The memo was a big deal to him. Rather than discuss the issue raised, he went out of his way to tell me about a meeting he had attended many months prior. Someone in the meeting said that I expressed interest in having our business unit apply for the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award. I felt embarrassed. We never did talk about living the values of the organization.
Leadership is about living our values and optimizing the natural dynamics of the living system.
Living our ideals creates community. Our values are not to be compromised for money or short-term expediency. Many should take their ethics more seriously than they do. Values conflict frequently. People differ in their perspectives on what constitutes living the organization's values.