Page 91 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

THE LESSONS

from Maine to the graduation ceremonies, my friend partied with his high
school buddies late into the night and then decided to take them on a mid-
night tour of the dorms. The problem was that civilians were not allowed
in the dormitories. When the cadet brought his friends to the dormitory,
an underclassman in charge of dormitory security stopped them and chal-
lenged their right to enter. The graduating cadet pulled out his identifica-
tion card and lied, saying that the visitors were cadets. The underclassman
allowed them access because of the graduating cadet’s assurance that they
were authorized visitors but reported the incident because of the obviously
nonmilitary appearance of the friends.
The graduating cadet had committed an honor code violation by lying
to the underclassman. An honor board was convened quickly, and the
graduating cadet was kicked out on the verge of graduating. The cadet got
his academic degree but never fulfilled his dream of becoming a combat
fighter pilot.
Whether you agree with the punishment or not, we lived by the honor
code at the academy, and everyone knew how important it was to follow
it. In too many organizations, integrity is just a catchphrase and leaders
can’t be taken at their word. It is impossible to lead if you have no credi-
bility with the people in your organization. Leaders must reinforce the
company’s ethical standards, and it’s not enough just to put them in an
employee handbook. The penalties for violating the rules must be enforced,
and punishment must be more than a verbal slap on the wrist.

In his naval career—and regrettably, even in his White House Fellowship—
retired Admiral Charles “Chuck” Larson (WHF 68–69) had to fight to main-
tain his integrity despite intense pressure to do otherwise. A former Eagle
Scout and U.S. Naval Academy graduate, Larson had developed a strong
sense of right and wrong that he was not willing to abandon in any circum-
stances. One of his first challenges came early in his naval career. Larson had
just been assigned as a training officer. His squad was preparing for a major
inspection, and a superior officer discovered that the squad had not com-
pleted some of the required training. “He called me in and asked me to fake
the training records and make it look like we’d had all these lectures. I refused
to do it,” Larson said. “I told him that I would put a good training program
together and would guarantee we would execute it, but I wasn’t going to fake
stuff we didn’t do. I told him that if he wanted someone to do that, then he’d

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