Bad Corporate Conduct - Don't Be Like This

 If you have a company, you have an obligation to NOT kill your customers. If your business model requires you to kill people, you are a horrible person who should NOT be in business.  And I can't believe this has to be said out loud!!!!!

I live in Florida and we have a LOT of crazy stuff that happens here. Recently, my part of FL had a company responsible for a multi-state listeria outbreak that killed one person and hospitalized 22 others. One woman lost her fetus as a result of the infection. The company? Big Olaf.  

Now, having a contamination problem is bad enough. If you aren't putting effort and money into making sure your manufacturing is clean, you can run into problems that can kill people. People running food businesses have a moral obligation to make sure they take precautions to make sure their food is indeed safe and doesn't kill people. Big Olaf failed here. So - part 1 is - something happened that shouldn't have. 

Part 2 is how you respond if a mistake is made. Clearly a mistake was made, people got sick and died. Big Olaf, upon learning that their ice cream had killed someone - and a fetus, responded so badly, I honestly think they should no longer be in business. They insisted for a couple of weeks - after the outbreak was traced to them, that, they were being unfairly targeted by the FDA. They were not. They were the source of the outbreak.  But because they refused to admit it, they refused a voluntary recall of the contaminated product. For over 2 weeks, they continued to sell product that they knew was making people sick and killing people. 2 frigging weeks!!!! It was only after the FDA got a legal order to issue the recall, that the recall occurred.

Most food companies, issue voluntary recalls when they find out there is a problem with their product that can cause injury or death. This is because MOST companies are run by reasonable people who actually care about their fellow humans. This is the hallmark of humanistic leadership and humanistic business management. You take care to do good and do no harm and if you err, you fix it quickly!  This is how trust is created. 

This is NOT what Big Olaf did. They stuck their heads in the sand, claimed they were the victim and continued to harm people. Some of their franchises are now refusing to do business with them because they no longer trust the company. Act in an egregiously untrustworthy way - that's the consequence. No one wants to do business with you. 

I don't give an F who you are. Our government agencies overseeing commerce for our safety and benefit are not the enemy. They are our allies. If they tell you, your restaurant isn't clean or your food service facility has a problem, clean it up!!!! Your first obligation is to do no harm to your customers.  If your ego is such that you are willing to risk the lives of your customers to make some money, you don't deserve to be in business! 

We all have the ability to choose our response. If your business makes a mistake, own it, fix it and move on. Don't continue to do harm and pretend it's ok or pretend that you are the victim. If you've killed a customer and killed a customer's baby - you have a problem. If you refuse to acknowledge that, you don't belong in business. 

Rant Over.

Practicing humanistic leadership when others are not

 I had an article recently published in the Manila times.  It's about how to practice humanistic leadership when the people around you are not.

https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/02/23/business/columnists-business/practicing-humanistic-leadership-when-others-are-not/844335/

The key takeaway is this: If you want to be more humanistic, no one can stop you. Just be a good person. Live your values. Be compassionate, honest and responsible with everyone you meet. Your reputation will benefit from this choice. While unethical people around you won’t like it, most people you meet will be thrilled and your social status will benefit as a result. The number of unethical people is actually small when compared to the silent majority who are sick of unethical people but don’t have the courage to do anything about it.

Want some more advice? Here is a video I did on a similar theme - how to be professional.

Do codes of conduct help people behave ethically?

 Whether and how do corporate codes of conduct for employees and codes of ethics for members of trade associations help organizations prevent or address crisis situations caused by their employees or members?

Short answer: Yes, but only if you use them.

Codes of conduct don’t prevent ethical problems from arising. They don’t stop unethical people from behaving unethically. What they do provide is a method to determine whether something is ethical or not and how to ethically deal with a breach of ethics.  Used correctly, a code of conduct is a code of ethics. If there is a problem people should invoke the code and ask, what is the ethical thing to do here. What is the ‘good’ outcome.  It is only possible to have an ethical discussion if there is some agreement on what constitutes good.

In order to be useful, codes of conduct have to be used. Not as a bludgeon, but as a way to focus a discussion on what is ethical and what is good and what to do about things aren’t are neither ethical nor good.

I am the founder of Humanist Learning Systems and a board member for the USA chapter of the International Humanistic Management Association. I am an ethical philosopher who teaches people how to apply their ethics in their daily lives and in their businesses.   

https://humanistlearning.com/

 

Giving Voice to Your Values

 I had the pleasure of interviewing Mary Gentile for the Teaching Teachers to Teach Values program for the International Humanistic Management Association. 

