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Basil Chen, M.B.A., is a
certified management accountant who has held various leadership positions in
public and private Canadian companies. He currently teaches at Centennial
College’s School of Business and is a Ph.D. student with the Center for
Values-Driven Leadership. Here Basil shares a case study in integrity and
decision making.
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As I sat back in my office
on a Friday afternoon looking out of the window before a long weekend, a nagging
thought crossed my mind - we are not going to make the Q3 sales numbers as we
had promised to the investors.
I walked across the hall to
the office of VP, Sales and Marketing and said, “Carl*, I don’t think we can make
the Q3 sales numbers this quarter. You have indicated many times that there is
a big sales order coming this quarter. When is it coming?”
“Basil, you worry too much,”
he said, reassuring me that it would all be okay. When I protested that we only
had a week before the quarter’s end, Carl said, “Ok, give me 48 hrs.”
The weekend passed, and on
Monday I found a pleasant surprise waiting at the office: a purchase order for $2.5 million on my desk.
Unbelievable. It was from a loyal client of the company. I read the Purchase
Order (PO) numerous times before I faced the truth: It was too good to be true. I knew this customer extremely well and
also knew that they did not have a need for such a large order.
