In the early 1970s the planning started for a new building in Manhattan for Citicorp's headquarters. The new building was to take up an entire city block, but had to avoid an historic church on one corner of the block that had been built in 1905. In order to deal with this unique situation, William LeMessurier used an innovative structural design. The building was built and considered a success, but about four years later LeMessurier realized that under certain, unlikely wind conditions, the building's structure could fail. LeMessurier quickly developed a plan to solve the problem and worked with Citicorp to resolve the issue, despite the risk to his reputation. This case is an excellent example of how ethical problems can be avoided by doing what should be done in the first place.
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