I had an interesting conversation with Brett Wright, the owner of D&H Air Conditioning and Heating. He is rather insightful when it comes to managing people and I needed his advice. He summed everything up when he said, “It is more important to do the right thing than it is to be right.”
It took me a few minutes to fully appreciate that statement and it spawned a new conversation.
Imagine the hypothetical case of a human resource manager who updated the background check on an existing employee who was applying for a promotion. While reviewing the social media profile, the manager saw disturbing images and posts made by the employee. He or she also noticed some major inconsistencies in the original employment application. It appears the employee had lied on the application and was never eligible for hire.
The human resource manager denied the promotion request and terminated the employee. The employee denied the wrongdoing, but it was a moot point. As word spread through the organization, upper management congratulated the HR manager for catching the mistake.
A few months later, the HR manager realized he or she had made a huge mistake. They had been looking at the wrong social media profile.
The HR manager did not know what to do. Should he or she correct the mistake and offer to hire the employee back? If so, HR would look bad in the eyes of management. It could also expose the company to a potential lawsuit. Would it be better to say nothing and appear to be right or to do the right thing?
People with a strong ego may struggle to do the right thing, especially when it makes them look bad. They may prefer to “be right” than to do the right thing in this scenario.
What would you do?
