Reverend Michael Waters spoke to students Tuesday afternoon in Hughes-Trigg about the importance of maintaining integrity and ethics while being a leader.
Pastor of the Greater Garth Chapel AME Church, Waters is also an SMU alum who said one of the key components of good and ethical leadership is to have integrity.
Waters told students that if they ever forget what integrity means, then they should remember the definition his mother gave him as a child.
“Be the you that you are when you are by yourself,” Waters said.
Waters elaborated and said the downfall of many successful leaders has been a common misconception that it is possible to divide one’s public life from their private life.
“Inevitably, one’s private life begins to manifest in public even when they are trying their best to keep it private,” Waters said.
Many leaders who have made unethical decisions and have not been caught share a belief that they will not, Waters said, because after so many times of not getting caught they presume they are invincible and above the law.
Which is why Waters said there are no small issues when dealing with ethics in a leadership role because those small issues often grow over time.
“You must be careful not to divide your principles into big and small sets,” Waters said. “There really are no small issues in a job situation.”
Taking office supplies or misusing office equipment may seem like small issues that “won’t kill anybody,” Waters said, but they are as serious an ethical issue as stealing money from the company.
The best advice in such situations is to identify the pattern immediately, Waters said, so that it is possible to reinforce the idea that there are no small issues and deal with the problem effectively.
Earl Shaw, graduate student and assistant in the Leadership and Community Involvement office, agreed with Waters and said it is important to catch these issues early on because the problems will only become bigger.
“For some reason they think they can control it,” Shaw said. “It seems small and they think it’s not going to get big because they think, ‘I can manage it here and not let it get out of control.'”
Other ways for an individual to remain an ethical leader with integrity is to be aware of personal weaknesses and to protect oneself, Waters said.
“You and I have weaknesses,” Waters said. “There’s something in our lives that we could succumb to, and none of us are above falling into these things.”
As a leader one should not ignore that fact or that there are certain pressures and stresses that a leader will face, Waters said. Most leaders will also face a time in their career when they are accused of being unethical.
To protect oneself, Waters said, a leader should keep great notes, accounts, clear and organized records and report problems immediately.
“If it feels or looks funny, follow your gut and stay away,” Waters said. “There’s a reason why certain things make us feel funny.”
