“In a surprise move, Texas wildcatter Oscar S. Wyatt arrived at a plea deal with the Department of Justice and plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud on October 1.

The Houston gas and oil maverick magnate Oscar S. Wyatt was being tried for wire fraud and prohibited transactions. It is alleged that he paid kickbacks to the Iraqi government to obtain vouchers allowing him to purchase oil through the UN sanctioned “”Oil for Food Program. Ben Berry, head of the FBI white-collar crime unit, said Wyatt was also guilty of “”terrorist financing”" because he violated a Bush order prohibiting these dealings with Iraq.

Wyatt, 83, explained his decision to accept a plea deal by saying that at his age he could “”not …waste any more time fooling with this operation.”" He will serve 18 to 24 months and pay a $11 million fine.

A few others have been indicted for paying kickbacks to Iraq, and there is no way of knowing if Wyatt is innocent or guilty. It seems that the US did not object to people buying oil under the Oil for Food program until 2002, when some went to Syria. It that year, Saddam started demanding kickbacks for vouchers in 2000. Some American firms refused to pay but others continued to do business with him. There is a 2004 CIA report on these operators that runs 918 pages, but the names of firms and individuals were redacted. It is estimated that Saddam may have garnered $10 in illegal profits and that Wyatt may have ponied up a little less than $4 million for $23 million in profits over 7 years.

Few Americans were indicted; although, various sources identified many persons and American firms being involved. Neo-Cons, anxious to discredit the UN, obtained a report by Paul Volcker that showed that many corporate interests were involved. Chevron, which had named a tanker for former employee Condi Rice, was named, along with Mobil Exxon. Marc Rich, whose pardon by Bill Clinton was denounced without end by conservatives, was also named but was not indicted.

What is interesting is the manner and intensity with which the Department of Justice went after Wyatt. The prosecution made Wyatt’s patriotism the issue. His lawyers are trying to exclude from the evidence the diary of an employee of Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization. It states that Wyatt bragged on January 27, 2003, while in Iraq, that he persuaded a US Senator to speak against the proposed invasion. Reuters claimed the senator was Edward Kennedy. The diary also stated that Wyatt warned of a US invasion and estimated the kinds of US forces the Iraqi were likely to face.

The government does not claim he told them anything that was classified. An intelligent reader would assume Wyatt wanted Saddam to back down so that oil would continue to flow. He was probably trying to prevent the war the Bushies were determined to launch.

The prosecution insists upon making him appear a traitor. His attorneys claim this information will prejudice the jury but they admit that Wyatt was no fan of George W. Bush. They add that he flew bombing missions in World War II. Reactionary columnist helped along the government’s case, writing that Wyatt is “”lucky he isn’t charged with treason.”"

Apparently Wyatt’s communications were being monitored since 2001. His former business partner David Chalmers, was also inducted. Chalmers has been described as a big Republican donor, but the fact is that he gave more to Democrats. Since 1989, he and his wife have given more than $500,000 to Democrats. Wyatt has angered the Bushes because he questioned the senior Bush’s claims to have risen in the oil industry from humble origins. In 1990, he and John Connally incurred the wrath of the Bushes again when they negotiated the release of 22 oil workers being held by Saddam Hussein as “”human hostages.”" Mrs. Bush signaled him out in her autobiography for placing “”gain above honor.”" He has frequently been a thorn in the side of the big Texas energy interests, most recently leading a stockholders revolt against El Paso Corp., which had acquired his Coastal Corp.

It has been said that the touch and free-wheeling Wyatt is not even afraid of the devil. He will need every ounce of courage to face up to two years in a federal prison at his advanced age.

Some may draw the conclusion that it is not prudent to make large donations to the Democratic Party. There is a growing body of evidence that the Justice Department could be engaging in selective prosecutions for political purposes. In Mississippi, Paul Minor was sent to prison for donating to the campaign of a state supreme court justice even though Mississippi law seems to open the door to contributions by lawyers and companies. In Wisconsin, Georgia Thompson went to jail for awarding a contract to the lowest bidder. Fortunately, an appeals court reversed her conviction. In Alabama, former Democratic Governor Don Siegelman was sent to prison for appointing a contributor to a state board. In this case, there is compelling evidence that that charges were brought for political purposes.

