Intentional Integrity: How Smart Companies Can Lead an Ethical Revolution

by Robert Chesnut

Overview

Silicon Valley expert Robert Chesnut shows that companies that do not think seriously about a crucial element of corporate culture—integrity—are destined to fail.

“Show of hands—who in this group has integrity?”

It’s with this direct and often uncomfortable question that Robert Chesnut, General Counsel of Airbnb, begins every presentation to new employees.

Defining integrity is difficult. Once understood as “telling the truth and keeping your word,” it was about following not just the letter but the spirit of the law. But in a moment when workplaces are becoming more diverse, global, and connected, silence about integrity creates ambiguities about right and wrong that make everyone uncertain, opening the door for the minority of people to rationalize selfish behavior. Trust in most traditional institutions is down—government, religious organizations, and higher education—and there’s a dark cloud hovering over technology. But this is precisely where companies come in; as peoples’ faith in establishments deteriorates, they’re turning to their employer for stability.

In Intentional Integrity, Chesnut offers a six-step process for leaders to foster and manage a culture of integrity at work. He explains the rationale and legal context for the ethics and practices, and presents scenarios to illuminate the nuances of thinking deeply and objectively about workplace culture.

We will always need governments to manage defense, infrastructure, and basic societal functions. But, Chesnut argues, the private sector has the responsibility to use sensitivity and flexibility to make broader progress—if they act with integrity.

"Rob is an insider who's combined doing good with doing business well in two iconic Silicon Valley companies. His book contains smart, practical advice for anyone looking to do good and do well.” —Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and author of Blitzscaling

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250374806
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/28/2020
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.72(d)

About the Author

ROBERT CHESNUT was General Counsel and Chief Ethics Officer with Airbnb, Inc. A graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of Virginia, he worked for fourteen years with the U.S. Justice Department as a prosecutor. He joined eBay in 1999 as its third lawyer and founded its Trust and Safety team. He joined Airbnb in 2016, overseeing a team of 125 legal professionals around the world, developing a popular employee program—Integrity Belongs Here—to help drive compliance throughout the company's culture.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Show of hands? A new approach to integrity 1

1 Spies, jarts, and racism: The roots of corporate culture shocks 19

2 Six Cs: Critical steps to fostering integrity in the workplace 33

3 C is for Chief: Integrity begins at the top 42

Code Moment 1 Regina and the telltale text 60

Code Moment 2 Who's your customer, Charlie? 61

4 Who are we? Defining what integrity means to your organization 62

Code Moment 3 Paul, Serena, and a dead duck 79

Code Moment 4 A not-so-gentle ethical dilemma 80

5 What will derail your mission: The 10 most common integrity issues 81

Code Moment 5 The game is on, the vibe is off 108

Code Moment 6 Just another tequila coffee break 108

Code Moment 7 Marty and the media quandary 109

Code Moment 8 Define "academic" 109

6 Mix it up, blast it out, repeat: Communicating the integrity message 111

Code Moment 9 Tory and the ten sheets of copy paper 127

Code Moment 10 Win-win-win, or no good deed goes unpunished? 127

7 The welcome mat for complaints: A clear and safe reporting process 129

Code Moment 11 On the glass 142

Code Moment 12 Blame it on Rio 143

8 When the other shoe drops: Creating appropriate consequences for integrity violations 144

Code Moment 13 Password piracy 162

9 Check the canaries: Monitoring the company culture for signs of trouble 164

Code Moment 14 Three blind mice 175

10 Dude, you're not just "bad at dating": Sexual misconduct in the workplace 177

Code Moment 15 Sam, she's just not into you 196

Code Moment 16 "Sure, totally get it" 197

11 Who you do business with defines you: Extending the integrity message to a community 198

Conclusion: A superpower for our times 211

Appendix: Discussion of Code Moments 231

Postscript: Integrity in a crisis 273

Acknowledgments 285

Notes 289

Index 297

Editorial Reviews

03/16/2020

With this strong debut, Chesnut, general counsel of Airbnb, confronts a question he sees facing today’s most successful tech companies: having built strong services, products, and workforces during their rise to the top, how do they now use those tools ethically? Paying lip service to “values” and “accountability,” he says, is no longer enough; organizations need to make a concerted effort to articulate and prioritize their values, develop rules to ensure those values are implemented, and then make sure they’re respected throughout the company. Having productive leaders and good intentions isn’t enough; bad actors can destroy the best of efforts, Chesnut writes, and when the world is watching, trust is critical. Chesnut covers navigating the corporate culture shock that ensues when an ethical breach goes public, managing the aftereffects of bad behavior, identifying common integrity issues, avoiding issues in the first place, and implementing both clear and safe whistleblowing processes and appropriate consequences for violators. This is the rare fully realized look at not just what integrity means in the context of business, but how to make it second nature in the workplace. Business leaders should take note. (June)

