“One recent morning as I sat in my office reviewing emails and planning my day, I was greeted at my office door by one of our relatively new Assistant Project Managers. She politely asked if I had a few minutes to discuss something that had be weighing on her mind, so I invited her in to talk about it.

Once morning pleasantries were out of the way, she fidgeted briefly in an attempt to find the right words. Of course, at this moment in time, I began imaging the worse; is she trying to tell me that she failed at some task, or does she have some sort of conflict with a coworker, or has she accepted a position with the competition? When she finally spoke, it went something like this, “As you know everything has gotten extremely expensive and I know others along with myself are finding it difficult to make ends meet. And that is what has made the decision to talk to you so difficult. But, in the end, I have enjoyed working with you and the other staff members, and I really want to remain at Nash long-term. So, I need to be completely honest. I know that when you hired me, we agreed to a monthly vehicle allowance since I would be travelling to more than one project located in more than one geographical area of Central Florida. However, since starting work I have been getting overpaid for this. The monthly allowance is coming to me each and every week, and while it might be tempting to keep that quiet, I just can’t do it, it wouldn’t be right.”

As I sat there and listened to her unburden herself, I was extremely impressed with her honest and forthright approach to the issue. This young lady just delivered on our first and foundational core value of TRUST. Sure, she could have kept quiet and waited for someone to catch the error in how her allowance was being overpaid; no doubt that in these hard times it was tempting to her. But instead she did the right thing, she listened to her conscience and she earned trust. Trust is a set behaviors. Trust is a belief. Trust is a mental attitude. Trust is a feeling. Which one does our first core value represent? All of them. Trust should be the foundation of our business, the guiding principal at home, and how we conduct ourselves throughout each and every day.”

Jonathan Brokaw, Division Manager - Special Projects & Commercial Service