go out and violate.

Trust is the fabric of our lives. We buy products and trust they are what they claim to be. We trust and believe professionals when they give us "advice." We try our best to take people at their word. We trust that professional services are honest. Meanwhile a guy in California robbed 28 elderly people of their life savings by selling them worthless "investments" through their financial advisors who they "trusted."

What’s a twenty-one year-old to think when one of those who were bilked was his 82 year-old grandfather? Imagine this young person trying to make a career decision - "Maybe I have to cheat someone before they cheat me."

Without trust we are very alone indeed. Why should a client trust anyone when it seems as though tons of people are lying through their teeth?

As a career counselor, I’d like to be able to say to a client: "It’s better to trust that people are fundamentally good, you can believe them , and your trust will be returned." Am I encouraging them to walk into a buzz saw? Of course, we must be careful with whom we associate. But how do we know who's lying today or tomorrow? If our clients enter employment relationships with a skeptical eye, such wariness can quickly descend into cynicism."Everybody’s doing it" is a poor excuse for unethical behavior, but you hear it all the time.

I don’t know how people can feel fully engaged in their work if they must devote half their energy to figuring out who’s lying to them. Maybe lie detection is a functional skill that we all practice to one degree or another. Nonetheless, our world is a better place when we can trust each other.

Somewhere a study revealed that 75% of the students in a given public school had cheated at one time or another. Where do you suppose they learned that ethic from? Their elders, of course. And now we have a famous historian plagiarizing so casually that he barely offers an excuse for doing so. What’s a person to think about how one "gets ahead"?

Sooner or later somebody is going to offer tutoring in the skill of underhandedness. It’s already done informally. Why not formalize lying and snakiness? Please. My stomach hurts.

People are saddened and outraged by the revelations they read in their daily papers. Is this the world we_re sending our clients into? Is there hope that honest people can still prosper and not be eaten alive?

Clients entering the job market want to trust that what employers tell them is true. They want to believe that they will not be asked to participate in shady activities. They want to act with integrity and be appreciated for it. If the marketplace appears to be filled with deception, should this be accepted as "business as usual?" Job-seekers have a right to insist on honesty from their employers.

Sure, we have heard of other countries where under-the-table dealings are common in the marketplace. Do we in America accept this as our standard, or do we reach for something higher? If business is defined as who can fool the customer more than the next person, how are career counselors supposed to feel about sending clients into such an arena?

To clients I would say: "Just because you hear about shady dealings everywhere, you don’t have to be dragged down by them. Honesty starts with you, and it’s what you remember most about your work." I believe that integrity can still prevail. But I’m sad to see the many corporate leaders, professionals, business owners, and even nonprofit representatives who can’t be trusted. Several years ago the head of the national United Way squandered great sums on his lavish life style. Each of these incidents strikes at the core of our ability to trust.

In your own way, I would encourage you to cast your vote for honesty and let your clients know that trust is absolutely vital. Without trust, we are a barbaric society, not a humane one. A career doesn’t mean much if people can’t trust you. It means everything if they can.