Daily Lessons from Life 06 January 2011 - Demoted Over Son's Wedding!!

"Thu, Jan 06, 2011 AFP - Taiwan air force general demoted over son's wedding

TAIPEI - THE commander of Taiwan's air force has lost his job amid accusations he used his staff to help out in an elaborate wedding ceremony for his son, officials said on Thursday.

Air Force General Lei Yu-chi has been demoted to the post of deputy chief of staff while the defence ministry investigates the accusations, according to ministry officials.

Opposition legislators claim Lei commandeered 50 officers and men to assist in the wedding, which took place in Taipei last week, attended by 800 guests.

Mr Lei spent four months preparing for the event, drawing up a 20-page battle plan, according to Tsai Huang-lang, a lawmaker, who had obtained a copy."

A poor lapse of good judgement by a veteran commander? Commander of men, women and billions dollar worth of air crafts and equipments!

Lessons for me are:

1. was it a tradition that staffs help their supervisors in their personal matters with the expectation that their supervisors with the expectations that their supervisors will help them out in times of needs? It looked perfectly fine to me initially until someone said: hey! This is abuse of power!!;

2. if it is indeed a tradition in Taiwan, a society that valued a lot of personal relationship and 'helping each other'. Then could this be a case of: doing the right thing at the wrong time spotted by the 'enemies'?;

3. regardless of why he was reported and therefore, correctly being censured, it is best to follow the highest standard of ethical conducts and not make any assumptions! i.e. if you are asking your staffs to help, plesae make sure that they do not don uniforms and please ensure that they are properly released from their duties or you have to pay for their services.

It is sad that he made the mistake and was publicly shamed for what must be one of his lifetime dreams - to see his son getting married! So, beware of one's public responsibilities when one tries to tackle personal matters!