As this involves giving voice to your values and because I am all about giving voice to values - specifically humanistic values, I wanted to share what I learned from her here.

In her presentation, Ms. Gentile pointed out that a lot of what Giving Voice to Values (GVV) is about, is asking and answering different questions. For instance, instead of asking what the right thing to do is, ask how you can do the right thing.  Then, practice saying whatever it is you are going to say.  The purpose is to give people practice at acting ethically in ethically challenging situations.  This is like creating muscle memory through repetition so that when someone is challenged, they will behave ethically even if their mind is scared. 

To teach these, she focuses on clear cut ethical situations. She then poses the question, how do you get the right thing done. This is about behaving ethically, not just thinking critically about ethical behavior.  It is for the pragmatists who want to be ethical, but aren't sure if they can be effective if they speak up and give voice to their values. By helping them practice this, it helps them see themselves behaving ethically and by their values in difficult situations.

This does work cross culturally. She focuses on what she calls Hypernorms, or Super values, that are shared with all humans. The cultural differences are about what unethical behavior is tolerated in each culture and how and whether people tolerate it or speak up about it. The training on this is to help people imagine what they would do if they could to combat unethical behavior. 

When she teaches this in a cross cultural environment she does 5 things.

• Acknowledge the reality of the local culture and the problems with being ethical in that culture
• Respect those difference and the fact that most people are NOT thrilled with whatever the reality is.
• Conduct thought experiments on what if you could do something to change that, what would that be?
• She provides real life examples from that culture or nation of someone who has confronted the unethical culture successfully. This helps give people a sense of pride and that yes, WE can do it, whoever the WE is.
• She explains the metaphor of using one's voice doesn't necessarily mean - yelling or ranting. It can be many things. It's about giving voice to YOUR values and encouraging you to think of ways to handle difficult situations with your ethics intact and then to practice them. 

Her websites have free resources

https://www.ignited.global/ihma/blog/mary-gentile-giving-voice-values-teaching-teachers-teach-values-video 

Alterity and Humanism

 Alterity is about: Being Different Together.  Finding joy in our differences helps us be fully human. It's a good humanist practice.

This word came up in a discussion I had with Oscar Buloang from Ateno University in Manila for the International Humanistic Management Association. Information and video of the discussion here: https://www.ignited.global/ihma/blog/teaching-teachers-teach-values-embedding-values-business-education-oscar-bulaong

The 10 Commitments of Humanism

The American Humanist Association - Center for Learning - published the 10 Humanist Commitments.  They are worth reading.

The article about what all these commitments mean is here: https://americanhumanistcenterforeducation.org/?page_id=14747  And .. there is a simplified kids version: https://americanhumanistcenterforeducation.org/?page_id=17997


What I like about these commitments and principles is that because they are Humanist - they are without any specific religious creed. This allows them to be used by anyone to 'form a strong basis on which character development can be delivered."

The idea behind this was to provide students with a positive basis for moral development.

I also like it because - they are not commandments - which are externally imposed, but rather commitments we make to ourselves and to each other to be better people. And I do think people who are internally motivated to be ethical - do a better job at being good than people who are only being good to avoid punishment.

Finally - for me - it was timely because I am involved in the International Humanistic Management Association and we are currently onboarding our first cohort of fellows and one of the things they want and need to be good advocates for humanistic management - is a clear statement of what it means to be a Humanist.  These 10 commitments - are exactly what they wanted and need to help promote humanistic cultural change within organizations.

How do you plan to use the commitments?

Ethical Frameworks

In order to be ethical you need to behave ethically. To behave ethically, you have to know what the ethical thing to do is and that requires you to be able to make ethical decisions.

Ethical frameworks provide support and guidance for ethical decision making by enabling the important aspects of the situation to be highlighted and evaluated. If you don’t have an ethical framework, making ethical decisions is nearly impossible. You might behave ethically, but it would be accidental.

Ethics is about what is good and what is bad. It involved making a choice. This is good, that is bad. To be able to make those judgements requires you to have values. Helping people is good, hurting people is bad is an example of a compassion based value.

One of the most famous ethical frameworks is the Bible’s 10 Commandments. Thou Shalt Not Kill, covet, commit adultery, lie, or steal. You should honor your parents and take days off now and again.  Yes, that’s only 7. The other three aren’t really about ethics.

