Living Your Values – No Matter The Cost
Integrity
Sustainable Performance
Client Centricity
Innovation
Discipline
Partnership
These are the values of Deutsche Bank. Notice which one is first on their list.
Among the behaviors Deutsche Bank uses to define Integrity are “we live by the highest standards of integrity in everything we say”, “we do what is right – not just what is allowed”, “we communicate openly; we invite, provide and respect challenging views”.
(Read the definitions of the other Deutsche Bank values here.)
I looked up Deutsche Bank’s values after reading several Financial Times stories about ex-employee Eric Ben-Artzi. He was sacked a year or so after joining the company as a vice-president in the market-risk department. Sacked because he became aware of false accounting at the bank, and was rebuffed by his superiors when he shared his findings. Soon after he wound up a whistle blower to the SEC.
Did I mention Integrity is the first value on Deutsche Bank’s values list? Which, once again, according to the company, means that “we do what is right – not just what is allowed”.
What first drew me to these articles in the Financial Times, was the headline “Deutsche Bank Whistleblower Snubs $8.25m SEC Payout”. You read that correctly. Ben-Artzi refused to accept his share of the third largest award the SEC has ever given to whistleblowers.
Why? Because the way that Deutsche Bank and the SEC work together violates his values. He is outraged that, according to him, the revolving door for senior executives between the two organizations, including during the investigation of his findings, has led to a miscarriage of justice.
Deutsche Bank was levied a $55 million fine for their malfeasance, but guess who’s footing the bill? Not the executives who were responsible for the crime, but the bank’s shareholders. Not a single wrongdoer was prosecuted. Even worse, top executives have retired with “multi-million dollar bonuses based on the misrepresentation of the bank’s balance sheet.”
Ben-Artzi’s values are so strong that even though he is not a wealthy man, especially now that his finances have taken a big hit as a result of his coming forward to the SEC, he refuses to accept the award. As he put it, “I will not join in the looting of the very people I was hired to protect.” He has instead requested that his award “be given to Deutsche Bank and its stakeholders, and the award money be clawed back from the bonuses paid to the Deutsch Bank executives, especially the former top SEC attorneys.”
I am in awe of the strength of Ben-Artzi’s character and willingness to sacrifice so much to follow his values. Would that we had more such people working inside corporations and other organizations making sure that we aren’t the victims of such malfeasance.. Especially within government watchdog organizations supposedly protecting us from those of little moral character only out for themselves.
I’m often in discussions with organizations I work with about the importance and power of corporate values. It’s power that only develops when those at the top hold themselves and the entire organization accountable for exhibiting these values in all that they do. Values mean nothing if they are only used for marketing purposes, as sayings to be pulled out in interviews to sound impressive rather than as inviolable guides for all actions.
Think about your company values…are they always followed? Or are they brushed aside if a sale depends on it or if a higher profit will result? And you, do you let your values become overridden when a bigger bonus will result?
Or do you and your company have the courage of Eric Ben-Artzi to do what is right no matter the consequences?
Steve – years ago, I had a conversation about Core Values with the gentleman who was CEO of a great big, well-known, global consulting firm at the time I had worked there. I don’t remember the whole dialog, which took place via email over the course of a week or two. I do remember the beginning, which was me saying, “The day I arrived, I has handed a sheet with the firm’s Core Values on it. They were exactly what you would expect and hope for from a firm like this – all about analytic integrity, putting the client’s best interests first, telling the client what they needed to hear even when it wasn’t what they wanted to hear. And I saw them violated by partners every single day I worked here, which made me very sad.”
I also remember the end of the conversation, which was me saying in response to his commentary about the importance of their values, “At the end of the day, your REAL Core Values are not the ones you hand out or put on the wall. They are the things you would fire someone for violating. I never saw anyone fired for violating the “official” values. Not even the two partners I worked for on a project in which it was so obvious they were milking an ignorant client that the turnaround guys the bank eventually stuck into the company (which shows how helpful we were) sued us to try to get the fees back. In fact, the only thing I EVER saw a partner fired for was failing to sell. So it looks to me like the firm actually has just one Core Value, which is near-term revenue generation. That’s what the firm actually cares about, and the day-to-day culture of the place absolutely reflects that.”
So that’s my story. We get the behavior we tolerate. Or if you’re Volkswagen or Deutsche Bank, apparently the behavior you encourage. If you won’t fire someone for violating it, save yourself the paper because it’s not a Core Value.