Code Rainbow*

Tiknon LLC was under substantial stress. Sales were down, company moral was at an all-time low, and on top off of everything, a large number of employees were found to be engaging in illegal and unethical conduct. 

The owner, Godfrey Wold was forced to make the very difficult decision of firing the majority of his staff and to hire a new workforce in an attempt to “reboot” his company for a better more successful future.  There were, however, four employees that he did retain: Shawn, Hal and Jeff Lemeck - three brothers - and their father Noel. They had always proven to be honest and hard-working men and it was with them that he would rebuild his business.
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The first year was a difficult one. Rebuilding a collapsed company was exhausting for them all. Working into the nights and over the weekends, they had little personal time to spend with their families, but what could they do? This was the source of their livelihood and if they didn’t dedicate themselves to the task, they’d also be left with nothing.

Finally, the year was up, and things began to settle down, sales was slowly picking up, the moral was better and Tinon LLC was once again strong. Mr. Wold was happy.

Reflecting on all that had transpired over the last several years and how the company of his dreams had faltered because of the improprieties and foibles of his employees, and realizing that the potential for a repeat was always possible, he decided to employ a different strategy in the event of such a fateful outcome. Not regretting what he did the first time - for the memory of such a massive dissolution of the company would always serve as a reminder of what ought to happen when things go so awry. However, now he wanted the company to become even better than ever before. His plan was to, in a sense, create a collaborative partnership with his employees, empowering them with the responsibility of looking out for each other. This meant not only to help and support coworkers in their tasks but also to point out their faults in a constructive team-like manner. Mr. Wold was a smart man and he understood that the surest way to inspire people was to see the potential in others. When you see the good and the potential in another human being you don’t give up on them and even if they’re acting in ways that are wrong and distasteful, the sight of their intrinsic good can help us to help them. With this simple insight, Mr. Wold called in his IT team and instructed them to develop a software that could allow Mr. Wold, as the CEO, to override the display on every monitor, Smartphone and IPad of every employee at any point when he would perceive that the company may be tottering from its level of integrity. He instructed them that the image of a rainbow should suddenly appear on their screens to remind them that either they or their fellow employees are not up to par and everyone must commit themselves to focus on - similar to a rainbow - the panoply of colors and qualities of each other to encourage a better work ethic among themselves and greater dedication to the company.  Underneath the rainbow, the following words were to also appear:

My Dear Employee,
It has come to my attention that some of you are not behaving with the integrity and honesty that I expect.  Rather than fire you I send you the message of the rainbow.  Pay attention to the plethora of qualities and virtues that you and your co-workers all possess.  Focus on them in yourself and especially others and feel a sense of responsibility toward each other. Do not write anyone off.  Believe in them like I believe in you and help each other make this company great.

Godfrey Wold,
CEO, Tiknon Enterprises

In the same way that Godfrey Wold acted after the restructuring of Tiknon Enterprises starting again with Shawn, Hal, Jeff and Noel Lemeck, so did the G-d of the World do with His Tikun Olam mission starting again with Shem, Ham, Yefes and Noach, son of Lemech, and by using the rainbow as a reminder that we must always see the potential in others to help make the world a better place.
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* Based on Midrash Rabba 35:2 and R’ Meir Shapiro, the Lubliner Rav, that Noach and R’Yehoshua ben Levi at a later time, were faulted for not seeing the potential in those who sinned and appeared beyond teshuva.  The rainbow was shown to them to teach that not only does everyone possess a colorful array of potentials but that also those potentials sometimes only emerge after a stormy day of darkness.