A couple of months after leaving a job I received a call from a previous colleague. She had been approached by a business partner who had sent through an invoice for about $2.5k, claiming it was a deal I had approved.  It didn’t ring true with my ex-colleague and so she thought she’d check in with me.

Yes, we should’ve had a better CRM system,  but that’s not the point.

I clearly recalled the discussion I’d had with the person. I’d never agreed to what he’d claimed. In fact, I remembered documenting our discussion and emailing him on a couple of different occasions with a very different deal.

I’d normally give someone the benefit of the doubt – a mistake, or a misunderstanding. In this case, my colleague went back through my old emails and saw the actual deal I’d offered in black and white.  He was clearly trying it on, probably expecting that with my departure it would go unquestioned.

For less than three grand, he was willing to put his aside his integrity and put his reputation at risk.  I look at that person very differently these days.

What price do you put on your integrity and your reputation?