It’s often clear in day-to-day business that some leaders aren’t quite as ethical as we’d hope.

Actions are many times constrained by financial demands and sometimes by personal biases. All too often legal precedence is sought to rationalize otherwise poor behavior.

Unfortunately, these comments will ring true with many readers.

We all hope as leaders to do the right thing while satisfying many legal, financial demands simultaneously. Almost universally this can be achieved, if our motivations are soundly based and we are honest with ourselves.

But where do we learn our individual code of ethics?

Often a class is thrown to us during our education and frequently a few words are spoken and a guideline or handout provided from the companies in which we work. For most people, a hands-on experience is the real stuff from which their foundation is built and from where they then base their actions.

As a new, young manager I served three levels below a well-known industry figure in a booming semiconductor industry. A simple, 2-minute meeting with this person reinforced my own ethical business standards and set my course for life.

The industry was prone to cyclic and violent downturns; now you’re hiring, next you’re not and layoffs ensue. Personally, I was employed in a protected (job-secure) Design Team, but was caught with a job offer to a recruit being processed when a slowdown struck.

The manager I mentioned ran a $400 million business at that time. I was summoned to his office to discuss the job offer.

After a summary hello his question was simple, “did you make this person a (verbal) job offer?” I accurately stated the simple fact that the candidate was told, “I intend to process a job offer; sometimes these don’t get signed off.”

The door on the company issuing job offers had already been slammed shut. Legally, this manager had a way out. The candidate had not been directly told we would make him an offer.

But this manager then instantly and unhesitatingly signed the offer, smiled and handed it back. I believe he might have said something more social as I was leaving. I don’t recall.

However, what I did hear in that encounter was:

• This company’s word means something
• We honor our word, here
• I honor my word
• You are part of his company
• You represent us, that means something
• We honor your word
• And, more

A few months before this I’d been puzzling over what rules and cultural norms were expected of me in this new company, role and country. It turned out the way my father behaved and treated others was a sound foundation for business ethics, too.

Sometime after this, that same manager went on to run a billion-dollar semiconductor business and he’s still around today. I will not mention his name as frankly I suspect he’d rather let his actions stand and influence others than indulge in petty recognitions.

So, this anecdote brings me full circle. When you get up in the morning, what drives your ethics and treatment of others? Do you have a sound foundation and take actions that others can respect and trust?

Ian R. Mackintosh is the author of Empower Your Inner Manager Twitter @ianrmackintosh