Publishers Weekly

The ethical expectations for companies is wonderfully changing from 'do no evil' to 'do good.' Companies and their leaders need to put ethics and integrity at the center of their mission and culture. Rob is an insider who's combined doing good with doing business well in two iconic Silicon Valley companies. His book contains smart, practical advice for anyone looking to do good and do well.” —Reid Hoffman, co-founder of Linkedin and author of Blitzscaling

"No one has wrestled with more difficult business integrity challenges over the last 20 years than Rob. His insights will instruct you how to drive integrity into your culture. Now, more than ever, we need someone to lead a constructive, direct conversation about integrity in business—Rob delivers." —Meg Whitman, CEO of Quibi, former CEO of HP and eBay Inc.

From the Publisher

04/17/2020

Anyone who reads the news will be familiar with the seemingly endless lapses in integrity that occur at companies, both those well-established and start-ups. In this work, Chesnut (CEO, Airbnb) shares his method for safeguarding organizations against these lapses and thus avoiding the negative effects on customer loyalty (and the bottom line) and recruiting and retaining talented staff. He boils his method down to six steps—the six C's—through which organizations can establish a clear set of values and ensure that everyone adheres to them, including obvious buy-in and behavior modeling from those at the top (the first C is for "CEO"). Other key elements include a robust and continuous system for communicating and reinforcing these values and a barrier- and stigma-free system for reporting lapses paired with a clear set of consequences that are equitably and routinely enforced. To emphasize his points, Chesnut liberally mixes in examples taken from his experiences at eBay and Airbnb. VERDICT Sound advice for the corporate world on creating and maintaining a culture of trust and integrity. Will appeal to aspiring corporate leaders and readers interested in a glimpse of the inner workings of successful start-ups.—Sara Holder, Univ. of Illinois Libs., Champaign

Library Journal

2020-03-23
Airbnb chief ethics officer Chesnut debuts with an upbeat book on how to chart a “proactive, ethical course” for business.

The author, a former federal prosecutor, writes, “we are all capable of dishonesty,” recounting workplace ethical issues that have rocked Enron, Volkswagen, and other corporations; headline-making cases of sexual harassment and assault; and everyday instances of bribery, fraud, and conflicts of interest. Yet, he writes, “most companies don’t talk much about integrity.” Many simply distribute a code of ethics template emblazoned with a corporate logo. With little reason to fear consequences, individuals believe they can “get away” with unethical acts, and “even small acts of fraud and deceit, doing work while intoxicated, fudging numbers, violating domestic or international regulations, become compounded over time.” Each poor choice makes the next “easier to make.” In this exhaustive overview, Chesnut argues persuasively that every organization needs a “deliberate, intentional commitment” to ethical rules based on its clearly stated purpose and values. The rules must be widely and constantly disseminated so that they become a company “norm.” The process will generate “business success and positive social value,” helping firms attract the best employees and avoid scandals. Drawing on considerable experience with the nuances and circumstances of integrity violations at Airbnb and, earlier, eBay, Chesnut offers plentiful examples of common integrity issues—e.g., romantic entanglements, selling customer data, social media issues—tips on how to handle them, and ways to create a safe process for reporting lapses. He is especially good on such matters as enforcing consequences and handling situations involving violators who are high-performing employees. The author’s enthusiasm sometimes leads him astray—his anticipated “contagion of integrity” in business seems unlikely—but his rigorous guidelines for lawful behavior should keep employees on their toes and limit federal liabilities. Appendices cover diverse ethical crises.

Valuable reading for companies that want to get serious about workplace ethics. (first printing of 100,000)

Kirkus Reviews