Core Values Challenge: Part 2

There was a man that worked as a bank inspector and traveled the southeast in this capacity. One summer he was called back to a bank that he had previously inspected due to a reporting error. Since it was summertime, the bank inspector decided to bring his son along, knowing this could be an invaluable lesson for his son to witness.

When they arrived at the bank, the manager explained that an accounting error had been discovered and the initial report and associated deposit submitted was in fact wrong. The bank manager didn’t have to report the accounting error. After all, no one would have known that anything was wrong if he had not said something. However, HE would’ve known and because he knew, he had to do the right thing. In that moment, he acted like everything he would’ve done would’ve been public – leaving no room for deceit. He reached out to the bank inspector to let him know that he had made a mistake, he had corrected his mistake, and he needed to replace the report that had been given to the bank inspector.

Although the son probably didn’t know it, he had witnessed integrity in full bloom.

The bank inspector never thanked the manager for doing the right thing, which confused his son. When his son asked him about it, his father explained that while the manager’s actions were good and honest, they were also simply the right thing to do. To thank somebody for doing the right thing implies that they had the option to do something else. Even though reality has proven that we all have the capacity to choose to do the wrong thing, we must ALWAYS think and act as if the only option we have is to do the right thing. As the manager of the bank, his job was to do the right thing. A person should never be thanked for doing what they are supposed to do, because it is what we are all called to do.

Here is the lesson that was learned: integrity is always the right thing to do. This is what we live by at Gorrie-Regan. This is one of our core values.