Donald Trump may be president of the United States, commander in chief of our armed forces and leader of the free world, but he wouldn’t last a week at United Parcel Service. Why? Because he doesn’t have the two qualities you need to work there: integrity and accountability.
UPS started as a messenger service in Seattle, Wash., in 1907 with a half-dozen messengers. They delivered mail, food and supplies to the businesses and hotels of Seattle. Today UPS has over 450,000 employees, delivering to over 220 countries, with revenues of $861 billion and $7 billion in profits. They continually rate as one of the most-admired companies in the world. I retired from UPS in 2010 after a 31-year career.
UPS’s sustained growth over the years was possible because UPS founder Jim Casey knew that trust was at the core of his success. And that integrity and accountability were the two best ways to build that trust. He knew that without trust, his fledgling company wouldn’t last. Integrity and accountability have been part of UPS’s DNA ever since. UPS is not a perfect company. But they strive to be an honest one. Integrity was so important that there was a saying at work: “No one ever got fired for telling the truth.”
Integrity also became part of the company’s policy which states:
“We insist upon integrity in our people. We understand that integrity is fundamental to how we run our business. Operating with integrity means we provide an atmosphere in which people can perform their jobs in an ethical manner. When we do discover a dishonest person in our organization, we deal with that person quickly and firmly.”
According to the Washington Post, Donald Trump had made over 16,000 false or misleading claims since becoming president. Trump lies about everything: big and small; short and tall. Lying and corruption are two sides of the same coin. In order to be corrupt you have to lie. Trump’s constant lying has taken its toll on his credibility with Americans. According to a recent Quinnipiac poll:
• 64 percent of Americans believe Trump is a criminal
• 50 percent believe he’s committed crimes while in office.
And on the world stage, the perception of our president is equally disturbing. A recent Pew Poll shows:
• 64 percent of our allies don’t think Trump will do the right thing.
The second key to UPS’s success is accountability, or taking responsibility for your actions, good or bad.
In case you haven’t noticed, Trump doesn’t admit mistakes, and never apologizes. He hogs all the credit and blames others for his failures. It’s just the opposite of what Jim Casey, or any other great leader, would do. At UPS, we called these Trump-like managers “con men.” They were just shooting stars who were destined to be exposed as frauds. The difference between Trump and a dishonest UPS manager is that the UPS manager would eventually be fired. Trump, for some unknown reason, has a cult-like following with the Republican cowards in Washington.
Integrity and accountability are not only staples at UPS. The military is known for its own honor code, which is taught at the service academies. It explains why so many military leaders have left the Trump administration - where they were asked to lie and even break the law in order to support and protect the president.
Most successful companies and organizations have no place for liars on their payroll. Building trust was so important at UPS that they trained managers on how to build it. They called it the 3 C’s of the Trust Model: Competence, credibility and caring. If you possessed these three abilities, people trusted you. And when you have people’s trust, you can achieve great results.
Let’s take a look at The Trust Model as it relates to Trump’s response to the coronavirus situation:
• Competence: Medical experts claim that the Trump administration is ill-equipped to deal with this virus. Since taking office, Trump has declared war on the government’s scientific community and led a purge on the very people we need to fight this virus. He fired, removed or transferred hundreds of scientists. He gutted their agencies, cut their budgets and ignored facts that didn’t agree with his warped view of science. A climate denier, Trump is left with a scientific team that is woefully inept and ill-equipped to deal with the pandemic. I’m afraid that the U.S. response to this threat will be that of a third-world country.
• Trump’s point man on the corona team is just as incompetent, VP Mike Pence. Pence’s daily press briefings would make good SNL skits if the reality wasn’t so dire. A combination of praise for Trump, happy talk, and hand-sanitizing tips, Pence dodges real questions about statistics on new cases, breakdowns in the system and reasons for the delay of getting testing kits to hospitals and doctor’s offices.
• Pence has a history of bungling epidemics by looking for solutions through religion and not science. He delayed implementing a needle exchange program to fight an HIV epidemic in Indiana while he was governor. This allowed the epidemic to spread. The reason for Pence’s delay?
He wanted to pray for guidance. And while he prayed, people died. In a pandemic I want someone schooled in science, not scripture, to lead the charge.
• Credibility: For three-and-a-half years, Trump’s lying and deceit has ruined his credibility and damaged America’s reputation around the world.
Seventy percent of Americans don’t trust him, and neither does most of the world. At some point, Trump will address the country about the severity of the coronavirus. And most Americans won’t believe him, no matter what he says. This lack of trust in Trump will make us all less safe.
That’s the high cost of low trust. At UPS, we had a saying: “Stop peeing in my ear and telling me it’s raining.” Well, Trump has been peeing in America’s ear since becoming president. He may have small hands but his bladder is enormous.
• Caring: Trump seems more concerned with the falling stock market and his re-election than he does about the health of the American people.
His attempts to minimize the risks of the virus to buoy the stock market or help his re-election are typical behavior for our con man president. Take his attempts to keep the infected cruise ship from landing in California. He didn’t want the infected corona cases to come ashore and be counted as new U.S. cases. UPS would have gotten a whiff of Trump’s incompetence, low credibility and lack of caring and shown him the door. If UPS wouldn’t trust Trump to deliver your Christmas presents across town, why would you trust him to run your government?
Donald Trump couldn’t work for UPS. Could he work for your company?
Jack Hoban
Lewes
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