Ethics for the Real World: Creating a Personal Code to Guide Decisions in Work and Life

CHAPTER 7

Transform Work

Skillful Decision Making in the Workplace

Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful.

—William Shakespeare¹

WHEN THE BOTTOM FELL OUT of the dot-com market at the turn of the century, Outcome Software was hit hard. Although the start-up firm had raised $10 million in venture capital, cash was running out. Venture capitalists, eager to earn back their money, intervened. They asked the founder and COO to keep the looming financial crisis to himself, lest the firm lose key software engineers to other, more secure companies.²

But the COO, an author of this book, decided not to take part in this deception. From the point of view of the venture capitalists, the act of telling employees the full truth—that a funding crisis ...