Anything but a Plain Jane

I have been re-reading Jane Eyre this week. This would come as no surprise to those who knew me in college; I wrote my senior thesis on Charlotte Bronte’s works. But I have for several years been immersed in the financial realm, so it was an unexpected treat to revisit Jane Eyre. (My family and husband usually roll their eyes when they see me rereading books for the fifth or sixth time, however I continue undaunted in the rather strange habit of re-reading books).

One passage in particular struck me this week; Jane is leaving Mr. Rochester, whom she loves but is about to leave (spoiler alert!) because she discovered at the altar that Rochester already has a wife – a mad woman locked in the house’s attic. (And you thought classics were boring!) It rends her heart to leave, and Rochester pushes her to stay, offering to whisk her away to villas in France and Italy where they can live as a married couple with no one knowing they aren’t technically married. Jane realizes she must leave Rochester, reflecting:

I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad—as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation . . . They have a worth—so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane—quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs.” -Jane, Chapter 27

It is Jane’s perspective that calls us to action. The call to remember in the darkness what we have seen in the light; to recall the whispering we heard from God when all that currently surrounds is silence.

How much better would our businesses and governments be if only we could all take this lesson? To reform because we believed in doing the right thing, rather than because we were blind to everything but the punishment of being caught. To put in place government principles we believe are beneficial, not push through bills for the sole purpose of trying to be re-elected. Business ethics classes usually teach students that they should be ethical because it will pay off monetarily in the long run – i.e., recalling you faulty product is cheaper than the lawsuits and bad press. But what about being ethical for the sake of it? Because we had glimpses of the right thing in moments of sanity?

The hallmark of the last two years of the financial crisis has been insanity; panic from investors, greed from bankers, mud-slinging from politicians. Caught up in the moment, it is hard to reach back in memory to moments of normalcy. But it is those who can see in panic the eventual return to calm that will rule the day.