You've Got to Be Kidding!: How to Keep Your Job Without Losing Your Integrity

Who Are the Bad Guys?

It’s easy to predict the results of managing without secure ethical footings. Persistent ethical dilemmas cripple service, morale, recruitment, and innovation. Left unresolved, these dilemmas cause an invisible, insidious drain on the company’s productivity and profitability. Consider the problems that lies, duplicity, theft, illicit behavior, and harassment cause. Is this the kind of corporate culture that attracts customers? Retains super employees? Builds profits?

Anyone can slip and need a hand getting back onto the ethical path. The goal of the Ethical Office is not perfection; it is simply to do the best we can, as often as we can. And when we can’t or don’t or didn’t do the right thing, we fix it by talking about it right away. Imagine all the temptations your people have within the company, and then think about those bad guys out there hoping to take advantage of you or your coworkers: From hackers and identity thieves to conniving vendors to disgruntled and ex-employees to information brokers to scam artists—you can’t survive in the jungle without your Ethical Priority Compass.