“We hold these truths to be self-evident…”

I’m sure that many of you are as saddened/angry/frustrated over the events of the past week as I. It is a trying time for us all. For 20 years I have had a copy of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence on my wall; the very first book my wife gave to me on our second date was on The Constitution; I lived and worked next to (and buried a friend at) Arlington National Cemetery and across from the Lincoln Memorial; and I have been fortunate and privileged with family members, friends, and colleagues who took the most sacred oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic”. The insurrection we all witnessed this last week and those that advocated for and supported the lies that fomented it strikes at the very core of our principles, integrity, and what The Constitution stands for. We are a society of laws — or we are not at all; our businesses operate and function only when there is accurate and truthful information. This applies regardless of political party or ideology. Without trust and integrity everything we work for…everything we teach our kids to respect and be…falls apart.

So what…I realize I have a luxury of voicing my opinion and that itself is troubling insofar as voicing an opinion on integrity and facts is seen as a political statement. That said, now more than ever what we all say and do matters. As such, one simple way to act: my friend Arvind Rajan (along with Sunil Paul) have put together an initiative to go a step further — to refuse to invest in or work with companies / firms where any of the politicians associated with the lies leading to last week’s insurrection (or their investment vehicles) have an investment; to take an investment from funds where these individuals participate; or to do business with professional services firms who donate to them. I’m signing on to this as one way of speaking out — and I hope you will too. You can read the document here and if you are interested in signing your name, please also see the following URL.

Thank you…I appreciate your time and consideration…and the very best to you.

“..for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”

— George Elliot