Bankruptcy can never be an option.

If trust is the currency of influence and sound leadership, then why are my peers filing chapter 13 when crises occur?

I'm talking about those in their 40's and 50's, the folks who are in "trust" positions who are supposed to be protect us and keep us from going astray.

But don't.

Take the regulatory offices in the U.S. A few years ago, employees of the Minerals Management Service "used cocaine and marijuana, and had sexual relations with oil and gas company representatives," according to a government report.

Then an oil rig platform in the Gulf of Mexico exploded.

According to a recent NPR Plant Money podcast:

Economists have been writing for decades about "regulatory capture" — the idea that regulators are "captured" by the industry they're supposed to be watching over, and wind up serving industry's interests.

So who's regulating the regulators?

Who's regulating our selves?

Anyone?

Is it yet another Sodom and Gomorrah winner take all recycle policy?

Expand outward generation after generation after generation: the subprime mortgage crisis -- the S&L crisis -- the Nummi Plant in the late 70's -- grifting of all flavors, shapes and sizes, personal and professional -- same outcome, different decade.

Regulating ebbs and flows. Laws that come and go.

Yet, we're not teaching personal leadership to our children and our children's children. Not to the point of breaking the cycle of being permanently broken.

We bend, we fail and some of us break. I certainly have. Unfortunately some of us break forever, though.

But if enough of us build up a personal savings of:

• Trust
• Accountability
• Dependability
  
• Adaptability
  
• Critical thinking
  
• Emotional intelligence
• And other high-yield personal strength bonds

And teach our children to do the same, while influencing others, then bankruptcy can never be an option.

Take the lead.