Stephen H Baum Leadership

Sam DiPiazza, CEO of PriceWaterhouseCoopers told a personal story on camera in an interview with a student audience. He related the words of his grandfather who had immigrated to Alabama from Sicily. Young Sammy had done something his grandfather found over the line of ethics. He said to Sam: “Your reputation takes decades to build and only seconds to lose.”

Speaking with the CEO of one of the world’s largest ad agencies yesterday who prizes a personal reputation for integrity, Sam’s words came back to me along with a new thought, a derivative of Sam’s grandfather’s advice: the net present value of being honest and fair when tested today is the sum of all the future business you will do because people trust you less whatever you gave up by standing up for what you believe.

Stephen M. R. Covey’s great book (The Speed of Trust) argues the business case for integrity and trust. It iswhat makes today’s high speed, complex business possible.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers has been selected to be the auditor of our $700 billion bailout. I sleep better at night knowing Sam will be on the case.

See below for video clip of Sam DiPiazza from student Q&A part of master class filmed at Baruch College in New York City. Thanks to Baruch for help in the pilot of this approach to sharing CEO insights with students.

dipiazza-video-clip

That’s my view. What’s yours?