Category: transparency

Corruption Is A Weed That Is Not Easily Removed

“Invasive, resilient, and growing back sometimes stronger if not pulled out or removed completely, corruption is a weed that is not easily removed from society. Corruption has occurred throughout human systems at different levels throughout history since the dawn of mankind.”

Invasive, resilient, and growing back sometimes stronger if not pulled out or removed completely, corruption is a weed that is not easily removed from society. Corruption has occurred throughout human systems at different levels throughout history since the dawn of mankind. It’s a recurring feature that comes up across the world with examples ranging from post-Soviet oligarchies to Latin American caudillismo to modern lobbying culture without imposed limits or oversight mechanisms.

Corruption has different forms that emerge depending on the permissiveness of both the individual culture and its society. While corruption can’t be permanently eradicated, it must be confronted and diminished as much as possible by both citizens and leaders. A mature society recognizes the existential risk involved in how corruption can permeate a community, a society, a government, and how it must be pruned as much as possible with legal and rule-based consequences.

In my definition of corruption, it’s more than just outright bribery, grift, or stealing, it’s systematic decay in the forms it can take such as persistent favoritism, nepotism, cronyism, apathy, and moral erosion when there are no consequences for breaking the law or not obeying the rules of society. There are psychological roots involved in how corruption first gets planted as a root when greed, survival instinct, permissiveness from the society, and peer pressure takes hold since “everyone else is doing it” and “there won’t be any consequences for me” for flouting the rules or laws on the books that are supposed to stop it. There is fertile soil in any society for corruption to grow and spread as a ‘weed’ when institutions are weak, unresponsive, or don’t push back, transparency is low or non-existent, and accountability is rare for leaders and citizens.

Some examples of corruption digging in are when local or national officials enrich themselves from public projects or are enriched personally from private or backroom deals. They are involved personally in these same deals when they hold public office and do not separate their public role from their private life, which causes obvious conflict of interest issues. In the corporate world, when lobbying is not curtailed or regulated where it turns into legalized bribery. Unlimited money from a company given to a politician or a community leader to influence their decision-making is corrupt in nature, especially when this kind of ‘donation’ is not disclosed to the public. This kind of pervasiveness can spread to everyday life where the average citizen sees that those in power or who have wealth are getting away with the corruption and are not being held accountable. Possibly, you can see certain citizens cutting corners, committing nepotism, or looking the other way in response instead of pushing back and calling for accountability.

There need to be constant ‘gardeners’ on watch who need to get their hands involved to weed out the corruption in their society. Whether it’s civil society actors like journalists, whistleblowers, or reformers, they have a role to play especially when leaders or public officials do not hold themselves accountable. Backlash, burnout, and even threats to their lives are constant risks for these ‘gardeners’ but in a corrupt society, their role becomes increasingly important specifically when dismantling civil society becomes one of the goals of corrupt leadership. However, if society keeps rewarding or ignoring corruption taking place and the soil for it is fertile, then there is only so much that whistleblowers or journalists can do to stem the tide of corruption. The best the ‘gardeners’ can do is bring the corruption to light and to release the papers, reports, and evidence so that the public, likely unknown to them, just what is being done behind closed doors.

Sometimes, corruption is not limited to one leader but rather they can spawn a cascading effect as once it takes place with one central leader, his or her influence within a cabinet, an agency, or an entire government leads to the ‘hydra effect’ where it’s becomes beyond just one person and is institutionalized. Corruption becomes more than just a one-off event or about one leader, it becomes part of the culture itself, and this is when it becomes hardest to bring to light or to remove it easily from the wider society. Societies sometimes are complicit in their comfort with the level of corruption they are willing to tolerate and prefer the “devil they know” to how the system could be possibly change for the better. When you think of some examples here, the Italian mafia interlaced with the politics of the country post-WWII, when you hear of past political leaders in Colombia or Mexico who had known ties to drug gangs and cartels, or when lobbying becomes a revolving door between government and industry in the United States, that’s when it becomes embedded in the institutions themselves and is hard to remove like a cancer.

