My son attended a high school that based their entire leadership program around a very simply stated Honor Code which reads,
"I will not lie, cheat, or steal, and I will discourage others from such actions."
For four years I observed how he lived by this code and consistently referenced it when making decisions. The school instilled the honor code in every student and those students that could not respect leadership and the honor code did not succeed. I was proud to see my son internalize these simple but important values during his time in school. What I didn't realize during these four years is what my son was teaching me. I have always sought to conduct myself and lead my life with honor but lacked this simple action statement that really nails down what living a life of honor is all about. Like a company’s mission statement, could this honor code be used as a kind of individual mission statement?
Here are some basic definitions extracted from the leadership manual at his school:
Lying:
A lie is a statement or action designed to deceive or to mislead.
Cheating:
Cheating involves taking unfair advantage of others. In the classroom, cheating includes taking or giving assistance during tests, plagiarism (presenting the work or ideas of another as your own without giving proper credit—this includes the Internet), and misrepresentation (failure to document the assistance you receive from others during the preparation, revision, or proofreading of an assignment).
Stealing:
Stealing involves taking another person’s property without that person’s permission or knowledge. It does not matter whether you have the property permanently or temporarily.
Imagine a world in which everybody lived by the same code? "I will not lie, cheat, or steal, and I will discourage others from such actions." Imagine for a moment a world where there was no lying, stealing, or cheating. Imagine people motivated to support each other rather than meeting just their individual needs at any cost. Think about how easily we could all move about in a world in which we have each other's backs and don't have to live in fear of being taken advantage of. To imagine the world in this way may seem as likely as a pet unicorn, but it really doesn’t have to be. Can we expect that 100% of the human population follow this as their internal compass? No, I think there are always going to be people who are not equipped to act for a common good or balance their individual needs with others needs. Yet what if just 51%, just a small majority of humans operated with these ideals in mind as they led their lives? What could the world look like?
It is amazing how the rest of my children have adopted this honor code without even attending the same school. I think what has made it work so well for my family is that it is just based on simple common sense. I’d like to put this in our employee manual at work as an intention, an aim or plan for moving forward. I don’t think it has to be about 100% compliance but to move forward towards conducting ourselves by this code.
"I will not lie, cheat, or steal, and I will discourage others from such actions."
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