The author is a retired history professor. Sherm has just released African-American Baseball: A Short History, which can be purchased through Internet book sellers.

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Tags: ethical, issues, articles, business, decision

“The purpose of business is to generate maximum returns for its owners and shareholders. So therefore should the business pursue all activities that enhance profitability and increase the value of the business for the owners and / or shareholders?

I also believe that a business should behave ethically in achieving the above purpose. It is not right just to operate within the letter of the law. Businesses should also try and serve their local community and help its employees lead better lives. They should examine every decision they make based on profitability, long term business value and social responsibility.

By having real policies in place that take care of your employees and the local community it might be argued that long term this will enhance your business brand and over time lead to higher profitability.

By constantly training members of staff and wherever possible promoting from within the organisation will lead to employees that feel empowered to work harder and make better decisions. Having regards to the true well being of your employees will lead to a healthier and therefore happier workforce.

By reducing waste and promoting recycling at every opportunity, overheads will be reduced and in the longer term lead to better shareholder value. It is staggering how much resources including energy are wasted by larger companies. Having a regular energy audit and investing long term to reduce demand can only serve to make the business more efficient.

Many businesses try to serve their community by supporting local charities and sponsoring local people to better their lives. There are many ways to do this including education, sports and the environment. In the short term there will be very few perceivable benefits in terms of profitability but these actions will serve to enhance the business brand and increase profitability over the longer term.

Greed is no longer good and focusing purely on profits is unacceptable to your existing and potential customers. By embracing business ethics and social responsibility the business can benefit from increased goodwill.

Naz Daud is the founder of CityLocal. This Business Franchise Opportunity is for people who would like to work from home and be their own boss.

Business Franchises and UK Business Directory Business Franchise Opportunity

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Tags: business, ethics, articles, personal, professional

The book of proverbs says: Let your yes be yes and your no be no.

The idea being that either your word is good or it is not.

Is it just me or are business ethics a lost art today. Every day it seems we see businessmen selling their souls for the almighty dollar. We have seen this in sleazy politics forever.

With all the scandals we see in the press it seems that many have forgotten the simple principle of The Golden Rule today. Or is it just this generation? Not really! If you look back over they pages of history, greed and avarice have always existed and drawn many men and women astray.

I know it is not popular for many Americans to be in church today, and yet, is not that where, our training to stay on the right path comes from? Many of those who have written self help literature will admit that all the foundation of the entire self help industry was and is the Bible.

When I can, I read a chapter of the biblical proverbs to keep me on the daily straight and narrow path. It is interesting that proverbs contains 31 books. One for each day of the month. I heartily recommend reading proverbs daily to everyone. As you read these chapters over and over, you will continue to see and learn new principles to help you in your daily work.

The wisdom you gain will, hopefully, help you to keep your name from being the latest scandal in morning newspaper headline.

Finally, because good business ethics are so rare in the public’s eye, good ethics is simply good business. Being b

Darryl Van Kirk has been self employed the majority of his life and working from home 9 of the last 10 years. One of his current projects is the web site resource: start-a-work-at-home-business.com His newest business is Discount Grocery and More A Discount Grocery Store in Johnson City, Tn. He is also involved in other home based business ventures.

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Tags: ethics, business, research, articles, code

Ethics is not an easy path, in most cases, nor is it a path taken by businesspersons without thought or consideration. That is not saying that ethical decision-making is complicated (although in some cases it may be confusing and culturally complicated, and we shall think through that), but even decisions that are not complicated are not always easy courses to take. Let’s take a close look at some of the kinds of situations and events that may arise in the ethical daily travels of a businessperson and consider whether the right choice is easy, or not. As a side thought, remember that some ethical and moral decisions are small in the grand scheme of business, but those decisions, like a dripping faucet now, can become a flood later.

Decisions that do not overtly attract moral condemnation, but nonetheless contain value judgments and may be considered more or less ethical across cultures, are made every day in organizations throughout the globe, for instance, think about these decisions, shall I call in sick to have a day off, or, should I use the office telephone to make a private call?

