Four Little Questions with

Four Big Consequences

By Allan W. Eickelmann, D.Min.

Associate Teaching Professor, the University of Southern Mississippi

 Member of the Rotary Club of New Orleans

 

Once a week, every week, over a million Rotarians from around the world ask themselves:

This is the Four Way Test of the things we think, say and do.  It is a test of our basic integrity, since integrity consists of ethical congruity in thought, word and deed.  The test is more than a test of what we do; it is a test of who we are.

 

Each little question, is packed with huge consequences.  Let’s first look at the importance of truth telling and let’s ask another question; once you lie to me, why should I ever pay attention to anything else that you have to say?

 

Lawyers understand this, which is why a good lawyer will tell a witness to never commit perjury.  If they have a witness who perjurers himself or herself and the jury gets a hint of it, their case is sunk.

 

If you are in business and you lie to a customer, you have just lost that customer.  If you are a student and you misrepresent somebody else’s work as your own, be prepared to fail the class or be kicked out of school.  The consequences of lying are huge. 

 

When I taught business ethics, I would ask my class, “Did you ever work for somebody who asked you to lie for them?”  Unfortunately, about half the people in that class would normally raise their hands.  To which I would respond, “I can’t think of anything more dysfunctional than that. For when you train people to lie for you, you are also training them to lie to you.  You are creating an organizational culture of dishonesty, which is an out of control culture that nobody can manage.”  If you expect your employees to be honest with you, you have to expect them to be honest period and you yourself must model that honesty.

 

At the United States Military Academy at West Point, the cadets have to recite the following code, “I will not lie, cheat or steal, nor tolerate those who do.”  The military recognizes that someone who engages in any of these activities is not fit to be an officer and is likely to bring disgrace to the uniform, as well as cause disaster on the battlefield.   Honesty is crucial to national defense.  The consequences of failing to speak truthfully do not get any bigger than that. 

 

Guru Nanak founded the religion of Sikhism during the Fifteenth Century.  His avowed purpose was to reconcile the various religions of the world.  His name for God was “The One Eternal Truth.”  He understood that by whatever name God is called, God, first and foremost stands for eternal truth.  In other words, the truth is of eternal significance.  The truth is the sacred realm of the eternal, and this is why the first question that we ask is, “Is it the truth?”

 

Secondly, we ask, “Is it fair to all concerned.”  This is the principal of reciprocity. It is the Golden Rule. Fairness simply means that what is good for one is good for everyone.  It is the principle of equal treatment under the law.

 

Virtually every world religion has its own way of expressing this truth.  In the Udana Varga 5.18 the Buddha says, “Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.”  In Analects 15.23 Confucius says, “One word which sums up the basis of all good conduct: loving kindness.  Do not do to others what you would not want done to yourself.”  The prophet Mohamad says in the 13^th of the 40 Hadiths of Narwawi, “Not one of you truly believes until you wish for others what you wish for yourself.” In Hinduism, in the Mahabharata 3:1517 it is written, “This the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you.” In the Talmud, Shabbath 31.a the great Jewish teacher, Hillel puts it this way, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.  This is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary. Go and learn it.”  And Jesus of Nazareth said, “In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 7:12)  The great religions and the great religious figures of the world all agree that, first and foremost, moral behavior is based on reciprocity. In every corner of the world, Rotarians will find this basic moral guide being lifted up.

 

This principle is played out every day in ways both big and small, as a teller gives you $20.00 in change and you point out that you should only have received $10.00.  It happens when you are working on a complex contract and you point out that the contract needs to favor the other person as much as it favors you. It happens when a business points out a costly mistake and takes action to correct it, at no cost to the customer.  Doing the fair thing is doing the right thing, even when it is costly, because you know this is the way that you would like to be treated if the situation were reversed.

