The Hidden Costs of Corruption

 Introduction

 Many of us tend to adopt a simplistic view of corruption.  We tend to see corruption as a mere transaction that involves people who illegally enrich themselves by taking bribes or kickbacks and others who pay the bribes voluntarily for some bigger benefits or because they are compelled to do so. 

 Corruption in this case is reduced to a transaction between two parties and third parties (i.e., the public at large) who are not involved in this transaction are often tempted to adopt either of two stands or a combination of both:  (a) they acknowledge the immorality or illegality of the transaction; (b) they are indifferent to it because they are not personally involved.   In any case, they do not think there is much they can do about corruption.

 This article tries to establish that corruption involves more than a simple illegal transaction –  it has a significant long-term pernicious impact on ALL of us.

Teaching is an act of leadership…

As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.
The next best, the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate ...
When the best leader's work is done the people say,
“We did it ourselves!”
― Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher 531 BC

Introduction

This article posits the view that teaching is leading in the real sense of the word.

Leadership and Corruption

We often think that others (e.g., politicians, etc) have to change if we are to rid society of corrupt practices or that some institution (e.g., ECO, ICAC) would need to be created to eradicate corruption. The truth is that we are the ones that need to change first.