Serve in the Light of Truth

By Drew Logsdon (Western Kentucky)

The news in recent weeks has been filled with stories of corruption, deception, and all manner of unethical behavior.

Last month facts came to light that required officials at some of the world’s top financial institutions to admit to conspiring to manipulate currencies.

More recently we learned of the widespread corruption scandal within the governing body of soccer in which top officials were arrested on charges of accepting bribes in the hundreds of millions. One official now stands accused of diverting funds that were intended for earthquake relief in Haiti. These accusations underscore the far more troubling stories about the deplorable conditions of migrant workers building the stadiums and infrastructure that will service the Qatar World Cup – the legitimacy of which is now seriously in question.

These two scandals are only the most recent examples that point towards a troubling void in ethical leadership within some our most prized and important institutions.

The habits that facilitate this sort of corrupt behavior are sowed early in our development as leaders. Those who have never been trained to identify unethical behavior – or those who lack the courage to confront it – will crumble when thrust into these situations in the real world. As we’ve seen, the world is in desperate need of leaders trained to identify these scenarios and prepared to act courageously when necessary. Our world and society needs ethical leaders. We need men who firmly understand and embrace this concept.

This is precisely what we’re doing at Sigma Nu.

Our world and society needs ethical leaders. We need men who firmly understand and embrace this concept.

Sigma Nu’s mission statement reads: “To develop ethical leaders inspired by the principles of Love, Honor and Truth. To foster the personal growth of each man’s mind, heart and character. To perpetuate lifelong friendships and commitment to the Fraternity.”

That is our Fraternity’s purpose.

These recent scandals are examples of why the mission of Sigma Nu is still relevant today and will be for quite some time. We will always need ethical leaders and until that becomes a cornerstone of higher education institutions, we will need organizations expressly devoted to developing those ethical leaders. Especially so when even the Global Economic Forum issued a report in 2014 that listed a lack of values in leadership as one of the top 10 trends facing the world.

Sigma Nu’s commitment to its mission is not simply through one sentence in a mission statement. It is in our LEAD Program that provides members the tools and knowledge to become ethical leaders. It’s in our College of Chapters program for Commanders that provides keynote speakers on real world experiences of ethical leadership in action. And our commitment to this ideal shines through in the Sigma Nu Educational Foundation that works to ensure our mission can be executed for generations to come. To a large degree, the mission of Sigma Nu frames what we do every day to address the deficit of ethical leaders in our world today.

A statement from the Global Economic Forum report perhaps best summarizes why Sigma Nu’s Mission matters today, “We cannot expect all leaders to be saints, or to have no interests of their own, or know everything about everybody – that is clearly impossible. But, in terms of developing a positive global vision, the sharing of information is key. We must work hard to present people with a different range of ideas, interests and visions, and introduce different types of people, information and values in an attempt to bring about understanding. There’s always room for learning. If leaders stop learning, then it’s the end.”

This is why fraternity is just as relevant now as it has ever been in the past.