The WorldBlu Blog

Recently, I had my first trip to the beautiful coast of Alabama for a speech I was giving there for the Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce. I have never been to Alabama and was looking forward to seeing a bit of it, staying at the beautiful Grand Hotel Marriott Resort (a place you should definitely check out if you’re looking for a lovely Southern experience!) and being near the ocean (the place that inspires our name, WorldBlu).

But beyond the environs, I was really looking forward to meeting Egil “Bud” Krogh, a man I had heard about for quite some time. Bud and I would both be giving keynote addresses at the event, however, the prospect of sharing the stage with such a great thinker was a bit daunting to me.

For those of you who are not familiar with Bud’s name, he was one of the original White House “plumbers” and a right-hand man to former President Richard Nixon. Bud was only in his early thirties when he became inextricably linked to what would become the Watergate scandal and later Nixon’s resignation. However, unlike the President and his peers at the time, Bud took full ownership for his responsibilities and plead “guilty.” As a result, he spent nearly five months in prison.

Bud has recently penned a book entitled, Integrity: Good People, Bad Choices and Life Lessons From the White House, which chronicles the events that lead to the breakdown of integrity during his days at the White House.

Bud wrote an op-ed to President George W. Bush about integrity in the White House shortly after he took office. The piece was entitled, “Memo to Bush White House Staff”, and was published in the Christian Science Monitor newspaper on February 12, 2001. In it, he pointed out two fundamental questions to make sure those in the White House (and beyond) are acting from integrity.

Those two questions are:

1. Is the choice whole and complete? (In other words, is what you are designing fully capable of accomplishing its purpose or have any critical items been left out?)

2. Is it right?

It’s been over 30 years since the series of events that lead to Watergate, but the lessons Bud shares still ring true.

I had the opportunity to meet Bud the day before our speeches, first at an informal gathering and then later at a dinner event. I loved listening to his stories and his clarity around the issue of integrity and its impact on our world today. As you can see from the picture, the man oozes with integrity and compassion. He has the presence of one who has been through the fire – and redeemed.

Bud spoke after I did, and one of the highlights for me was when he said, “Had we practiced organizational democracy as Traci has described I never would have gone to jail and there never would have been a Watergate.” Wow.

The comment resonated with me at a deep level as I think about the power of these ideas and their potential impact on the betterment of society. To be sure, “integrity” is one of the 10 principles of organizational democracy.

I invite you to check out Bud’s book and the tools he’s developed to help people and organizations make integrity-based decisions. His is an amazing and inspiring story. I encourage you to take the opportunity to learn from this living legend.

I promise you won’t be disappointed.