Confessions of an IT Manager_Phil Factor
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A Chilling Prophecy<br />
First published 27 December 2008<br />
'Integrity is the rock on which western business was<br />
founded'. Could it be true? <strong>Phil</strong> hopes not for all our<br />
sakes.<br />
When I was a schoolboy with f<strong>an</strong>tasies about being a successful<br />
businessm<strong>an</strong>, I went to a lecture given by one <strong>of</strong> the most successful<br />
entrepreneurs <strong>of</strong> the time.<br />
The white-haired gentlem<strong>an</strong> who gave the lecture was the complete<br />
<strong>an</strong>tithesis <strong>of</strong> what I had expected a successful businessm<strong>an</strong> to look like. He was<br />
quiet, courteous, respectful <strong>an</strong>d reflective. He proceeded to spell out the<br />
qualities he looked for in young people aspiring to make a success in the rough<br />
<strong>an</strong>d tumble <strong>of</strong> the City. He emphasized over <strong>an</strong>d over again that a lot <strong>of</strong> talents<br />
were required but they were as naught without integrity. It was integrity which<br />
formed the rock on which western business was founded.<br />
Integrity? I had to go <strong>an</strong>d look the word up.<br />
Various awful experiences have happened to me in business, the Business <strong>of</strong><br />
S<strong>of</strong>tware, that have convinced me that this seeming platitude is <strong>of</strong><br />
overwhelming import<strong>an</strong>ce. Being utterly straightforward in all ones business<br />
dealings is such <strong>an</strong> embarrassingly boring piece <strong>of</strong> advice that one hesitates to<br />
give it. The problem is that everyone has to do it. In fact, the industrial<br />
revolution <strong>of</strong> the Victori<strong>an</strong> era couldn't have happened without the ethical<br />
constraints <strong>of</strong> the close-knit trading community based on mutual trust, with the<br />
catchword 'My word is my bond'. It is <strong>an</strong> unnatural state for <strong>an</strong>y hum<strong>an</strong> group<br />
barring a successful army. You only have to study the way business was<br />
conducted in London, M<strong>an</strong>chester or Bristol in the 1860s, without <strong>an</strong>y<br />
information technology to see that there was a magical ingredient. Despite what<br />
you might have heard, Chicago, Paris, Tokyo, <strong>an</strong>d New York all prospered<br />
under a similar cartel <strong>of</strong> traders who chose to be painstakingly honest with each<br />
other <strong>an</strong>d ruthless with <strong>an</strong>yone who broke the code. No amount <strong>of</strong> regulation,<br />
clever <strong>IT</strong>, or policing c<strong>an</strong> substitute for this in today's business community, as<br />
recent events have proved. The current recession is based not on a breakdown<br />
<strong>of</strong> the monetary system, but <strong>of</strong> the essential honesty <strong>of</strong> the m<strong>an</strong>agement <strong>of</strong> the<br />
b<strong>an</strong>king system, <strong>an</strong>d <strong>of</strong> the businesses that depend on it.
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