* MATT FINKE *

Before I get into what I want to talk about for today, I just want to make it perfectly clear that what I am about to talk about are characteristics that I hold myself to, and am in no way talking about ANYBODY else other than myself. I'm talking about integrity today, but I don't think you can speak on integrity without also talking about accountability. They go hand in hand. I've always lived my life with the understanding that integrity is best defined as "how you act when you know nobody is looking" and accountability is best defined as "how you act when nobody is paying attention." They are two wings on the same bird, but very different from each other. I'm going to go on a quick detour before I get to my point - Many years ago, I started a path that led me to my first career as a certified aircraft maintenance technician. I had no idea how well that career field would set me up for my whole adult life and eventually my second career with Garmin. What people may not realize about aircraft mechanics, is that generally speaking we had very little oversight. Sure, there were things deemed critical that always required a second set of official eyes prior to being signed off as airworthy, but there were many, many more things we did on a daily basis that was just us giving our word that we did the job correctly. Now, the reward for doing our job correctly was that we didn't cause flight delays or accidents, and of course that we got to keep receiving a paycheck. We held ourselves to a very high standard because we worked in an industry where complacency and a lack of integrity could be catastrophic. I was in the aviation world from February 2009 through August 2022, where I started in commercial aviation and ended in helicopter EMS maintenance. In the commercial aviation world, we had inspectors assigned to each shift that would look over critical maintenance items. In the helicopter EMS world, it was pretty much just ourselves. You learn very fast that you need to do your job to the best of your ability. There is nothing else. If you are unsure or not confident in your ability to perform a task, you ask for help, you do not proceed without having full confidence in yourself. Integrity and accountability become ingrained in the very DNA of an aircraft mechanic, there is no alternative. When you screw up, you just come clean and work with your peers to see how you can rectify the situation. Swallowing your pride is much easier than being responsible for something catastrophic. Integrity and accountability are traits that I still carry with me to this day. It defines how I perform my job with Garmin, and it defines how I perform my job as a husband and father. Like the old saying goes, "Those who stand for nothing will fall for anything." Integrity and accountability are traits that I WILL continue to use to define me as a person, and hopefully as a County Council member. Read more