Integrity—the quality of being honest and having
strong moral principles—does it still exist in business? That's the question I
was asking myself recently while talking to an associate about entities who use
their grant writers to write misleading proposals to acquire funds.
Unfortunately, those who suffer greatly in this deception are those who are the
subject of the proposal being written. These victims range from communities
that are used in the statistics provided for these deceptive proposals to the
demographics provided for clients/patients for some health-related program. In
many cases these groups are just “data” casualties who will never benefit from
the awarded funds.
As I've delved more into this world of using my
love of writing for business, I’ve discovered there are no limits to what some
business clients won’t ask a writer to do. However, you must have the mental
fortitude to always remember why you do what you do and realize what you stand
to lose if you engage in unethical practices. This thought process is really
the same for all businesses—whether a pharmacist or a lawyer. We all must uphold
integrity in our work, even when it’s lacking among our counterparts.
My faith in the ability of mankind to do the right thing was given a glimmer
of hope in my discussion with my associate regarding this practice of deceptive
proposal writing. The entity in question lost talented grant writers because
they could not bear the weight of knowing funds were constantly being granted
but the subject of those funds in the proposals were not receiving any benefits,
directly or indirectly. When people who provide services, hold “trust” as the most
valuable component in their business dealings they will be relieved of the fear
of being disliked or losing a business opportunity. As someone once said, “To
be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.”
