The price of ethics is sound business performance

We’ve all heard the golden idiom “do unto others as you would have done to you.” We all want to believe that practicing good ethics in both our personal and professional lives is the right thing to do. It is doing the simple things that will make you an ethical person: for example, being honest and telling the truth at work. However, these traits are becoming rarer in careers. Ethics purely centres on personal conduct. To begin with, the government, corporations, projects and businesspeople are now realizing that ethics aren’t checked at the door when entering the workplace. Ethics have every bit as much a place in the public domain as they do the private one. The current worldwide recession is indicative of how we all have to pay a hefty price for corruption. Some would say the recession is a simple matter of economics and nothing else. Nonsense. The recession was created by greed, which lead to bad lending and investment practices, followed by a game of hiding losses, lies and cover-ups. The lesson here is simple: It costs more to follow a path of unethical practices than to be honest and do what is right. A “fast buck” is just that, a quick way of making money that will inevitably cost business millions later on. Sometimes the media and the social trends are suffocating us with the hype that unethical practices are socially acceptable. I don’t see myself as a religious fanatic, but it seems to me that we have lost our way and need to redefine our ethical values and teach them in the office, the classroom and in the home. People will undoubtedly dismiss such a notion as ridiculous-that their values are just fine thank you, but are they? Do we truly preach and practice such things as honesty, integrity, trust, etc.? Indicators suggest otherwise. I think it’s high time we learned to say “No “? It is an incredibly powerful word and something we do not say enough of. It may seem awkward to say, but learning to say “NO” is like being ready to go the extra mile-avoiding the temptation to take the easy way out. Short cuts may seem nice, but following the right path is more rewarding in the long run. How many of our work places: have a ‘followed’ written code of conduct defining how employees are to behave on the job? Recognize and reward ethical behaviour and penalise bad behaviour. How many of our bosses or leaders lead by example. You know like become a role model for how you want others to behave? We all know what is right and wrong, but ethics requires a person with strength and character. I’m not going to tell you to keep your word, or to be honest and lead an upright and respectable life; you should and probably know this already. The question is- do you have the fortitude to do so? douglasfirst@gmail.com