Anyone who has worked in sales has run across people who “think outside of the box” to be successful. I think that most sales managers want aggressive personalities in their sales organization.

The problem with this particular scenario is that you don’t know if the salesperson being considered will do something unethical or even illegal to make the sale. I believe that further questioning would be in order to better understand the boundries this particular salesperson has before continuing down the hiring path.

I think that the situation requires more investigation. Clearly, this is an ambitious, competitive and creative person who is motivated to succeed and win. Why would an organization looking for a high quality salesperson dismiss this candidate on the basis of one anecdote? Her story may be cause to raise a flag but surely there are some other questions that could be asked of her to determine her sense of ethics before dismissing her as a candidate.

This is a new take on the classic ethical problem: does the end justify the means?

Because we’re talking of seemingly trivial peccadillos, a teenage girl cutting class to sell her Girl Scout Cookies, etc., our current cultural tendancy is to forgive and applaud her ambition to “be the best.” After all, she stands in sharp contrast to the backsliding “do nothings” who couldn’t be bothered with a good cause such as raising funds for the Girl Scouts, etc.

But if we trivialize the choices the young girl made, we overlook several over-riding principles: namely, (1) cutting class is truancy, a minor crime in most jurisdictions if not all — and certainly not something to applaud or be proud of; (2) The Girl Scouts lay great stock in teaching their members time-proven principles of highest honor and integrity in all aspects of living. Indeed, the “Girl Scout Law” provides as follows:

“I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful,
considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do, and to respect myself and others, respect uthority, use resources wisely,
make the world a better place, and
be a sister to every Girl Scout.”

I’ll leave it to you to count the many violations of the Girl Scout Law embodied in your candidate’s behavior and attitude when selling cookies. If we take the girl at her word, can we BELIEVE that she is actually the “best” Girl Scout? Hardly. But this begs the question, how much weight does she give her her own oath when reciting the “Girl Scout Promise” to live by the Girl Scout Law? In other words, her promise to obey the Girl Scout Law, as given at weekly Girl Scout meetings, means nothing to her. So, is she truly the “best in everything she does”? Clearly, she is delusional and has no moral compass to guide her behavior, despite the teachings of the Girl Scouts. She also apparently thinks rather little of you that you would not be concerned with her sneaky way of life.

In its own way, this story is the same one that led to the downfall of Enron, Worldcom, Adelphia and others. It is the core topic of John Bogle’s recent book, “Enough.”

As legendary newscaster Paul Harvey once said, “If we teach our children when young not to steal from the cookie jar, it is less likely that they will steal cars when they are older.” Somehow this young lady failed to internalize the principles she was supposed to learn as a Girl Scout, and she proudly showed you how shallow her character was years later when already an adult. Recommendation: hide your car keys. And keep looking for someone else to fill the job.

Edward O. Hunter
Corporate Governance Specialist
Irvine, California