Ethics

NASA announced yesterday that asteroid Apophis will not strike the Earth for at least another 100 years. That’s good news, given that the impact we had feared for 2036 could have killed more than 10 million people. The question is, will we prepare for an eventual impact? The last time we lost tens of millions of humans on the planet, it was 100...

Is there any discipline that keeps you more on your toes than Compliance? It has been gripping to observe the compliance function as it has evolved from administering regulatory risk and compliance to now include serving as the ethical and moral guardians of a company. There are, however, still decisions that sit outside of the Compliance function that have the...

When I was about 10 years old, a neighbor of mine had a picture of an overweight woman on her fridge, cut out from a magazine. She told me it served as a reminder not to overeat. Some 20 years later, I read about a study that found that people who put pictures of lean and strong bodies on their...

I was a senior in high school when the Challenger exploded. I was in class at the time of the launch. I think it was chemistry. The teacher had rolled in a television set for all of us to watch. I remember how quiet the whole school got after the explosion. Not just my classroom; the whole school. Allan McDonald never...

Retaliation against whistleblowers is spiking. Employees and managers are feeling increased pressure across the board. Yet many ethics programs and cultures remain strong. CCI reached Patricia Harned, CEO of ECI, to discuss the latest Global Business Ethics Survey. The Ethics and Compliance Initiative (ECI) has tracked national and global trends in workplace conduct since 1994. It published its 16th iteration...

Using facial recognition technology for tracking employees in the workplace is largely unregulated in the U.S. While the GDPR in the E.U., a few states and industry organizations have provided leadership, experts believe face-scanning will receive attention from lawmakers in the near-term. On a recent weekend morning in January, Christian Godwin walked into the restaurant on the Jersey Shore where...

135 Honoree Companies Recognized for Their Unwavering Commitment to Business Integrity and Valued-based Leadership New York, NY (February 23, 2021) – Ethisphere, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, today announced the 135 honorees representing 22 countries and 47 industries that have earned the coveted designation of World’s Most Ethical Companies® in 2021. This...

When I tell people that changing the culture is an outcome of processes, I often get a faint nod of understanding, mixed with an inquisitive look. They intuitively get it but they are not sure what it looks like in real life. What Changing the Culture Looks Like On the Ground Let me share an example with a process that...

Corporate America might be hoping that the difficult issues raised by President Trump’s attempted coup last week and the remaining days of his term will somehow pass them by. Too bad. What Trump has unleashed isn’t something businesses will be able to avoid. In several practical ways, dealing with Trump and his minions — both right now, and after Trump...

Michael Toebe reviews Yonason Goldson's book, “Grappling with the Gray: An Ethical Handbook for Personal Success and Business Prosperity,” a collection of case studies intended to ignite thoughtful consideration of ethical dilemmas. When I learned of a new book on ethics and saw the title “Grappling with The Gray: An Ethical Handbook for Personal Success and Business Prosperity,” my interest...

Good ethics is good business. Yonason Goldson discusses seven principles of leading ethically, explores the problem with legislating ethics and offers guidance on applying these principles to our own actions and behavior. “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” – Daniel Patrick Moynihan The Steep Road Ahead How do members of a pluralistic, largely secular...

Volkswagen has paid dearly for the ethical shortcomings that led to “Dieselgate.” But has VW learned from the scandal? With the FTC recently filing the final court summary on the case, Michael Toebe reflects on the crisis that leveled the company’s reputation. Volkswagen’s good name has been tarnished regularly in the media in the last four years over its low-level...