Forbes calls Yakorev Leader Tells His Story

Bruce Weinstein, The Ethics Guy® and Forbes contributor asked Anatoly Yakorev to share a story on Global Ethics Day on ethical leadership that paid off. So Yakorev tells a story from his experience, which Forbes runs in Leadership Strategy:«Seven Bold Leaders Reveal How Ethical Leadership Is A Boon To Business.»

Here’s that story for Forbes:

We used to get piles of snow in winter around our business center, and most people dreaded coming and leaving the office in their car, because doing so meant a lot of work with a shovel. There was a young guy cleaning the parking lot for a small pharmaceutical company, but he would also clean a few extra parking places, including one where an older man parked his Volvo.

One day he was seen in the lobby wearing a suit and slurping coffee. Turned out he was going to his first proper job interview in our business center. As he was getting in an elevator, he spilled some coffee on his shirt and a tie and panicked. The man with the Volvo saw that and offered him his shirt and a tie, since it was an emergency for the young guy. They both got out on the company floor and that guy kept his jacket and a T-shirt on while sending the young man towards his destiny in his shirt and tie. “It’s my lucky tie,” he said.

The young man was called in by the manager while the man from the Volvo sat in the reception area. The manager looked at the young man and said: “That’s a nice tie! Where’d you get it?’ The younger fellow told him the truth and the manager said: ‘Then you’re hired if our senior vice-president makes sure you look your best for the job interview.”