03.05.16 The 14th Practice for Avoiding Corruption

14. Be a Star Performer at Work

In organisations where corrupt superiors have the power to hire and fire, a bad performer may have no choice other than to appease such bosses by conceding to corruption; as without that, she or he risks being thrown on the street where no sober-minded employer hires people that cannot deliver. 

On the other hand, some corrupt bosses are so keen on ‘delivery’ that they choose to retain an ethical employee for ‘performance sake,’ even when she or he is not ready to participate in fraudulent schemes.  Have you ever seen that happen? In such circumstances, one’s excellent performance becomes the insurance that secures the person’s job, in a wicked and corrupted workplace.  That is how a star performer ends up being given the platform to overturn the vice by calling the shots and dictating terms in a corruption-infested work environment! 

That said, a corrupt boss could sack you anyway, whether you are an excellent performer or not.  Whilst some may come up with a lame reason for terminating your employment, others shamelessly create a ‘den of lions’, a ‘burning furnace’, a ‘stormy sea’, or to cut a long story short, a living-hell; so that you defect from the organisation, with no questions asked.  But even if that were to happen, your star performance will always sell you beyond that organisation’s borders.  New doors will open elsewhere.  That is what Proverbs 18:16 promises when it says (NKJV): A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men. 

So, deliver…!  Always be faithful, effective and efficient in the job that God has given you.  Excel beyond expected limits.  Collect as much knowledge and as many relevant skills as you can; build your capacity so that you have a résumé that a corrupt-infested world cannot afford to do without.