Word!

No, not the hipsters' phrase.... I mean your word.

Do you want to conduct business in an ethical manner? Start with this -- never go back on your word. And, in today's world of changing environments and conflicting demands, consistently keeping your word will be a remarkable achievement. Not only will it enable people to trust and rely on you, it will help build unshakable team loyalty that holds together through up and down business cycles.

Just keep in mind that this takes considerable effort -- easier said than done.

The best boss I ever worked for never went back on his word. In the ten years I worked for him, his word was a guarantee. This particular boss also had an unusual method of saying “no” -- he would simply not say "yes", rather than vocalizing "no". While in some organizations this might breed frustration, in this case it actually created a high level of motivation, focused on developing new ideas and ventures. If you didn't hear "no", you kept coming back with stronger arguments and answers to his objections. The process was also a good test of your commitment to an idea. If you didn't come back at least two or three times how committed to the new idea were you? And, once you heard "yes" you knew you had his backing all the way.

This gentleman was an accidental business executive. Trained as a computer scientist, he turned around a small, money losing division and then steadily rose up the ladder. He catapulted over more polished and "sophisticated" executives surprising many with his unassuming and publicity shy manner. During his tenure, he delivered more than 40 consecutive quarters of record earnings.

In contrast, the worst boss I ever worked for kept his word only when conditions made it easy for him to do so. For him, going against his word was a strategy for dealing with tough times. Once, when we recognized that we had too much manufacturing capacity in Chicago, he ordered me to stop making lease payments on a rental facility. His logic was, "After a couple of months, the landlord might threaten to sue but eventually he’ll settle to avoid the legal expense. In the meantime, we will improve our cash flow and reduce our space commitments."

I just couldn't do it. I continued to pay the landlord at the risk of being fired. I had given the landlord my word.

After a few years, our company continued to be in dire straits financially. I offered to resign as a way of reducing overhead. He replied that this would not be good for the company in the long run as he viewed me as his choice to succeed him as CEO. Only a month later, he fired me, adding that he too was being forced out by the board. This turned out not to be true -- it was simply an easier way for him to break the news to me. Ultimately, getting fired was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.

In contrast to the high-integrity leader I mentioned first, this boss ran his company into the ground. Once publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, it repeatedly recorded losses for close to twenty years. Eventually, it was taken private and the new owners fired him. And, to top it off, he was later convicted of securities fraud and served time in a Federal prison. Word!