What If? Personal Challenges in Business Ethics

“I don’t have any idea how this happened.”—a young guest on the “Oprah” TV show, talking about her $170,000 consumer debt.

WHAT IF:

You’re afraid something unethical is happening, but you don’t know what to do about it?

Don’t be afraid to ask. Check the code of conduct and the

ethics/values statement. Use the company’s hotline/helpline. Document, document, document – just in

case you’re being set up.

CYA File Discussion:

List the types of things you believe should be kept in your off-site CYA file.

Do you have a right to this information? Do others have a right to it? Who, and under what circumstances?

How will this document help you? Is this document based on fact, opinion, or

gossip?

WHAT IF:

Your boss tells you, “Now I’m going to show you how business is really done!”?

It could be on-the-job training:

how to close a sales deal with a difficult customer,

how to negotiate a more advantageous contract with a supplier,

how to handle labor complaints effectively and efficiently,

how to work with legislators or regulators, how to motivate your R&D team, how to read the footnotes on a balance sheet.

It could be that you’re being enlisted for criminal or unethical activity if: You hear that business is “really done” by

cheating, lying, falsifying records, hiding, manipulating, offering bribes and kickbacks, etc. etc.

Now’s the time to quickly move to your next career opportunity, somewhere else.

WHAT IF:

They want you to do something really bad, and you really need to keep the job?

A Three-Part Plan to Ethical Independence Trust your judgment; believe in yourself.

You can identify right and wrong actions; you can land on your feet if you need to find another job.

Build a network of family, friends, and mentors who support you in creating an ethical life; these are the people you can go to for counsel, comfort, and strength when things are threatening to go wrong.

Own your finances: do not allow them to own you!

Trust your judgment….

Be observant –Stomach or intestinal problems, headaches, pains, fatigue, grumpiness, etc., can be symptoms of stress caused by ethical problems at work.

Keep a journal where you explore your work life, your contributions, your uncertainties. Use your journal to work through the logic of problems that you’re facing, to consider alternatives, and to note how you’re feeling about it all.

Keep learning – take advantage of every opportunity to enhance yourskills, improve knowledge, gain more and better experience.

Talk with peers inside and in other firms – join a club or association that gives you access to others like you.

Build a network….

Never allow yourself to become isolated in your job, your organization, your community, or your profession.

Cultivate relationships with others like and unlike yourself.

Trust can be, must be, earned. Don’t step on other people as you climb up;

you’ll meet those same folks when you’re on the way down.

How to build a network?

Make friends. Participate in community-oriented service

activities, volunteer. Be a good team member; lend a hand when

asked, cooperate. Step up and work on organizing a

professional conference or a community event.

join boards of directors of nonprofit organizations;

attend the events sponsored by “young professionals” groups.

Own your finances….

Two cardinal rules:

Stay away from consumer debt, especially credit card debt, and

Have enough money saved to cover your living expenses for three to six months.

Where are your extravagances? What would you waste money on if you had more?

Do you always pay your bills on time? Do you always know how much is in your checking

account? Do you carry a credit card balance? What do you use your credit card for? Do you have an IRA?

If you’re not in debt, how to stay out:

Know what you’re spending, and why. For a month, track every purchase you make and every bill you pay, no matter how small. Find “surprise” money-drains.

Live within your means. Prepare a budget by calculating your average monthly income and your essential expenses (housing, utilities, phone, transportation, food....). Give yourself a hedge for unexpected expenses, and with what is left over,

Pay yourself first. Have an amount you think you can live without deducted automatically from your paycheck or your checking account and placed into a savings or money market account.

Be very careful with credit. If you’re tempted to overspend, or you can’t pay your bill in full each month, always pay cash.

Adjust your lifestyle. If you find it very difficult to live within your means, then you need to examine your lifestyle to find ways of cutting back, or you need to earn more income. The list of saving possibilities is endless. Just don’t adopt a lifestyle that you can’t support with an income you can earn.

If you’re in debt, how to get out:

Know what you owe. Write down all of your debts – how much you owe, what the minimum monthly payment is, the interest rate, and when the payment is due.

Know what you spend, and why, as above. Cut up all the credit cards except one, which you

will use only for true emergencies. “Uh-oh, my car’s on fire!” – Emergency. “That Prada handbag is on sale!” – NOT an

emergency.

Call all the companies to which you owe money and try to negotiate a lower interest rate. Believe it or not, this does sometimes work.

Adjust your lifestyle and your spending. This is serious. No more frivolous purchases, no more “I gotta have it,” no more excuses. You simply must pare down your spending if you want to get out of debt. You might also consider looking for a higher-paying job, or taking a part-time job at night or on weekends.

Always pay more than the minimum payment due. Otherwise, interest charges keep mounting and you don’t pay the principal down fast enough.

Work to pay off the highest interest debt first; then move to the next highest, and so on. If you want to eliminate small debts early on to avoid the aggravation of paying on them monthly, OK, but the big money is in the high interest rate accounts.

Keep good records and reward yourself when each debt is paid. An appropriate reward might be an ice cream cone– not a new pair of Manolo Blaniks.

As each debt is paid, add the amount you’ve been paying on it to your payment on the next debt to be liquidated.

Remind yourself that this isn’t torture, and nobody is “doing it to you.” This is how you will get control of your own life.

One more thing: Retirement planning

If you’re not contributing the max to an employer-matched retirement account, you’re throwing away a lot of free money.

Tax-free accumulation happens faster than taxed accumulation.

If you’re really lucky, you will be old enough – and wealthy enough – to retire some day.

It’s your life and your future – own it!

In the end….

You can’t always protect yourself from ill-fortune, unethical employers, and catastrophe.

But you sure can make a difference in how you are able to respond.

Don’t let yourself be trapped by the consumer culture!