So let’s say we all agree on these 7.  Where things get tricky is when they are in conflict with one another.  Is it ok to lie to prevent a murder?  Only if you value not killing more than you value not lying.

The ranking or prioritizing of your values is what transforms a set of ethical values into an ethical framework.  The more you think about what it is you value the more you are able to prioritize your values ahead of time so that when you are called upon to make an ethical decision, your ethical framework will help you find clarity.

Ethical decision making is rarely about whether something is good or bad. It’s the ability to decide between the greater of two goods or the lesser of two evils.

To learn more about ethical frameworks  - consider taking Living Made Simpler – my 6 hour online course on applied Humanism

Can Bankers Change?

What does the continued problem with how our biggest banks are run teach us about change management?

The Atlantic published an excellent article about the banking industry – see: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/05/can-bankers-behave/389558/

The question asked is – can bankers behave?  The answer is obviously yes, but the structure of certain banks makes that change very very hard.

The article is ultimately a story about ethical habit formation and how change occurs. What I want to discuss here is the part of the article that focuses on the CEO of Morgan Stanley, James Gorman.

While we can debate the merits of the changes made at Morgan Stanley, what isn’t debatable is that Gorman was successful at making the changes he wanted to make.

Why was he successful when so many people struggle to create change within their organizations?  His attitude was if you don’t like the changes – leave. If you want to work at a hedge fund – do it – our core business is that we are a bank. And people did leave. And that was ok.

The mistake that managers wanting to create change make is in thinking – they have to make people change. The reality is that not everyone will change. Not everyone wants to. It’s ok if they don’t; they just need to find employment elsewhere if the fit is no longer good for them.

Change is hard. People resist it. That is normal. It’s a process that takes place over time and you will have early adopters and once the change is proven to work, mass adoption. And, there will be some holdouts that refuse to change. Sometimes you can drag them along kicking and screaming and they will become your biggest advocates. And sometimes, you just need to let them find employment that is better suited to them.

Accepting that you can’t be everything to everyone takes courage.  It takes courage to stand by your core mission as an organization. This is especially important if your corporate culture has allowed unethical behavior to propagate. Changing the culture to promote ethical behavior means, some people will have to go. Never allow people who want to be unethical to steer you off course and keep you from creating the positive social change you know is right.

FYI -  discuss the change management process in detail and how to use behavioral psychology to help this process along, paying specific attention to resistance to change, which in the behavioral model is considered an extinction burst and it’s predicted. Understand why and how that resistance will help you manage it when it occurs. (See:  https://humanistlearning.com/change1/)

Ethical Interactions

A true leader is someone other people want to emulate. Treating other people with respect is step one.

There is a lot of discussion about ethical leadership.  We want our leaders to be ethical. But what does that really mean?

Ethical leaders are people who make ethical decisions, certainly. But it’s also about how they interact with and treat other people.  And this is really the big secret about ethics. Ethics isn’t about how we should behave. It’s about how we want other people to treat us.

If people are honest with us, it makes our lives easier. If they consider us as someone worthy of basic justice, it makes our lives easier.  If they treat us with respect, it feels great because we know, they are less likely to lie, cheat or steal from us.  Ethics is about us, and our goals dreams and desires and how WE want to be treated.

When you understand this, you begin to understand how important it is to extend the same sort of respect you want to others.  And yes, this is a lot like the golden rule. Treat others as you wish to be treated. But it goes deeper than that.

The reason to make sure your interactions with other people is ethical is not just because you should. It’s because these other people have a choice. They are autonomous and want to be treated with respect to and ethical people don’t tolerate unethical behavior for very long. They will not want to hang out or do business with you if you yourself are not ethical! Plus treating other people ethically also makes you feel good. Being ethical is something you do for you because it’s how YOU want to be treated. I really don’t understand why people choose otherwise.

To make sure your interactions are ethical, start by considering whether you are approaching other people with respect.

Ethics are grounded in respect. Every human rights document and Humanist manifesto starts with a foundational statement that every human is worthy of dignity and respect. This is not just a catch phrase. It actually means something pretty important. Every person you meet, everywhere in the world is a real person and they are worthy of the respect that you would give to any fully autonomous human. When you get this, it changes everything.

When we don’t consider other people as fully autonomous, we tend to see them through the lens of our own needs and wants and that’s not only not very respectful, it’s also not very effective and it can causes us to put our own needs, wants and desires above the other persons. And that is what leads us to behave unethically.

