Russ Dalbey's Blog

What’s happened to ethics in business these days? The corporate world has taken some big hits recently. With the collapse of companies like Enron, the business practices and conduct of corporate executives and CEOs are constantly in the news. The media, stockholders, and consumers…we’re all demanding accountability. And we want to know that the people in charge are playing by the rules.

To my mind, adhering to moral standards in business practices are critical to long-term success; you can’t succeed on any level without conducting yourself with good intention, honesty and integrity. 

Whether big or small, a huge corporation or a sole-proprietorship based out of the home, we should ALL be accountable to ourselves and our clients.

In fact, business ethics are so important, that today one in three graduate business programs require a business ethics curriculum. 

I found a great article in the Christian Science Monitor about business ethics. Now, whether or not a “moral compass” can actually be taught, as this article briefly touches on, is debatable. But I think that it’s the awareness – the discussion of ethics in corporate behavior – that matters.

In this article, Michael Hoffman, executive director of the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley College, suggests that companies today are looking to hire ethics-savvy business-school grads:

"Higher education, especially after Enron [collapsed], realized it hadn’t done enough" in ethics, sustainability, or corporate social responsibility, Mr. Hoffman says. Now "the trend is to integrate the three themes throughout the curriculum so it becomes habitual and becomes part of the thinking of a business executive."

Ethics is a topic that I think is important to have keep in mind every day, in everything we do.

Christian Science Monitor business ethics article

Warmly,

Russ
Founder of Winning in the Cash Flow Business
Dalbey Education Institute

Founder of Winning in the Cash Flow Business