My best friend died, long live Benjamin!

I was not sorry when my best friend died. But in business, you must take risks, right?

In my 23 years of professional life, I have worked in over a dozen corporates. All of which were operating under a strict incorruptible, meritocratic, and honest set of rules that were vigorously enforced.

Well... sort of!

I've always wondered whether corruption is subjective? is it situational? so what can be deemed a corrupt behaviour at a time or a place, could be seen as normal business behaviour in another?

Your personal values, believes and external influences play a big role in answering these questions for you. Are you ready to be tested? ok here we go. But first, I won't ask you to be "true to yourself"; this request is invalid. Simply because the premise of being truthful or not, necessitates the ability to hide the "truth", and hiding is an act that can only take place between you and someone else other than you. Therefore, you know your own behaviours, intentions, and past actions very well. In fact, you certainly can remember or even predict how would you react in certain situations.

So, let me ask you this, have you ever thrown something as little as a plastic straw on the floor, in a trashed place? No?

ok...

How about this, when you were at a crowded place, a checkpoint of some sort, did you slip a Benjamin knowing that it would get you ahead quicker?

Not once?

impressive...

Ok how about if you were at a red traffic light, at 2AM in an empty junction, would you cross it? I know I would... as a matter of a fact, I think I did it once or twice. Does that make me a corrupt person?

Are all the above acts and behaviours equally corrupt? If your answer is yes, then you hold yourself to high moral values and I applaud you for it. But life is much more complicated than that don't you think?

What if you are at the red light, and its completely empty in the middle of the night with no sight of cars whatsoever, and you urgently need to get to the hospital for a life-or-death emergency? Is that like throwing a tiny plastic wrapper on the floor,

in an abandoned dirty place? the jury is out on this one.

Not all corrupt acts are created equal, I guess you and I can agree on that.

For instance,

bribing or accepting a bribe to unsafely dump toxic waste, is an extremely corrupt act by all standards. Simply because its impact on almost all those affected by it is catastrophic. But throwing a coke can in the ocean during a fishing trip can hurt a fish or two, big deal! I know I know, the environment, sustainability, and our mother earth, I get it, I am just attempting to contextualize corrupt behaviour on a spectrum, not validate it!

So, when a client hands you a quotation from a competitor and requests a better offer, where does that sit on your corruption spectrum? How do you feel when you know a certain client won't give you business unless you slip them some Benjamins, but you also know your finances are being audited, so you hire a "contractor" to do the job for you? Or your boss requests you to do a job for an entity you know as clear as day they are engaged in vicious activities, would you accept doing it looking the other way?

When your "own" makes a reckless and incompetent mistake that cost the company loss of business, do you simply tap them on the back and move on? Alright what about hiring? do you do it based on pure meritocracy, or do you engage in "nepotism"?

I get it, its only business, nothing personal. You are just in pursuit of a favourable economic condition for your country, for your organization, for yourself, and most importantly for your family. If that is the case, then it's ok, you understand corruption very well, so well in fact that you can justify it and even teach it to others around you, contributing to a wider culture of individual prosperity, individual growth, and individual winning.

What about me you ask? Well, when my closest friend started winning "individually", relying on his business corruption spectrum a bit too often, he became a bit too unhuman. To me, he was as good as dead!

Do you see now how corruption is subjective and contextual? Now please allow me to go and "help" my daughter with her online tests.