HOLD HIGH THE TORCH OF RESPONSIBILITY
Building and Retaining Trust
This also applies equally to executives, managers and administrators of clubs, societies, associations, government departments/agencies and non-governmental bodies.
It is sometimes puzzling and disappointing to see educated and professional individuals succumbing so easily to devious means to cheat and defraud the very companies that they are entrusted to manage. Many others placed in similar, difficult situations rose to the occasion and did the right, decent and honourable thing. These individuals acted in such a manner without any expectation of appreciation or reward. It was because of the strength of their character and more importantly, their convictions and values in life.
Doing the right, decent and honourable thing, however, is seldom an easy choice.
You must be prepared to be ridiculed for it by others who do not share your values in life. Little do they realise that it is extremely important to build and, more importantly, retain trust when you are appointed or promoted to senior and responsible positions in an organisation. A senior position carries with it, in addition to a heavy responsibility, a high honour and it further implies a huge level of trust in the person to act and conduct the affairs of the organisation at all times with utmost integrity. There can be no two ways about this matter.
Neither should there be any temptation to abuse the position of trust and responsibility in order to bully the staff who work for you or to generate some extra income through under the table schemes at the expense of the
organisation. Remember that the moment an organisation loses trust in you, your career in that company is as good as over. Also, once word spreads about this major character flaw in the individual, no credible company will ever consider hiring such a person.
Those holding such senior positions when given an opportunity to head a department or company, should see it as a solemn trust and responsibility placed on their shoulders to perform to the best of their abilities.
They should view their positions as a splendid torch and they should, therefore, endeavour to see that it burns as brightly as possible before handing it over to the next person. Holding high the torch of responsibility seems to be an expectation that some people have trouble fulfilling. If you are a chief executive or general manager of a company, you are expected to discharge your responsibilities in a timely, competent and trustworthy manner.