Ethics of Enderlin

“Over the last several years there has been much in the news about corporate scandals, cheating and executives being fined or sent to jail. I think I am very lucky to have come from a place where everyone in town expects honesty and where parents and community leaders make sure kids walked the straight and narrow. The ethics foundation I received growing up in Enderlin, and our honor code at West Point, are always at the forefront of every decision I make.” Those were part of Marshall Larsen’s talk at the Enderlin Recognition Awards Ceremony in his hometown of Enderlin, ND (population 947). Larsen is CEO of the Goodrich Corporation, a Fortune 500 company with 21,000 employees.

Larsen is like lots of people I meet in my travels. They have very fond remembrances of growing up in their small town and often give justly deserved credit to the lessons that they learned years ago. Larsen finished his speech with these words, “I am proud to stand in front of this audience and tell you Enderlin was, and is a wonderful place to grow up. This is a great and caring community and the current leaders should be commended for providing opportunities and solid improvements for all to enjoy. I will always be proud to say I cam from Enderlin and Enderlin will always have a special place in my heart.”

Enderlin has a wonderful publication called “The Hometown Magazine” that is aimed at the many alumni of Enderlin High School. It is obviously well read, as there were letters and notes from 37 other alumni in the magazine. What a great way to stay in touch with those many alumni (I call it a town’s brain bank) like Marshall Larsen who have a special place in their heart for their hometown.

I was in Enderlin earlier this year when I did a weeklong tour of ND towns, one of my more memorable trips of the year. I was so impressed with the hospitality and warmth of the people I met in the nine towns I visited. Mike Martin, who accompanied me on the trip, wrote in “The Hometown Magazine”, “The days spent with Jack Schultz showcased an amazing part of the world. Not one community leader I visited with yearned for the good ol’ days and all of them spend a lot of time thinking of the future and what changes their community should make to benefit from it. The theme seems to be “Prepare yourself for your time, and it will come.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.