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| Bert is the brains of the website, he gobbles up information and then - using his number crunching mathematical formulae - he'll set you on the road to a better business future. |
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| Morals and Ethics |
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| Business morals and ethics |
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I guess the first thing to say is that morals and ethics are the same whatever the context. Business ethics and personal ethics are not different in substance, shade or application. Making money and ethical behaviour do not have to be opposites. People can and do make money whilst operating ethically. In the recent past we have seen the big corporate scandals envelop some of the world's largest companies and brought them down. OK, so your business is probably not the size of Enron or Worldcom, but the principles still apply.
The buying experience is largely based on trust. This applies to customers as much as businesses. Your business makes certain promises, whether explicit or implied, which customers expect you to honour e.g. a certain standard of goods or service, delivering on time to the right specification, not lying to them, not using their personal data without permission. In return you expect them to pay the right amount and on time.
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| Checking your ethics |
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One of the great tests is to think of someone that you respect and/or love and asking yourself if they would approve of your actions e.g. "would my mother be proud of me for doing this?" You might also like to ask yourself where you are on the honesty scale in everyday dealings. I read somewhere that 82% of CEOs in the USA admit to cheating on their golf scores! As for the people working in your business, it is important that they understand your values and what is acceptable business practice in your organisation.
You don't have to be religious or go on executive briefings on ethics to understand right from wrong. Even if the subject leaves you cold or bored, it is worth considering how long you think an unethical business can continue to make money. If you have ever been ripped off, you will probably tell everyone you know about the experience and it doesn't take long for organisations to get a bad reputation. Building trust usually takes some time. However, if that trust is ever broken it can take a long time (if ever) before it is re-established. Ethics are good business.
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| Organisational ethics |
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Trust and mutual respect are critical for leaders. Ensuring the leaders in your organisation can be trusted by you and their teams is a critical part of the motivational culture that successful companies build. Creating processes which build in checks and balances will help to avoid temptation. Encouraging a "speak up" mentality will ensure that issues are not buried under the table. Hopefully your people will do what is right even when no one is watching. This should help you sleep better at night.
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| Gems of wisdom |
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“There is no job so simple that it cannot be done wrong.”
Rule of Success: “Trust only those who stand to lose as much as you when things go wrong.”
The Golden Rule: “He who has the gold makes the rules.”
“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.” Mark Twain
“The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.”
“Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.” Oscar Wilde
“When they say a man is a ‘born executive’ they mean his father owns the business.”
“Temper is what gets most of us into trouble. Pride is what keeps us there.”
“If you are feeling low, don’t despair. The sun has a sinking spell every night, but it comes back up every morning.”
"Few great men would have got past personnel." Paul Goodman
"A lot of people become pessimists from financing optimists." C.T. Jones
"It's better to give than to lend and it costs about the same." Philip Gibbs
"I rob banks because that's where the money is." Willie Sutton
"When you've got them by their wallets, their hearts and minds will follow." Fern Naito
“All things are difficult before they become easy” Persian proverb
“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today” F.D. Roosevelt
“Forecasting is very difficult, especially if it is about the future”
"You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them." Malcolm Forbes
Trust
On the first day his son joined the family firm, the founder took him on to the roof of the factory building and said,
'I am going to give you your very first lesson in business. Stand on the edge of the roof.'
Reluctantly, the boy went to stand on the edge of the roof.
'Now,' said his father, 'when I say, "Jump," I want you to jump off the roof.'
'But, Dad,' said the boy, 'there's a huge drop!'
'Do you want to succeed in business?'
'Yes, Dad.'
'And you trust me, don't you?'
'Yes, Dad.'
'So do as I say and jump.'
The boy jumped. He crashed to the ground and lay there, winded and bruised. His father went racing down the stairs and ran up to him.
That was your first lesson in business, son.
Never trust anyone.'
Stanford and Harvard
A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly without an appointment into the president of Harvard's outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge.
She frowned. "We want to see the president," the man said softly. "He'll be busy all day," the secretary snapped. "We'll wait," the lady replied. For hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away.
They didn't. And the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though it was a chore she always regretted to do. "Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they'll leave," she told him.
And he sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, but he detested gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office. The president, stern-faced with dignity, strutted toward the couple. The lady told him, "We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus."
The president wasn't touched, he was shocked. "Madam," he said gruffly. "We can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery". "Oh, no," the lady explained quickly. "We don't want to erect a statue.
We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard." The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical plant at Harvard." For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. He could get rid of them now. And the lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it costs to start a University? Why don't we just start our own?" Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. And Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, travelling to Palo Alto, California where they established the University that bears their name, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.
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