Media management consultant David Schmidt told us that the
example of Billy Graham and his associates helped him resist the
inevitable temptations of travel. “I’m a guy. You get tempted in
hotel rooms to put something on TV you shouldn’t. I knew the
stories of how Billy would never be alone with a woman—how
he was very careful about all this stuff—and the men around him
were careful too. They weren’t hiding things, they worked at per-
sonal purity. They’d say, ‘You have to be in the dark what you are
in the light!’ That helped me to aim for a higher standard.”
By openly declaring their ethical standards, the Graham team
admitted the dangers and clarified the expectations. It might be
well for each of us to study and apply to our own enterprises the
“Modesto Manifesto”:
We will never criticize, condemn, or speak negatively about
others.
We will be accountable, particularly in handling finances, with
integrity according to the highest business standards.
We will tell the truth and be thoroughly honest, especially in
reporting statistics.
We will be exemplary in morals—clear, clean, and careful to
avoid the very appearance of any impropriety.Practice Open Integrity
The press loves to expose the juicy details of leaders who fall,
and once the genie is out of the bottle, it can’t be stuffed back in.
Researchers studying today’s leadership dynamics put a very
high premium on integrity. Of course, this is not at all a new find-
ing. For instance, years ago President Eisenhower stated with deep
conviction, “I believe deeply that every occupant of the White
House... has one profound duty to the nation: to exert moral
leadership. The President of the United States should stand, visi-
ble and uncompromising, for what is right and decent—in gov-
ernment, in the business community, in the private lives of the
citizens. For decency is one of the main pillars of a sound civi-
lization. An immoral nation invites its own ruin.”
Confronting Temptations