To Be Honest

Lead with the Power of Truth, Justice and Purpose

Ron A. Carucci

• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781398600676
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Leadership
• Index: Business

WINNER: NYC Big Book Award 2021 - Business General
WINNER: Goody Business Book Awards - Business General
FINALIST: Good Business Book Awards - Leadership: General and Think Differently
Selected as one of Bloomberg's Best Books of 2021: Nominated by the founder and executive director of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program
DISTINGUISHED FAVORITE: Independent Press Award 2022 - Business General Under what conditions will people tell the truth, behave fairly and act with purpose at work? And when will they lie, cheat and be selfish? Based on 15 years of research, To Be Honest explains how four factors (Clear Identity, Accountability, Governance and Cross-Functional Relationships) affect honesty, justice and purpose within a company. When these factors are absent or ineffective, the organizational conditions compel employees to choose dishonesty and self-interest. But when done well, the organization is 16 times more likely to have people tell the truth, behave fairly and serve a greater good. To Be Honest shares the stories of leaders who have acted with purpose, honesty and justice even when it was difficult to do so. In-depth interviews with CEOs and senior executives from exemplar companies such as Patagonia, Cabot Creamery, Microsoft and others reveal what it takes to build purpose-driven companies of honesty and justice. Interviews with thought leaders like Jonathan Haidt, Amy Edmondson, Dan Ariely and James Detert offer rich insights on how leaders can become more honest and purposeful. You'll learn how Hubert Joly took Best Buy from a company on the brink of bankruptcy to one that is profitable, thriving and purposeful. Filled with real-life examples, To Be Honest offers actionable steps, practical tools and approaches that any leader or manager can use to create a culture of purpose, honesty and justice.

Part One

Honesty in Identity

02

Be Who You Say You Are

Set your intention: How do my company’s values and mission shape my daily choices?

Hope From a Bigger Story

In 2007, Marin Alsop was appointed to lead the acclaimed Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO), becoming the first woman in the United States to ever be appointed to lead a major American orchestra. This wasn’t her only trailblazing feat, however. Two years earlier, she became the first conductor ever to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as “the MacArthur genius grant,” awarded to those who have demonstrated uncommon originality and creativity in their field.¹

Alsop grew up the child of musicians in NYC and studied violin at the Juilliard School. When she was young, she was told she could not be a conductor because “only men” were. But given how transformative music had been in her life, and the sense of confidence and possibility it had instilled, she learned early on to interpret “you can’t” as “I must”—not as an act of defiance, but as an invitation to possibility. Her successes drove her to work for the democratization of quality musical training, making it accessible to children from all walks of life, not just to those with privilege.

When Alsop arrived in Baltimore, she was quickly struck by the wide range of socioeconomic issues plaguing underserved communities in the city—crime, poverty, drugs, and lack of access to opportunity. Alsop decided that the BSO needed to step into the breach in some way. She had long been inspired by the work of maestro José Antonio Abreu, a Venezuelan conductor who began El Sistema in a poor barrio in Caracas back in 1975 with just 11 children in an underground parking garage. El Sistema is a publicly funded, volunteer-driven music education program whose motto is “Music for Social Change.” El Sistema programs, now worldwide, provide free classical music education that promotes human opportunity and development for impoverished children. Abreu believed music could act as a force for social change, especially in the lives of children. “Music has to be recognized as an agent of social development in the highest sense because it transmits the highest values—solidarity, harmony, mutual compassion,” he said in a book written about El Sistema, crediting it with the ability to “unite an entire community and express all emotions.”²

Alsop’s team flew to Caracas in 2007 to study El Sistema’s approach, spending two weeks observing how the children in the barrios and regions of the Venezuelan countryside it drew from had been changed by playing music. They observed the power of consistency in the children’s lives and the power in having a reliable place to belong. They saw children feeling proud to be part of an ensemble—a profound metaphor for community and leadership—and what it meant to rely on one another. They saw children whose lives might have otherwise felt meaningless filled with possibility.

Since Caracas faced some of the same plights Alsop found in Baltimore, she decided to be the first conductor to bring El Sistema’s approach to the United States. “We’re using music as a vehicle to create a future of possibility for these kids,” she said in a BSO fundraiser video.³ She felt so strongly about this mission, in fact, she chose to personally fund its start with $100,000 of her MacArthur Fellowship; inspired by her vision, other donors stepped in to help as well. Dan Trahey and Nick Skinner, music educators both hailing from Michigan, were hired to run the artistic, educational, administrative, and operational aspects of the program.

The first task was to find schools willing to partner with them. Early on, there were (not altogether unexpected) struggles to translate the El Sistema approach to fit the context of Baltimore and the United States. Cultural differences, like building rapport with parents and the rarity of extracurricular participation for kids from underserved neighborhoods, had to be accounted for. Plus, the predominantly Black and minority neighborhood wasn’t immediately willing to give two white men from Michigan its trust just because they offered a free music program. “The first year was nothing like we thought,” Skinner told me. “We had a lot to learn about how the community actually functioned, how they supported each other, and what it took to gain their trust.” The families of West Baltimore looked at this and thought, “The system [has] failed me, and it failed my children. Why should I trust the system?”⁴

The first school Trahey and Skinner approached was Harriet Tubman elementary school in West Baltimore. The school was terribly run down, with broken glass in the sandbox and graffiti on the walls. “It’s going to be very difficult to get kids to take pride in their education if they can’t take pride in where they receive it,” says Skinner. As a good-faith gesture, the BSO sponsored a community-wide beautification program with members of the BSO and the community coming together to paint, repair, and clean up the school inside and out.

