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A colleague told me about a college president who went to a post-graduation party with students and got so drunk that he was dancing on the tables.  You know the rest: people took pictures and posted them on Facebook and his credibility, if not his job, is lost forever.  What was he thinking?

He was about as smart as the bookstore manager in Missouri who was caught with $80,000 cash in his desk -- discovered by someone when they opened a drawer to borrow a pencil.  His total embezzlement turned out to be much greater.

Locally, we just heard tales of the city librarian who stole more than $70,000 in fines that were paid in cash.  Fines are twenty cents/day -- so it would take 250,000 fines to pilfer that much.  That is a long time of tossing the coins in a pocket instead of a cash drawer.

And last week's gem -- a Connecticut student called in a bomb threat in an attempt to cancel her college graduation -- rather than face her mother and confess that she had been using the tuition money from her for other pursuits besides attending class.  She had gotten away with dropping out, that is until graduation came and her family wanted to attend the ceremony.

Fortunately, most of us never attempt anything like these examples.  We don't dance on tables, steal money or phone in bomb threats.  But many do smaller things that defy common sense and have the potential to tarnish a reputation.

Your actions are archived, never deleted, especially in this era of cell phones and social media.  Take care that your small actions don't compound themselves or hound you in the long term.

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com

@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com