 

Fairness builds trust.  If I have a business partner and that partner knows that I am looking out for their interest as much as I am looking out for my own, the partnership is more likely to be successful.  If I enter into a contractual arrangement with a commitment to the idea that all parties to the contract need to benefit from the arrangement, it is far less likely that the contract will unravel or become the point of a dispute in a court of law.  Fairness is the solid foundation upon which all creative cooperation and collaboration can be built.  Without fairness, businesses collapse, international conflicts arise, and marriages fail.   Once again we find that this very simple little question, “Is it fair to all concerned?” has big consequences.

The third question that we ask is, “Will it build good will and better friendships?”  What does the blue print for good will and friendship look like?  It looks a lot like going the extra mile.  It looks like doing some unexpected something extra for someone.

 

In New Orleans, we have what is referred to as lagniappe.  Lagniappe is something extra. It is a taken from a Spanish term which was reworked visa via Louisiana French.  I say Louisiana French, because you will not find this term in a regular French dictionary.  It has its origins in Louisiana where a merchant would throw in something a little extra with your purchase, so when you order 12 red roses, you receive 13.  Very often, if you go to one of the fine restaurants of New Orleans, you will receive lagniappe, as the waiter brings you something special from the kitchen that you did not order and for which you will not be charged.  It is a gift from the chef, which he or she wants you to enjoy.  It is such lagniappe which builds good will and better friendships.

 

These kind of relationships can be developed cross culturally, even in one’s own community.  For example, we have a fairly large poor and homeless population in the city of New Orleans.  There are a number of “kitchens” that serve this population.  However, several of the Rotary clubs in district 6840 have taken this a step further.  The members of these clubs serve in the Crescent City Café.  I say serve, because that is what they literally do.  The members become table servers, with the café guests being hosted to their tables by a Rotarian, where they are greeted by another Rotarian, who takes their orders, so that yet other Rotarians can cook their breakfast to order.  The table at which the guests sit is draped in white linen. The service is personal and the food is to their taste.  This is not just a chow line.  This is treating folks with dignity and respect, who are not use to receiving such dignity and respect.  Good will permeates the dining room.

 

Building good will and better friendships, also means the creation of bonded relationships.  Developing such relationships is the foundation of domestic tranquility, civil order and international peace.  Whenever someone new moves into the neighborhood, my wife makes them some brownies.  The result being a relationship that is formed with neighbor looking out for neighbor.  The principle also works when it comes to international relations. Allies protect one another in national defense and enhance one another in trade and in cultural exchange, creating bonded relationships, anchored in cooperative interdependence.

 

It also works in business. I have a friend who recently received a new job.  This job has changed his entire attitude.  In his previous positions he referred to his employers as “they,” and he had an I versus them attitude.  This was due in large part to the shabby way in which his employers treated him.  He did not feel bonded to them.

In his new job, when talking about his employers he refers to them as “we.”  He sees himself as part of the organization.  He constantly has an eye out for ways that he can make the business more efficient, more profitable and more sustainable.  He feels bonded to his new company, because they made him feel important and valuable.  One day, he was unexpectedly given an on the spot cash bonus.  This had never happened to him before. He felt cared for and appreciated.  In a relatively short period of time, he had become bonded to the job, and because his employers have looked out for him, they have a dedicated employee, whom they will retain, as they endeavor to expand their business.  You might want to say that my friend is not just an employee, but a dedicated and loyal friend of the company for which he now works.  He now sees its or success as his success.  That is what it means to build good will and better friendships.  Once again, the little question, “Will it build good will and better friendships?” has big consequences.

 

You see, good will and friendship is all about loyalty.  In business it means showing loyalty to your customers and to your employees.  When you do so, generally, such loyalty is returned and you have entered into a committed relationship.

 

The final question we ask is, “Will it be beneficial to all concerned?”  This question poses a particular problem, because the corresponding question has to be; is it even possible to be beneficial to all concerned?  The honest answer is probably no, not in all instances.  Nevertheless, it is important to maintain such an aspiration, because our aspirations lead us to new possibilities.

