The Participation Blog

Is Your Organization Ethical?

There have been times when companies (mostly) would call asking for help with some kind of embarrassing issue that they were afraid the public would find out about. Someone in senior management would typically ask, “What can we do to make sure people see us as being trustworthy and credible?” I would usually say, “Well, first, you need to be trustworthy and credible.” Some would then respond, “No, we just need people to think that we’re trustworthy and credible.” I would then suggest they call somebody else. Paraphrasing something Warren Buffet said: trust is like air, when it’s missing you know it. Given the current unprecedented indictment of a former U.S. President and all of the business and government shenanigans that cross our news feeds every day, it might be worth our collective time to look in the mirror. So, as long as we’re on the subject of virtue and ethics, consider this self-assessment.