"Live one day at a time emphasizing ethics rather than rules."
Wayne Dyer
Author
This reminds me of things relating to the spirit of the law versus letter of the law. "I followed the rules" is not the same as being able to say "I did what was right."
We don't hear much about ethics in business until we come across cases where a lack of ethics can no longer be ignored. Is it enough that business follow established rules or should management and employees be encouraged to apply some ethics test to all they do?
The word "ethics" is probably in half the corporate value statements in existence but you couldn't tell it by what we see in the news. Whatever the case it's definitely not a thing you legislate. Corporate management either is ethical or they're not and if they're not the employees won't be either.
ReplyDeleteHi Bill,
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking about this a lot lately as I have seen massive ethics violations - global financial crisis, Chinese milk scandal, numerous Japanese food scandals...
You good say that ethics is an essential part of good leadership - doing things right. I blogged lately about Difference Between Management And Leadership, which is related to your quote. Leadership is about emphasizing the ethics, management about the rules.
Let's not let bad management overrule ethics in leadership!
2 concepts have historically served as a good guide for me in making ethical decisions:
ReplyDelete1. how would you feel if a decision you're about to make is splashed across the front page of a major newspaper?
2. i don't know how to describe pornography but i know it when i see it.
Adding to Anonymous' comment:
ReplyDeleteIf it doesn't past the "smell test" . . .
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck . . .