Over the Thanksgiving holiday I had an interesting discussion with a mortgage lender and an economist about the 2008 banking industry collapse. Part of the discussion was around culpability and responsibility. In another conversation that week with a management consultant friend, we shared our frustration that institutions and systems are hard to change as organizational culture and corporate norms are deeply entrenched.
While whole systems of incentives, accountability, and market demand were responsible for the global banking collapse, business ethics and corporate citizenship ultimately comes down to personal decision making. To avoid such disasters in the future, fraud and greed have to be kept at bay. Each person must know the line over which they simply will not cross.
Where’s Your Ethical Line?
When I did on-boarding in my previous job, I talked to the new hires about their personal business ethics. I told them to get clear what values and principles they simply were not willing to sacrifice for their jobs. If they weren’t clear where that line is prior to starting their job, it would only get more fuzzy and confusing once they were in it. With pressure from a boss, customer, or co-workers to perform and conform, doing the right thing becomes even more challenging.
I offer this video below with some stories of people who knew where their ethical line was and what they weren’t willing to do for money.
Take some time to think through what you are and are not willing to do to save your job, please a boss, satisfy a customer, fit into your company, or make others look good. In the end, it is only your own conscience that you have to live with every night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW_7BEb1VCw&feature=plcp
To learn more about aligning your values with your work, read my book “Path for Greatness”.
BUY the 10th Anniversary edition of “Path for Greatness: Work as Spiritual Service”. Share this as a gift for a colleague, friend or family member who desires to integrate their spiritual life and their work life.
************************
For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.
——————
Linda J. Ferguson, Ph.D. is an author, coach, and seminar leader serving as a guide for your wholeness and authenticity in work and life.
Sign-Up on Linda’s website- www.lindajferguson.com for valuable tools to live and work from the heart – Transformational Empowerment (TM)
“Like” Linda’s Fan Page – https://www.facebook.com/LindaJFerguson to get notices of these blog posts and other updates of Linda’s work.
Linda – thank you for sharing your wisdom on knowing what one will and won’t do for money; and on firmly drawing the line before the temptation builds to step over it. Is this simple for you? My experience is that sometimes it’s very hard. The phrase “ethical dilemma” has meaning. The pressures you describe in your talk are so powerful. Psychologists have shown how, in situations where social norms are strong, most people do “the wrong thing.” Even worse, there are times when it seems like we have to choose between two wrong actions and the choice is “which one’s worse;” those are the dilemmas. Your advice to draw the line firmly and to know one’s relationship to money are excellent entry points. Perhaps another entry point is to build a close group of friends who are willing and able to confront each other – in support and friendship – to help each other do what’s right. Twelve step programs; the Bible story of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz; and some scenes from Sex and the City (what an ethics support group there!) come to mind. This is a critical topic today and often tiptoed around unless there are clear and legalistic guidelines, which can have the negative impact of externalizing moral choices and disconnecting us from our internal source for what’s right and wrong. Well – since a lot of what we pay attention to these days lives in blogs like this – thanks again for bringing right action to our attention and reminding us of its importance.