Building Success with Business Ethics: Advice from Business Leaders (Collection)

Chapter Twelve The Bottom Line

Ethical values are child’s play, not rocket science.

Society is forever fondly remembering the past as the “good old days,” a warm, fuzzy recollection of the simpler, happier times of our youth. Nostalgia tends to be vague and selective. Truth be known, those times had their ups and downs, just like today, but, again, childhoods normally are less complex. Back then, we accepted plainspoken values and, for the most part, adhered to them. These norms were drilled into our heads by the adults who surrounded us. Their diligence influenced our behavior, just as we shaped the behavior of our children, and they of their offspring.

My intention in discussing these ageless values is to jog memories and to flip on light bulbs. ...