TRUST

If someone showed that she was trustworthy for 20 years, you would think that you could really trust her. Think again.

People who know me well know that I have changed a lot over the years. When I first started my business, I wanted to control everything. Over the years, I have found that I cannot grow my business and completely control it at the same time. Growing my business has required me to delegate a lot of authority and independence to hundreds of people. This delegation of authority and independence requires me to trust in each and every one of the people who have acquired authority and independence within the business. Over the years, the trust I have placed in others has paid off handsomely in the growth of the business, in their growth, and in the growth of the people we support.

With few exceptions, the trust I have placed in people has been well placed. People earn my trust through their hard work and dedication. They retain it the same way. Of course, I have occasionally misplaced trust. A few individuals who I thought could be trusted turned out to be dishonest. When this is discovered, I am always disturbed. How could I have been so wrong?

Recently, a person who had been a valued and highly trusted individual within our organization was found to have embezzled several thousand dollars. She had worked for our organization for more than 20 years and had assumed a variety of positions of authority. She always had displayed a high degree of integrity, at least it seemed that she had. Perhaps more importantly, she always seemed to hold people with serious and complex disabilities in high regard. She seemed to understand and to have internalized our very strong commitment to treating all people with the high level of respect that we each deserve. We were most surprised to find that most of the money she had embezzled was the limited funds owned by the very people she was charged with protecting. Talk about disrespect!

Did she fool us all those years? I do not think so. During the investigation, we found that recently she had been going through many difficult life changes including a divorce, losing her house, etc. These life changes seemed to have changed who she was.

Maybe I am wrong. Maybe the difficult challenges she faced more recently brought out who she really is and always was. I do not know. Some judgments are best left for the Almighty.

One judgment that I cannot leave for the Almighty is whether or not to prosecute an individual in this situation. I am sure that by now everyone knows my decision. Regardless of past dedication to the agency, we will prosecute anyone who commits fraud against the agency and/or against the people we support.

Should I stop trusting people based on these disappointments? No! Most people deserve to be trusted and use this trust to do good things for themselves, the organization, and most importantly the people we support.

I will continue to trust, and I will continue to respond with appropriate action when someone inevitably violates my trust.