THE GREATEST LESSON
Mallory Walden
E10654452
Emporia State University
The Greatest Lesson
Ethical leadership is leading by recognizing and doing what’s right. The biggest
challenge in this is knowing what is right versus what is wrong, or unethical. For people in a
leadership positions, there is an increase in the importance of being ethical. Leaders set an
example for those they lead and those that will lead after them. One way for leaders to be “right”
is to strive to be 100% compliant in the rules of their particular industry or area. Another is to
have respect for those around them – their employees, customers, competitors and more.
Growing up with a dominant and outgoing personality, I have been in many leadership positions.
Throughout these experiences, I have subconsciously realized the importance of ethical
leadership. Thinking about what event in my life to write about made me realize a four year
journey that solidified my belief in doing the right thing no matter what other people around me
are doing. This journey started when I was 16 at my first job and my first opportunity to lead in a
work environment.
At age 16, I was asked to help coach the swim team I had been on for ten years. As
excited as I was, I was also nervous. I would be in charge of more than fifty kids ages 5-10 and
help with about forty more 11-17 year olds. At that time, I was not sure what it would take to be
an effective leader. I enjoyed leading projects in school and had experience as a captain on my
soccer team, but this was new – I would be responsible for kids and families I was not familiar
with. Making practices and teaching new skills to the kids became my top priority. In the league
our team swam in, it was also the coaches’ responsibility to sign kids up for meets. Of course,
there were rules. Most notably, kids must swim in their age group or older and only in three
events. I helped sign all of our kids on the team up for swim meets. With over 100 kids on a
team, there were complications, such as kids not showing up for their events. Instead of
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scratching (forfeiting) these events, we would occasionally put kids into relay events they did not
belong in – thus they would be swimming in 4 events. This was the way it had been done for a
while and the coaches I learned from were used to. I followed their guidance and broke the same
rules.
In our minds we weren’t doing anything wrong. If we didn’t do this, the three other kids
in that event would have to forfeit. As a team that always got first or second at meets, we were
scared to lose those precious few points we would gain by breaking the rules. What I had failed
to realize at the time was that we were teaching those kids that cheating was ok. This wasn’t
ethical – even in a small recreation league, ethics are important. It had spread an acceptance of
breaking meet rules to the coaching staff throughout the years.
The third year of coaching I became the head swim coach. At age 18, I became not only
the head coach but also the head lifeguard at that pool. I was the primary contact for all the
swimmers, parents, and lifeguards. It was then that I recognized the importance of doing things
the right way. Doing things ethically was not only a safeguard for my job but also an important
lesson I wanted to bring to the pool. I wanted the lifeguards and the kids on the team to
understand the value of doing the ethical thing. We were still able to do extremely well at our
swim meets and it also spread responsibility and ownership to the kids of the swim team. They
felt responsible to show up to the events they signed up for. They knew if they failed to do this
they would be letting their teammates down.
My fourth year our pool was closed and my manager and I were transferred to another
pool in the city. This pool was our rival in swim meets and had been beating us for a few years. I
again became head guard and head swim coach. The previous members of the staff had gotten in
trouble for breaking rules, outside of swim team, for the City. We were sent to go there and help
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turn the pool around and keep it in line with the rules. This pool had the top attendance of any
other pools in the city (out of thirteen). I strived that year to be a leader that would follow all
rules and be an example to those I was in charge of. This naturally spilled into the swim team
where I abandoned the idea of letting kids do four events. Granted, I still got the occasional
backlash from parents whose kids’ relay had been scratched. However, it was worth it to know
that we were doing everything right and teaching kids that lesson.
Thinking about my experience, I wonder how many others in leadership positions go
along with unfair practices because it was the way they were taught. This is dangerous for
society. The more people that stand up and break those barriers, the closer we become to creating
a culture of ethics in our society. We need leaders who are not afraid to challenge decisions that
are made because “they’ve always been made that way.” This is why I fell into my bad habit of
acting unethically as a coach and is why many bad behaviors in leadership continue today. Based
on my experience, when I look for companies to work for in my future, an emphasis on ethics
will always be important to me.
I will always hold on to the memories I made and lessons I learned working as a lifeguard
for those summers. The four years I spent coaching swimmers taught me many obvious skills:
time management, organization, authority, how to inspire and more. However, looking back I
can see that the greatest lesson I learned was that one can create immense value by doing things
the ethical way. Sometimes it may be a challenge to do this if your competitors or higher
leadership are doing the wrong things. To grow, however, it is necessary to break through the
challenges and be ethical in leadership. This can inspire others to do the same. That inspiration
creates value beyond measure.
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