 

In the 18^th and 19^th centuries the philosophers Jeremy Bentham and John Stewart Mill developed what is known as the Utility Principle.  According to this principle, the ethical thing to do is that which will promote the greatest good for the greatest number, with the additional caveat that it is important to avoid needless harm.  It is in accordance with this principal that penal systems were transformed into correctional systems.  After all, who benefits from punishment without correction?  The answer is no one.  Yet, there is still a significant minority of the population that will resist all efforts at correction. In other words, sometimes total beneficence is not possible, but it must be an ideal. It must be something toward which we constantly strive.

 

The idea of universal human beneficence is a Utilitarian ideal.  It is the bedrock of much of progressive thinking.  According to this way of thinking, those who are pushed to the margins and receive no benefit from the society are more likely to be a drag on the society as a whole, because such marginalization will lead to crime and social disorganization.  This was certainly the case in the Industrial cities of Britain and of the United States in the Nineteenth Century, where the poor lived in urban squalor, plagued by disease, hunger, pestilence and ignorance.  In the early Twentieth Century, social reforms were instituted that pushed back on harsh working and living conditions that were evidenced in high crime and urban blight. These social reforms were the direct result of the Utility Principle developed by Bentham and Mill.  The result of these reforms was cleaner, safer, healthier cities and the expansion of the middle class.  It is this principle that is reflected in the fourth principle of the Four Way Test.

 

As Rotarians we are committed to societal transformations through social reforms.  We might not always agree on how to institute such reforms, but we do agree that such reforms are absolutely essential to promote world peace.  The Polio Plus campaign of the last twenty years is reflective of such a commitment. Who does such a campaign benefit?  The answer is not just those who are immunized, but the entire global community benefits from the eradication of polio.  One more time, we have a little question, with huge consequences.

 

Too often we think of the Four Way Test as a personal test, but it is much more than that.  It is a test that can be applied, not just to individuals but to governments, business organizations, not for profit organizations, professional associations, educational institutions and families.  In order to do so a systematic process needs to be adopted, by which organizations and institutions develop an ethics management program.

 

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to work with a division of a major American Corporation on the development of such a process.  It involved using the Four Way Test as the basis for a corporate ethics management program.  The benefit of using the Four Way Test to establish such a program should be obvious.  First of all, the Four Way Test is easy for everyone to remember.  In New Orleans, the member of my club recite it from memory every week.  Such a weekly exercise is very significant.  Like the Lord’s Prayer for Christians or a mantra for Hindus, the reciting of the Four Way test needs to be implanted in our memory banks, so that it is always at the forefront of our mind.  When something is mentally front and center, you find yourself being attentive to it.  It has transformational power.

 

For example, my father in law was not a Rotarian, but he had the heart of one.  If he could do something good, he would.  One of his favorite sayings was, “if you can, you must.”  I can’t get that saying out of my head.  Many a time in recent years, it has brought me out of my own cares and concerns to be attentive to the needs of somebody else.  That is exactly what The Four Way Test is designed to do.  It brings us out of our own little world to think about the needs of others in such a way that we actually put “service above self.”

 

When we incorporate The Four Way test into our business or professional organizations, everything that is done is measured against its standards.  I have already detailed the ways that incorporating the Four Way Test is good for your business and your profession.  Normally, it reflects the principle of enlightened self-interest.  You simply have to trust that this is the case, but don’t think of this as some sort of panacea.  Sometimes doing the right thing is very costly, however, you have to keep your mind focused on the long term consequences, which will always be good.  We also have to be aware that balancing the interests of all concerned can be very tricky.  We won’t always achieve perfection, but this doesn’t mean that we abandon our ideals.

 

So, post the Four Way test in your office.  If you are the boss, post it all over the place.  Get people to start thinking about the importance of this little test.  There is one thing that I know, you will experience big consequences.