100 maxims about ethics at work

MK

100 quotations about ethics at work

100 maximsabout ethics at work

by Muel Kaptein

Ethics contains the

principles

for which you stand and fall.MK

Ethics is doing the right thing right when no one is watching.

MK

RulesEthics begins where laws and

rules end.

MK

What is unethical remains unethical, even if others approve.

MK

Ethics contains the principles for which you stand and fall. MK

Business ethics is

the anatomy

of the corporat

e soul and

conscience.

MK


Ethics limits and

liberates.

MK


The litmus test of ethics is how well you treat

those who treat you badly..

MK

Tolerating

unethical

behavior of

others in your

organization, also

reveals your

own lack of

ethics.

MK

Though it might differ

for everyone, there is a price

for which a person will

give up one’s own integrity.

The only question is,

what is yours?

MK


Ethics is the basis of a contract, whereas its absence is the reason

for one.

MK

To give up your integrity

for a minor

offence is worse

than giving it up for a bigger one: It shows that your

integrity is worth less to you.

MK MK

Our ethics are the priority

rules we apply in the

intersections at work.MK

Ethics only has value when you are ready to sacrifice something for it.

MK

The added value

of ethics

is ethics.

MK

Verscheurd winnend lot

Compromising your ethics is like shredding

a winning lottery ticket.

MK

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You cann

ot creat

e value if you do not know

your own values.

MK

Integrity cann

ot be

bought,

only sold.

MK

Bergtop

Integrity is the highest

valuein society, at home and at

work.

MK

It is betterto die

standing than to live crawlin

g.MK

The three elements of

entrepreneurship are effectiveness,

efficiency, and ethics.

The most important of these

is ethics.MK

Integrity is like glass:

if it shatter

s, it can never

be made whole again.

MK

Leadership

without ethics

is like a body

without a

backbone.

MK

MK

Business

purely for

profit is

bad busines

s, ethically and econo

mically.

MK

Ethics is like a brake pedal:

the better it

works, the

faster you can

drivewithout spinning out of control.

MK

Iets moois?Doing good is good business, and doing even better is the best business.

MK

To do busines

s without ethics

is to go out of

business.

MK

When ethics is far away,

then evil is at hand.

MK

The busines

s of business ethics

is busines

s.MK

The gains of

a wrongdoing are nothing compared to the

extent and

intensity of the gnawing conscie

nce.

MK

People who stand for

nothing will fall for

anything.

MK

That people

and organizations

are discred

ited due to

weakness in

integrity is a

sign of the

power of

integrity.

MK

Those who think their

integrity is so

precious that it needs to be

kept in a safe

at home should better stay

home themsel

ves.

MK

Ethics begins when we end indifference and apathy.

MK

Unethical

behavior

starts with

lying to oneself

.

MK

When everyth

ing is transpa

rent you

cannot see

anything.

MK

Ethics is more than egoism and less than altruism. MK

It is especially by doing

nothing that we make our

hands dirty.

MK

Trust is good, validated trust is even better.

MK

The more ethical conduct is

appreciated, the less it says when

displayed.

MK

If we believe that integrity is like pregnancy– either you are or you are not – then we are the last of our kind.

MK

Love for ethics and love as

ethics are two sides of the same coin.

MK

Moral courage shows when one is afraid.

MK

Responsibility and accountability are the legs on which ethics stands.

MK

Ethical leadership does not require that

you already are a leader. You attain it by creating a

new ethical norm and convincing

others of it.MK

Ethics is doomed when we are silent about vitally important matters.

MK

You cannot expect others to be

ethical if you cannot expect

the same

of yoursel

f.

MK

Questions like “when does intimacy become intimidation, bravery

recklessness , and friendliness

nepotism?” are as difficult to answer as

the question "how many stones make a

heap?”MK

The aesthetics of

ethics is its multiformity,

multifacetedness, and

multicoloredness.MK

Never sacrifice your ethics

to greed.

MK

??It is

better to be

deceived than

to deceive others.

MK

Just do it??“Just do it” contradicts“Just, do it.”

MK

Integrity is consistency of

and congruence

between what you think,

say, and do.