Technology can both help and hinder corruption as a double-edged sword depending on how it is used by the individual and the institution. It can either lead to more transparency by sharing instances of corruption more widely with citizens and being able to gather evidence to share with more reporting outlets. It can also lead to more digital forms of corruption that are becoming common like crypto scams, online pyramid schemes, and surveillance tools used against whistleblowers and activists. Also, illicit money including use of bogus cryptocurrencies can move faster and be dispersed faster than laws and regulations on the book can track or pinpoint the money laundering origin. Corrupt actors will also use online sources of information to promote disinformation, attack opponents with false information, or flood the zone with different orders and actions that could be considered corrupt, but for which takes time to track, to respond to, and to bring a case against in a court of law.

Nations can still control or minimize corruption through using their institutions’ digital systems in the modern age to counteract the growth of corruption because of the cyber world with their own digital tools. Whether its transparency laws on the books, or secure data regulations (the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), these institutional tools recently developed can help assist in the fight against corruption online. Strengthening an independent judiciary or legislative body is also key to push back against overreach by executive power.

Legislating for stronger whistleblower protections as well as removing threats against civil society are other ways to stem the tide of corrupt actors from lashing out against accountability measures. Another key component that relates to preventing corruption from reaching the average citizen is encouraging more civic education about how to prevent or remove it from society by focusing on trust-building within different communities including having town halls, open hearing and sessions by government officials, and encouraging public input on referendums, propositions, and leadership matters such as term limits for politicians. It’s no secret that more developed nations in Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway), Singapore, and in Oceania (Australia, New Zealand) have strict enforcement measures against corruption. In these countries, there is high trust in institutions, transparency in government actions, and social shame for citizens who engage in corruption or encourage corrupt behaviors.

The roots of corruption are there in each one of us and it’s not just out there as a distant term that applies to only the rich and powerful who are affected by its presence. How we conduct ourselves and how we relate to others has a direct impact on the kind of society you live in. When small personal compromises like lying, favoritism, or abuse of power take root, they spread throughout society little by little. “Weed management starts in your own garden” so if you want to fight corruption, hold yourself to a high standard and don’t engage at all with those people you may encounter in life who have acted corruptly or encourage it in your society.

The fight against corruption is also about the fight against one’s ego or greed or appetite for power or influence. Corruption, while it can’t be 100% eradicated, it can be minimized and kept under tight controls with constant vigilance by both the individual and the institution. It’s not just “liberty that requires our constant vigilance” as abolitionist Wendell Phillips once wrote in 1952 but also about maintaining our integrity and preventing others from falling into corrupt practices. Societies that understand the existential threat of corruption and how endless yet necessary the work of ‘weeding’ it out will be are the ones that will prosper, be just, and keep the weeds at bay.

Accountability Starts at the Top

“Having great power comes with great responsibilities as the popular adage goes and that involves making sure you set a good example for your peers and those people who look up to you.”

Good leadership has never been more important than it is now. Regardless of which organization, firm, company, or working body you oversee or manage, you have a responsibility to be open, transparent, and accountable to both your subordinates and others who have a stake in the leadership role you oversee. Having great power comes with great responsibilities as the popular adage goes and that involves making sure you set a good example for your peers and those people who look up to you.

While what you’re in your own role should not reflect on how others in an organized company, firm, or agency to do their own roles, but you can have an outsized impact on the effect you have on other people you work with by setting a good example for them. What do I mean by setting a good example? There are several ways, including the fifteen I have listed below to do that in a leadership role in the working world and for which will not only help you as a leader but help the workplace that you are both developing and managing.

