商务英语专业组授课素材2-To Tell the Truth【荐】.doc

To Tell the Truth* He wanted to do good business and make money. But could he do it the honest way? Maria Bartiromo The Importance of Ethics Trustworthiness can be underestimated when it comes to creating both success and wealth. But it is a critical trait in getting ahead. Just ask Charles Schwab, founder of the discount brokerage fi rm that bears his name. The idea of never taking advantage of someone is a lesson Schwab learned early on from his fat- her,then the district attorney of Yolo County, near Sacramento, California. “When I was young, my father taught me a lot about how important ethics are, about right and wrong, about doing the right thing and not compromising.” By his own admission, Schwab was “a hard-working kid”. And for a long time he only dreamed of making money. “I’ve come out of a generation of parents and grandparents who lived through the Depression① years, and all they talked about was not having money, the lack of money, the lack of resources, so from my earliest memories, I wanted to see if I could break out of that.” Schwab knew that education would be his escape route, but school presented inexplicable complications. “I got good grades in math and science, but in anything related to composition or reading, I was C-minus for sure.” The mystery would be solved decades later when his youngest son was diagnosed with dyslexia. Schwab says, “I realized that all of the difficulties he was going through, I went through too.” Schwab didn’t consider the learning disability a handicap. “I worked harder to overcompensate,” he says. “My SAT② scores were pretty bad, but my enthusiasm, commitment and hard work were impressive. And because I had to work harder than the other kids, I had self-confidence.” That self-confi dence asserted itself on the golf course, where he was a member of his public high school’s golf team. When the school played Stanford University’s