I was reading about the drunken debauchery that took place over the weekend as the Boston Bruins celebrated their Stanley Cup victory with a $157,000 bar tab. (Even if one excludes the $100,000 bottle of Ace of Spades “Midas” champagne, this is still a lot to spend on beers and booze.) But, alas, one should not be surprised as the Bruins have historically been savages with no class. (Once, Bruins players went into the crowd in their skates and started beating fans.)
At first glance, this story reminded me of the 2002 story of the five Barclays bankers that spent $63000 on dinner. Even though they spent their own money on this debauchery, they still received a slap on the wrist as the negative media attention projected the wrong image about bankers in general and Barclays specifically. Eventually most of the bankers were fired.
Why? Reputation.
Many banks will claim that their reputation is their greatest asset and in order to protect that asset many have codes of conduct. Barclays’ says: “We expect every Barclays employee, and others who work on our behalf, to conduct themselves according to consistently high professional and ethical standards. This expectation applies to each of us, whatever our role and wherever we are located.”
From the way the Bruins conduct themselves on an off the ice, it seems clear to me that the Bruins do not have a Code of Conduct nor are they too concerned about their reputation. I doubt anyone will lose their job over this.
When I graduated from the Richard Ivey School of Business, I took the Ivey Pledge because it sends a message to all graduates about their role and responsibility and preserving the school’s reputation. I try to conduct all my professional affairs this way and have included a few lines from the Pledge below:
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I will, to the best of my ability, act honourably and ethically in all my dealings, in the belief and knowledge that doing so will lead to a greater good.
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I will endeavour to act with moral clarity, grace and nobility.
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I understand that I am now a member of a distinguished community.
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I will strive to uphold the standing of the community, with special obligation placed on encouraging and championing the pursuits of my fellow members.
Perhaps Bruins’ President Cam Neely should consider asking his troglodytes to take this kind of oath when they receive their Stanley Cup Rings and whenever their new players put on the black and gold jersey. They are role models and should show a little more class…but this is professional hockey and not banking so maybe reputation doesn’t matter.
Post-script: Have a look at the entire Bruins bar bill here. (I am curious who ordered the two Coors Light? Was it the 19-year old Tyler Seguin who is not old enough to drink in Connecticut?)
Having core values is a powerful thing. We try measure new hires against their alignment with our own core values. We assess the performance of our existing staff against the core values.
I need to be able to trust the people who work for me to make the same decisions I would if I’m not there. You get that if everyone believes in the same thing and those things are the core values.
They aren’t easy to define because you can end up making a list of cheesy crap that sounds good but nobody buys into. You need to work hard at understanding the real essence of what you do and why you do it the way you do it.
Having core values is a powerful thing. We try measure new hires against their alignment with our own core values. We assess the performance of our existing staff against the core values.
I need to be able to trust the people who work for me to make the same decisions I would if I’m not there. You get that if everyone believes in the same thing and those things are the core values.
They aren’t easy to define because you can end up making a list of cheesy crap that sounds good but nobody buys into. You need to work hard at understanding the real essence of what you do and why you do it the way you do it.