In contract, when you recognize and respect the autonomy of other people, your expectations for them change. They are no longer someone who either helps you or hurts you. They are someone you are hoping will help you and not hurt you. This no longer about you – it’s about them. This slight shift in focus is what real respect feels like. And it has a profound impact on how you treat other people and how you are treated by them in return.

When you view someone with respect, you see yourself in them. You are them to a certain extent and the thought of hurting them by being unethical becomes unthinkable. This is the truth that all the different variations of the golden rule try to capture.  It’s about recognizing and respecting the reality of the human you are interacting with and treating them accordingly.

Wellness as a Humanist concept

What is well-being and how can it help you to be more ethical and happy?

I come at this from a Humanist perspective (so not religious – but dedicated to thriving as a whole human).

For me –the act of making well-being, contentment or happiness a priority helps me to make decisions that are not only in my best interest, but in the best interest of others. In other words, wanting to be happy or well – helps me to make more ethical decisions and be more ethical as a person.

Which seems counter-intuitive, but it really does work.  I bring this back to Epicurus – pain is to be avoided. But a little bit of pain to get long term gain is good.  Short term gain for long term pain is bad.

By prioritizing well-being – I am better able to employ a decision making framework that helps me avoid those short term gain for long term pain situations – and so – I am able to not sabotage my happiness as a result.

How to raise moral children

Why praising character works more than praising behavior

According to this article in the New York Times, praising kids character traits encourages them to live up to the ideals of those character traits. Praising the behavior does not. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/12/opinion/sunday/raising-a-moral-child.html?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=OP_RaM_20140413&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1388552400000&bicmet=1420088400000&_r=5

So – if a kid doesn't cheat on a test – saying, thank you for not cheating, won’t have much of an impact. Saying, wow – you’re so honest – I like that about you does.

It gives a kid something to strive for. A goal to be reached. It provides a sense of identity. And don’t we all need that? 

On any given day my behavior may or may not reach up to the ideal I set for myself. The point is, that I have an ideal I've set for myself. And that ideal is a value, not a particular behavior. 

It’s the value that determines my character and whether I am moral or not. If I tried to be moral by defining each specific behavior that I consider to be good, I would have an endless task. The permutation of possible behaviors is endless. Which is why I think religions that have rules of behavior fail to create moral people.

As a Humanist, my goal is to be the best most ethical human I can be. This is a moral ideal. It doesn't tell me what sort of sex is moral and what isn't. It doesn't tell me what food I can eat or not eat.  Instead, it encourages me to think about my behavior in each situation I find myself in to figure out what a good ethical person would do. And then, do that to the best of my ability.

Since reading this article, I have become aware of how I discuss moral behavior with my son. And I try to make a conscious effort to talk about the sort of person he wants to be instead of just praising him for certain behaviors.  I've noticed when I discuss his moral character; he does light up and become excited. The idea of being a good person resonates with him in a way that – doing your homework does not.

Your exercise for the week, is to remind yourself about your ethical character. And if you are parent, to try and integrate ethical character praise to your child this week and see how your child responds. Good luck. 

The High Cost of Being Unethical

Why pretending that you don’t need to prioritize ethics is hurting you.

I’m pretty lazy. I don’t like to do things that cause me more work.  This is one of the main reasons why I prioritize being ethical.  It saves me a lot of grief. I avoid scandal (unless someone else draws me in against my will). I avoid mistakes that were easily avoided. Plus, being responsible for my actions makes me work harder and I feel like I get more done. My ethics don’t allow me to excuse myself for not doing what I’m supposed to do.

All these benefits also transfer over into the workplace.  A study by the Josephson Institute reports on the cost of unethical behavior in the workplace is eye opening (see: http://josephsoninstitute.org/pdf/Report_HiddenCostsUnethicalBehavior.pdf)

Here are a few of the costs associated with unethical workplace behavior:

• Lost sales
• Costs associated with legal fees resulting from scandals and problems
• Employee fraud (estimated at $600 billion/year)
• High employee turnover is pretty expensive
• Costs associated with intentionally sabotaged projects
• Costs associated with poor problem solving resulting for poor communication and withheld information

So the question we need to ask ourselves is – is allowing our ethics to lapse for expediency really expedient?  I don’t think so. It’s like anything. There is always a cost associated with your actions. Choose your actions wisely, prioritize your ethics, and make your life a little bit easier and better as a result.