  1. Own Up to Your Mistakes – Acknowledge personal errors without deflecting blame to your subordinates. This sets up a culture where it’s okay to fail, but it’s crucial to learn from it without being chastised.
  2. Communicate Transparently and Consistently – Keep team members in the loop about decisions, challenges, and updates on a weekly or at least a monthly basis. Transparent communication fosters trust and accountability. Avoiding gossip, rumors, and other loose talk is a key role of a leader to make sure that doesn’t override official guidance.
  3. Set Clear Expectations for Everyone – Define what success looks like in specific terms for each person’s performance and hold everyone, including themselves as the leader or CEO, to those same standards.
  4. Lead by Actual Action(s) – Demonstrate work ethic, punctuality, proper dress code and overall professionalism each day. Leaders who practice what they preach inspire others to do the same. Always be willing to put in serious work relevant to your company’s mission and not just sit in meetings all day when you could be pitching in to help with the big picture, especially for a smaller organization when you may not have as many employees to solve problems that come up each day.
  5. Encourage Consistent Feedback from Others – Actively seek feedback from all levels of the organization for how things could improve or be better for the average worker. This shows that the leader values input and is open to improvement even when it may reflect negatively on them or the organization.
  6. Hold Themselves to the Same Standard – Apply the same level of accountability to themselves as they would to others, regardless of rank or position. Make sure that they are open to having their performance reviewed just the same as anyone else.
  7. Be Consistent in Your Decision Making – Consistency in decisions, actions, and behavior reinforces trust and a culture of accountability. For example, if there is a flexible hybrid or remote work policy and a contract is signed for that part of the work environment, that cannot just be ended without abiding by the contract or letting people know there will be changes after the end of a contract. It’s important to not pull the rug out from your employees when they come into the job with certain work expectations that they agreed to.
  8. Provide Recognition and Consequences – Celebrate successes and address failures in a fair and constructive way. Holding people accountable, positively or negatively, ensures a balanced approach that people will appreciate because of your honesty and consistency.
  9. Empower Other People in Their Roles – Provide resources, training, and autonomy for team members to succeed and be responsible for their roles. Make sure that they can go to conferences, relevant trainings, skills development courses, and other events that they will benefit from whether it’s for IT, sales, marketing, business development, etc.
  10. Always Maintain Ethical and Moral Standards – Model both Ethical and Morally sound behavior for others in your organization, even when no one is looking. This sets a baseline for personal and organizational integrity that others will follow based on your example as the leader of the firm and because they know they are doing right and following the rules.
  11. Be Present and Available to Everyone – Hold open office hours each week and make it a priority to meet with each employee or each team throughout the year to see how they are doing, especially individually. Be accessible to all team members when they need guidance or clarity, demonstrating commitment to their growth and accountability in your firm or organization.
  12. Follow Through on Your Commitments – Demonstrate reliability by keeping promises and meeting deadlines, setting an example for follow-through in the organization. Your word is your bond as a leader in the work you do, and others will want to do business with you or continue the partnership if you are able to do what you said you were going to do.
  13. Foster a Culture of Mutual Accountability – Cultivate an environment where everyone feels responsible for the success of the team, not just individual performance. If you have different teams, make sure they know the role that is expected of them, what they are responsible for, and how to resolve issues with each other when they inevitably come up.
  14. Address Issues Promptly and Privately – Tackle accountability problems early before they grow into larger organizational issues, showing that problems are addressed fairly and swiftly. Make sure to do it privately as well with those affected employees and keep it constructive in terms of ensuring more accountability. It’s never good to air out grievances with your workers in public or in front of a team or group of employees.
  15. Provide Continued Growth and Training Opportunities – Workers want to feel like they are progressing in the job and giving skills or certification training(s) can really help with overall job satisfaction. Being able to provide a long-term trajectory for those people in your firm or company so they stick around and lower the turnover rate is key too.

Being a leader of a company, firm, or organization is not easy, but the reward of being an effective leader of a thriving workplace is worth the stress of it all. You must be a positive example who sets a high standard but also is able to help the people under you develop their own professional futures and be willing to adapt and adjust your own ideas and policies based on constructive feedback. If accountability and transparency are to thrive in any organization, it must come from leadership first and work its way down through the hierarchy.