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Business Ethics Cannot Ignore the 800# Gorilla

Guest post by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Article Overview: Pick up any newspaper, watch any television network, listen to any radio station or scan the Internet and you can learn a myriad of reasons about why the U.S. is in its current economic crisis. After hearing or reading hundreds of economists to political pundits, I have yet to hear the real problem why our economy is in its current fix.

Business Ethics Cannot Ignore the 800# Gorilla

Pick up any newspaper, watch any television network, listen to any radio station or scan the Internet and you can learn a myriad of reasons about why the U.S. is in its current economic crisis. After hearing or reading hundreds of economists to political pundits, I have yet to hear the real problem why our economy is in its current fix.

As a business consultant and sales coach, I have witnessed this same issue in small to larger organizations and even within individuals. People still confuse symptoms with problems.

In 2008, I wrote a column for a local newspaper in Northwest IN about how I observed a local businessman who paid for one paper and took two. This is the problem. This is "800# gorilla" in the room that everyone continues to walk around and ignore. We continue to give the "Wink and a Nod" to business ethics and individual behaviors.

The writing has been on the wall for many years from declining work ethics to the increase in white-collar business crime. Even within our own government, a bill starts as a few pages and ends up as 400 pages because of all the pork that has been added. Sure the pork may help one community, but overall, it does not help the country. In business it is no different. Executives add pork to the budget for their own personal greed and the company suffers. A prime example is insurance giant, AIG, that was given a bailout and then their executives received a golden parachute.

I believe that well over 95% of all adults know what is right and what is wrong. Yet, individuals in all roles in all types of organizations continue to engage in the “Wink and the Nod” behaviors knowing full well what they are doing is wrong.

During the last couple of decades in the U.S., we have experienced countless examples of what happens when positive core values and ethics are missing in the individuals involved in private and public organizations. Organizational examples include Arthur Anderson and Enron. Individual instances can be read any day of the week from fraudulent business people to politicians.

However, these behaviors can be reversed, but to be honest it is difficult. For individuals will have to be committed to doing what is right and not what is easy. In effective and authentic leadership, this is called making good choices and tough decisions. Watch the classic movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, to understand that being true to your core values, those non-negotiable behaviors, does challenge your head (thoughts), your heart (beliefs) and your hands (behaviors).

TAKE ACTION: Sit down and revisit the Values Statement within your strategic business action plan. Be able to clearly describe the behaviors that you and your employees will demonstrate in all interactions with both internal and external customers. If you do not have a Values Statement, write one. Then read it each and every day. Be prepared to accept the consequences that may include turning down business because your know it is not right even if it is profitable.

Related Articles
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  Increase Sales Means You Must Confront Those 800# Gorillas
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  “Building An Environment of Ethical Behavior. Ten Tips From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach ”

Article Tags: aig, bailout, business consultant, business crime, business ethics, core values, countless examples, economic crisis, exa, golden parachute, gorilla, insurance giant, personal greed, political pundits, prime example, public organizations, radio station, television network, wink, work ethics



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