In September of 2008, OrchKids was officially launched with 30 first graders. It didn’t take long for another challenge to present itself: four months into the program, the Baltimore city public school system announced that Tubman was slated to be closed at the end of the school year, and students would be moved to one of four other elementary schools. To ensure the program’s continuity for a second year, Trahey and Skinner had to convince the Baltimore city public school system to transfer the 30 program participants to the same school—along with their siblings and other relatives. “It was a miracle but nearly all 30 students were relocated to the same school,” says Skinner.

The first year had a steep learning curve for the small OrchKids team. Some parents used the after-school program as a babysitting service with free snacks, often failing to pick up their kids at the conclusion of the program. Educating the community on the importance of consistency, commitment, and discipline was critical. Eventually, though, they started to make progress. “When parents came to the school and saw every corner of it filled with music, and even more importantly, saw their own child playing a violin or a trumpet, their faces lit up,” says Skinner. “They caught the vision. Their suspicions softened and they let their kids stay.”

The program grew to meet kids’ needs, much of them unrelated to music. It added meals, in-school music training in addition to the after-school program, tutoring for kids who were struggling academically, and an entire fabric of social engagement where kids felt safe, wanted, and hopeful. But that first year wasn’t easy. “We did a lot of soul searching,” says Skinner. “We questioned our purpose, and sometimes doubted we could succeed. But Marin never doubted. She remained committed to OrchKids staying a central part of the BSO’s relationship to Baltimore.” At the end of the first year, OrchKids hosted its first concert at which members of the BSO played alongside kids from the program. A packed gymnasium full of proud parents and community members were now certain that something special was happening in their community.

In the second year, volunteers came out of the woodwork to support the program. Interns from universities would come to study it. Older kids volunteered to tutor younger kids in math and reading. Parents volunteered to make snacks and meals and helped with the basic running of the program. The program grew from 30 to 120 children almost overnight.

One of those new kids was Keith Fleming, who joined OrchKids when he was in first grade. One of four children to a single mom, Keith struggled almost daily. He got into fights. He would kick chairs, cry and yell, and throw tantrums at OrchKids. “I could have just thrown him out of the program, but what message would that have sent him? That he doesn’t matter? That would contradict everything OrchKids stands for,” says Skinner. “When we have kids like Keith who struggle, we lean in. We mentor and get close to them. We help them feel like they belong. Marin’s vision for OrchKids was precisely for kids like Keith; I knew if we stuck with him, he’d stick with us, and he’d make it.”

Keith eventually decided he wanted to play the tuba. He liked it so much, in fact, that he played it all the way through high school—and beyond. During his time in OrchKids, he got to attend the Peabody Conservatory Preparatory, which is part of one of the country’s most selective music schools, and play in prestigious music festivals such as Interlochen, Yola National, and the Alpine Brass Festival. In his later years, he began mentoring younger musicians. When he graduated high school, Keith received a substantial scholarship to the University of Miami to study music.

He credits OrchKids for helping him when he needed it most. “They showed me that through hard times, they always had my back, and I want to do that for other kids,” says Fleming. “I want to start OrchKids programs around the world and help change kids’ lives the way mine was changed.”⁵ Skinner says there are many stories like Keith’s in OrchKids. “We go the extra hundred miles for each kid because we know they are worth it. I remember waiting around until 9.30 pm with a kid whose parents hadn’t shown up to pick them up because that’s how much we care.”

Despite its affiliation with the BSO, an august institution, OrchKids caters to a broad taste in music. “We play everything from Beethoven to Beyoncé because this is about building great musicians, not just great technicians. They have to play music they love. Ultimately, our goal is to create great musicians and great members of society who see their futures with hope and possibility,” says Alsop. “OrchKids isn’t just a music program. It’s about envisioning and realizing one’s dreams. My dream is to see Baltimore represented by an orchestra of these kids and become known as the ‘City of Music.’”⁶

Today, OrchKids serves over 2,000 K-12 students throughout the greater Baltimore area. They have a staff of 60 full- and part-time team members. It has also inspired similar programs throughout the United States.

What can OrchKids teach us about what it means to be who we say we are?

• It provides a model for how an organization embodied a stated purpose with concrete actions and hard work, not flowery words.
• It was formed amidst real need and s...

Table of contents

• Foreword by Jonathan Haidt
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 01 The Redeeming Power of Honesty
• Part One Honesty in Identity
• 02 Be Who You Say You Are
• 03 Joining a Bigger Story: Connecting My Purpose to Our Purpose
• Part Two Justice in Accountability
• 04 Nurturing Dignity in Accountability
• 05 Everyday Justice
• Part Three Transparency in Governance
• 06 Trustworthy Decision Making
• 07 Cultivate Spirited Voices and Welcoming Minds
• Part Four Unity Between Groups
• 08 Stitching Organizational Seams
• 09 Turn “They’s” Into “We’s”
• Epilogue
• Appendix: Statement of Research
• Index