Ethics in Business - Crisis of Character
We've all been reading about corporate scandals in America over the course of the past few years. Historically, we will forever associate corporate malfeasance with names like Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Adelphia, Martha Stewart and Imclone Systems. American business has been tarnished, but these dishonorable incidents appear to be the exception rather than the rule. Aberrations such as these have been very puzzling to me as a businessman. My family and I have been in business for as long as I can remember. We were taught the ethical pathway to corporate success. Treat people honestly, both employees and customers, and develop relationships based on trust and conviction. It leads to a positive and useful business based on one important concern - a positive reputation.
I know our country is based on a capitalist structure that endorses the accumulation of wealth and there's nothing wrong with that endeavor. Nothing at all! It becomes a problem when the craving to accumulate things exceeds the desire to care about people. I have found that if you conduct yourself ethically in the business structure, everything else follows. I want to let you know about some companies out there that are doing things right. These are a few companies that follow the rules and make capitalism a viable system to admire.
Over the years, Procter & Gamble had excelled in service to minorities and women, as well as to their local community. P&G donates to help disadvantaged kids in Vietnam, to combat childhood malnutrition in India and to provide earthquake relief in Turkey. Deere & Company recently decided to decline selling prime real estate to a developer; instead they donated $1.5 million in land and facilities to Western Illinois University, allowing the university to better serve the community, including Deere's employees. Intel's good corporate citizenship includes careful attention to employee safety -- so much so that the company's CEO insists he be sent an email report within 24 hours any time one of his firm's 80,000 employees loses a single day of work to injury.
This is far from an inclusive listing, but I thought you should know that not all American business is bad or operating illegally. Every company in America is there to make a profit and there's nothing wrong with that. But, how the company attains its bottom line figure makes all the difference. Let's not allow media reports to tarnish our opinion of American business. Most companies do very well, financially and ethically, and don't allow the desire for financial success to surpass their desire to deal with people in an ethical fashion. Doing it any other way gets the company and its officers into personal and corporate trouble.
Originally published in the Outspoken e-newsletter.