Tuesday, August 04, 2009

A THUMBNAIL HISTORY OF THE FOUR-WAY TEST


In the midst of the Great Depression, a Chicago businessman stares bankruptcy in the face.

Behind on payments, creditors knocking on the door, he knows that the fate of his 250 employees and their families rests on his shoulders, and he’s running out of time, answers, and cash. Business and the economy aren’t going to be improving, so he turns to his Christian faith for guidance and comes up with 24 words, which he hopes will change the future of his company. He runs these words, his “test,” past co-workers of different religions to make sure they don’t contradict their faiths. The company adopts this ethical test as an official policy for conducting business. Within a few years, all debts are paid off, and the Club Aluminum Products Company is paying stockholders huge dividends. The application of The Four-Way Test helped Club Aluminum win the friendship and goodwill of its customers and vendors, and proved essential to the businessman’s success.

An active Rotarian beginning in the early 1920s, Herbert J. Taylor brought his test to the Rotary Club of Chicago. Years later, it was officially adopted by Rotary International and became part of the organization’s vocational service ideals.

For decades, The Four-Way Test has been used around the world in schools and businesses as an effective way to measure ethical conduct and develop respect and understanding among people. Rotary clubs have sponsored essay contests and enlisted the assistance of other civic organizations to introduce the test into their communities. But perhaps more than anything else, the ethical standard represented by the test is the single most important link from Rotarian to Rotarian. Whether you’re American or Japanese, age 30 or 80, the club president or a newly inducted member, it underscores our commitment to business and personal integrity.

“We have found that you cannot constantly apply The Four-Way Test to all your relations with others eight hours each day in business without getting into the habit of doing it in your home, social and community life,” wrote Taylor during his year as RI president, 1954-55. “You thus become a better father, a better friend, and a better citizen.”

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

No comments:

Post a Comment