Never Talk to Yourself on Your
Way Home from Work
 

By Kevin Plante
Director, Loss Prevention Reporting and Analytics
CVS Caremark

I have a saying that I will do everything in my power to not "talk to myself on the way home from work".

That could mean a lot of things to different people, but to me it is best summed up as being "true to oneself". Every day loss prevention professionals have to deal with integrity issues involving others, but we also need to deal with our own integrity. I'm not necessarily talking about controlling one’s own urges to steal. I'm talking about doing the "right thing" each and every day. Perhaps it won't be the most popular time in your career to respectfully disagree with your boss on her plan to reduce shrink - but having information that could provide beneficial pieces of the puzzle to your boss – and not sharing your thoughts because you are afraid of causing a riff.....that's the thing that causes you to talk to yourself on the way home from work.

What about rewarding a newer employee who has done a great job when everyone else is cheering on the veteran employee because he is a "really nice guy"? Some would think this scenario is easy, but politics sometimes clouds peoples’ vision. What about not terminating an employee caught stealing because he is the offspring of a VP in the organization? Neither of these two examples is necessarily about the outcome. You are part of a larger group that provides information into a "machine" that makes the decision. You are not the sole decision maker. You may not like the outcome of the decision ultimately made. That's OK. But I would suggest, provided your argument is made RESPECTFULLY and as long as you make your point and don't hold back because of what is popular, you will NEVER, EVER find yourself "talking to yourself on the way home from work", because you'll know, deep in your core, that you did the very best you could to do right by your integrity, your profession and your company.