Learning over Corned Beef: My Great-Uncle’s Professional Wisdom

This post is an excerpt from my book “Thinking Aloud.” The theme continues to present itself in my conversations with leaders: how to share complex information and challenging perspectives candidly and constructively. I hope you enjoy the essay – and perhaps introduce the questions below as a way to start conversations with your teammates. – CAW

See a list of other posts in this series at Blog Post Series

Learning over Corned Beef: My Great-Uncle’s Professional Wisdom

Sheldon Weinstein, my great-uncle and an important influence in my adult life, recently passed away at age 84.  He was a chartered life underwriter (CLU), in addition to being a husband, father, grandfather, and an intensely interested – if understated – family patriarch.  Sheldon was also a great supporter of my work.  Beginning shortly after my own father passed away, Sheldon and I began having long lunches on a regular basis, frequently at delicatessens.  As I reflect upon these many conversations with him, some interesting and relevant themes emerge.

As a life insurance underwriter, Sheldon took tremendously seriously his obligation to act in his clients’ best interest.  Sheldon regarded himself as a professional, an underwriter obliged to act in his clients’ interest first and foremost.  He discharged his professional obligation through extensive, ongoing product research and with great attention to each client’s situation.  He sold only products, in which he strongly believed, to clients who he believed would benefit from them.  He was slow to reach that conclusion and quick to recuse himself when he did not believe his products or expertise were optimally suited to a prospective client.  Commercially, Sheldon was not a ball of fire.  That wasn’t important to him.  He was, without fail, a deeply honorable businessman, and this was intensely important to him.

At Sheldon’s suggestion, I included in my doctoral research the Code of Ethics of The American Society of Chartered Life Underwriters. My writing led us to some very interesting discussions about what constitutes a profession, and what that designation means in terms of responsibilities.  I shall spare you a potentially agonizing summary; suffice it to say that my work benefited greatly from Sheldon’s insights.

While he was entirely supportive, Sheldon did not approve of all aspects of my work.  Most notably, he was highly critical of my decision to focus not on ethical compliance but on performance-oriented aspects of social responsibility.  His oft-repeated criticism took two forms.  First, he felt that where corporate malfeasance is concerned, there can never be too many watchdogs.  Beyond violating the law, greed and bad faith enraged him, and he thought that there could be no higher calling than to try to curb the worst instincts of fellow businesspeople.  I agree with him that compliance is critically important, but I did not see a unique contribution to be made in that arena.  Excellent resources exist for businesses interested in creating codes, processes, practices, and cultures that promote ethical conduct.

Second, Sheldon argued that I was misguided in my desire to celebrate and promote excellent business conduct.  He was not a fan, for instance, of the stories I tell highlighting businesses that have achieved business gains by investing in stakeholder relationships.  When I discussed some of these stories with him, he responded with a question: “Why give people a parade for doing what should simply be expected of them?”  That summed up his view.

Reasonable people may disagree (especially when they are both named Weinstein).  It isn’t merely a matter of catching more flies with honey than with vinegar.  (Besides, we all know you can catch the most flies with horse manure.)  Developing and implementing strategies that are both commercially successful and socially responsible is a rewarding, if challenging, undertaking.  Sharing real-world stories of business successes has become a regular feature of my keynote and workshop presentations.

At bottom, we agreed that good conduct does pay off, financially as well as personally.  Sheldon’s clients trusted him absolutely because he earned that trust throughout his career.  Trust promotes loyalty and referrals.  Trust-based relationships form the basis for addressing problems that arise in ways that minimize damage, and for capitalizing on positive opportunities in ways that maximize shared benefits.  He may have dismissed this as common sense, but few things are less common or more valuable than an unerring commitment to act in a trustworthy manner.

I miss Uncle Sheldon and I am grateful for all that I learned from his advice, as well as from his example.  I expect that I will never eat another corned beef sandwich without thinking of him.

Conversation Starters:

Business and professional ethics encompass both rejecting wrongdoing and embracing a more positive commitment to serve others.

• How much do you care about stopping bad behavior, and why?
• To what extent do you think that free markets reward conduct that exceeds minimum expectations?
• How can leaders in public-sector agencies motivate their teams to exceed stakeholders’ expectations?

At Ethical Leaders in Action we believe that most, if not all people, can develop themselves to play leadership roles in many different spheres both large and small. The foundation of this development process is a short but powerful list of virtues which can be developed and improved through conscious effort. For more information feel free to take the Virtues of Ethical Leadership Self Inventory (VELSI) which breaks these virtues down into features that can be individually developed. The results of the VELSI come with a quick reference guide to help you understand how the virtues and their individual features fit together. https://ethinact.com/velsi/

See a list of other posts in this series at Blog Post Series

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