integrity discussion...

I was listening to Glenn Beck’s commentary on Channel 45 a while ago when he was interviewing Jon Huntsman, founder of Huntsman Cancer Institute, and I came away with an increased respect for Mr. Huntsman. I learned that in 1986 Jon Huntsman was feeling financial pressure so he negotiated a deal to sell 40 percent of his business to someone for 54 million dollars. He shook hands with the new buyer. Some time passed, I think about six months, as the new buyer worked with attorneys to get a contract drawn up. Meanwhile the stock went up and the value of the business increased to 250 million. The buyer came to Huntsman and suggested that they split the difference. He would pay 125 million dollars instead of 54 million. Jon Huntsman said, “I shook hands and agreed to sell for 54 million dollars. That is the price.” The deal was closed. Mr. Huntsman stated on television that the value of one’s character matters. He implied that his “word” should mean something over and above the amount of money involved.

Evidently in 2001 Mr. Huntsman was headed for bankruptcy. He said, “Bankruptcy is not an option because in bankruptcy someone always gets hurt.” He did not do it. Instead he took out a loan for about $100,000. In order to get it he had to sell some of his personal things and also take out a mortgage on his home. What was the money for? It was to meet the promises he had made to his charities.

I’ve ordered Jon Huntsman’s book called Winners Never Cheat, (everyday values we learned as children). In it he evidently says, “Life isn’t fair but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be fair.” On television he said, “What will be said at your funeral? What is your character?” In the 1970s when President Nixon was in the White House, Jon Huntsman was a special assistant to the White House staff. He was asked to make a phone call and ask someone to make inquiries and find all the dirt he could get about an opposition candidate. He made the phone call, made the request, paused and then said, “Jim, forget I called. Don’t do it.” He refused to stoop to that level.

And where did this man learn integrity? It had to be in the walls of his home. And what was his home like? His family was poor. They fished and hunted for food at one time, and for one period of his life eight families lived in a house divided by cardboard walls. Now that he is wealthy, what does he do? He will be giving away two billion dollars in the next eighteen months. He says, “You have to give back to society. We have a responsibility to give money back to a higher use. The government will take it and waste it.” Later he said, “The greatest exercise for the human heart is to reach down and lift another up.” [i love this quote!]

His mother had cancer and died in his arms in her fifties at a time when he didn’t have anything. Now he does all he can to help find cures for cancer as well as help in other ways. I would suggest that you have a discussion about this man at your dinner table, and then you might bring up the comment of Todd Herzog, who just won the million dollar prize and the title of Sole Survivor on the CBS series season finale. Todd said, “I backstabbed and lied to a lot of them, but I was playing a game. I feel like I’ve accomplished so much, and I’m so proud.”
Who is really the “winner”?