MK

Openness without

confidentiality is like space

without demarcation,

that is, impossible.MK

Transparency casts

its shadow ahead;

the more you

realize not to

do what

you do not

want to come

to light.

MK

If integrity is the thread we weave through our life story, then we

ought not to skip a single day.

MK

The ethic you

exhibit in your position is the ethical testimony for your

successor.

MK

Army benenIf one thinks

that ethics comes

without a

struggle,

then one

definitely will

lose it.

MK

From among ‘up

or out’, ‘grow

or go’, or

‘excel or

exit’, the last

one is the

least objectionabl

e.

MK

That speech

is silver and

silence golden

is fallacy

par excellence for

not blowing the

whistle.

MK

The question is not what is today’s morality but

what is tomorro

w’s, and what

we are going to do

about it now.

MK

The front page test for what is ethical or not is

misleading because

tomorrow’s fish will be wrapped in

today’s newspapers.

MK

You canno

t improve the world with your

thoughts but with your

actions.

MK

A dilemma is always a choice

between obscuring or

enhancing your integrity.

MK

Mate“Everyth

ing in moderation” does

not apply to integrity

and corruptio

n.

MK

PressureEveryth

ing becomes fluid under

pressure,

except genuin

e integrit

y.

MK

Next to the wide

and narrow

paths often lies

a third one:the

middle path.

MK

A criminal starts

out as a petty thief.

MK

Rug wassenWhen you scratch each other's backs, your conscience will itch.

MK

The more

you lie, the

better memor

y you need.MK

With advancin

g year

s come

not only

moral

wisdom but

also mora

l obstinacy.

MK

Just like

water, moralit

y starts

to stink when it stands

still.MK

If you do not have time

now for ethics,

then ethics

will not have time

for you later.

MK

If you do

good becaus

e you

ought to, then you do

wrong when you may.

MK

The more

people are

made respon

sible for one

and the

same task,

the less

each feels

responsible

for it.

MK

Those who say that they can look at

themselves in the mirror see only

themselves and not how others see

them.

MK

If ethics is regarded as

the icing on the cake,

then the cake can’t be very

good.MK

When you are full of

yourself, then there is

no room for

others.

MK

The law of ethics:

people try to find the

boundaries till they cross

it.

MK

If one is willing to bet on one's integrity, then one will lose it.MK

If you have never been

betrayed, then

you haven’t trusted much.

MK

Unethical conduct is like a drug: once tasted you get easily addicted to it.

MK

Slippery-slope ethics results in slip-ups, and the further down the slope, the harder it is to stop as it is to go back up.

MK

Cookie jarPeople who are caught with their hands in the cookie jarall thought they could have the cookies.

MK

People who categorically do not trust anyone cannot be trusted.

MK

If you think

you are a beacon of light,

then you can

never see your

own shadow.

MK

Managers who, due to a lack of

authority, create dependence

through injustice are very harmful to

ethics.

MK

Watch out for those who consistently talk of ethics in the long term;

they might be obscuring the fact that they are making a mess

of it in the short run.

MK

Managers who often deal with

whistle blowers turn deaf

quickly.

MK

“No, unless”

is the beginnin

g of every moral

rationalization.

MK

A person’s integrity is the ability to withstand pressure and temptation. An organization’s integrity is the ability to prevent these.

MK

A code is

nothing,

coding is

everything.

MK

RoundaboutAn organization is a trafficcircle of stakeholders where ethics prevents accidents between conflicting interests.

MK

Teaching ethics is not about giving the right answers; it is about asking the right questions.

MK

People follow a good example. The same for a bad example,

but unfortunately bad behavior

follows.

MK

The tone at the top is determined by the road to it.

MK

Live in

such a way

that when colleagues think

of a role

model,

they will

think of

you.

MK

If you think you have integrity until proven otherwise, then you will focus on preventing the bad and, unfortunately, not on doing good.

MK

Clarifying that no one will ever have absolute integrity has a disarming and relaxing effect and forms the breeding ground for improving integrity.

MK

If unethical conduct is punished severely, then what we get back is more severe: more unethical conduct.

MK

Shared dilemmas are half burdens

and doubly virtuous.

MK


MK


Thank you!Muel Kaptein

Partner at KPMG & Professor at RSM Erasmus University

www.ethicsmanagement.info