Ethics in business is serious whether we speak about stealing from one’s company, doing personal business on the corporate clock, or rigging the accounting process to hide (or at least try to hide) a multi-billion dollar corporation financial scandal. Is there a dilemma in the businessperson’s life surrounding ethics and integrity, or have we made it seem so, and in fact is there always a right choice available?

The point is, as Drucker noted in 1974, any means can be justified if the end is determined to be for the overall good. We will examine several issues; the perspective of clarity and precision versus flexibility, top-down influence versus bottom-up influence, substance versus process, confrontation versus compromise, and tangible versus intangible. In most cases, research shows that the best choice (at least in business environments like the United States) is to have a corporate code of ethics (integrity), and in the larger corporate enterprises, there is usually a compliance division with a hotline, and webpage. This is the best arrangement for a business, and if the top leadership has given thought to the matter, there should be no confusion, or complication in the matter of ethics/integrity.

In CSO Magazine, March 2004 edition, a Chief Security Officer wrote anonymously about a scattered approach in the corporate environment that did not comprehensively define or guide the corporate body in the area of integrity and ethics. If this individual reports a situation that is a reflection of the condition of this important matter in corporate America, then the situation may be that the Enron fiasco is doomed for repetition.

Ethics and integrity in business would seem to beg for a well-defined, and fully trained (and regularly reviewed) corporate code of ethics/integrity. Should integrity be focused from a top-down perspective or can it be driven from the bottom-up? It seems the prevailing thought is that it is best driven from the top down. One could certainly agree that either an executive, or an executive sponsored committee writes policies and procedures at departmental level, and then the HR training directorate normally provides the written guide and training to the corporate body.
Cultural issues will confuse and provide a bit of complication in the matter of ethics and integrity. The debate over child labor has been a contentious and difficult matter, with the arguments rising about the need for a family to survive even if that survival comes in part by a working child. In addition, the use of prison labor brings the debate over rehabilitation and instilling a strong work ethic, and can there be harm in a company accruing some benefit from that labor.

Change in this cultural ethical confusion has begun as following the Asian financial crisis many Asian businesses are rethinking their ethical stances and applying a system of governance that is clearer, and more professional, which several management researchers indicate is modeled on Western business practices.

Sometimes there is difficulty in decision-making where ethics is concerned due to confusion since a practice may be ethically problematic and legal today, but then the law may change tomorrow rendering that business practice both illegal and problematic ethically. What must the course of action for the manager and the company be at this point? It is a conundrum that many companies must face as BP did in the early 1980′s by making a corporate choice to act more responsibly in relation to the environmental area.

Clarity and precision are fine goals for the ethics and integrity of a business and they encourage improved communication and understanding as to context, tone, timing, and reference points. The final question is how to implement the better practices once they are decided? Here are a few methods that may assist in ensuring clear policies, goals, and the code of ethics are well communicated; peer discussion groups, regular or ad hoc stakeholders’ discussion groups, appropriate information and decision-making systems, and training for managers in necessary ethical decision-making competences. Certainly this is a start, many of the questions and struggles around this business ethics area will be resolved by personal decisions within the mind of the individual worker. Yes, it is a start, but there is a ways yet to travel.

Ken Wallin is a retired US Army Officer, and a Senior Project Management Professional. He has more than 35 years leading in both military and consulting positions. He currently is working on his PhD in Business Administration specializing in International Business at Northcentral University in Arizona. His website is here and he specializes in the theme Leading and Team-Building

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Tags: business, ethics, issue, cases, articles

Ken Blanchard

Corporate executives appear to be faltering and need help. Scandals grow larger and more intensive day-by-day for organizations. Some people may proclaim that a highly respected consulting firm can get this job done. Executives only need to hire a good consultant, and the ethical issues will disappear. By being an objective party, a consultant can evaluate an organization and provide them new insight on organizational behavior.

In this line of reasoning, consultants become the executive’s moral compass; they serve in this role to produce ethical people at all levels. Unfortunately, given most consultants’ power position, this would not be the case for most consultants. Consultants are paid on a fee basis. Some work for unethical organizations. How does a consultant deal with an unethical client? Consultants have little formal organization power. Draft, organizational behavior guru, argues that expert power is derived from a person’s higher knowledge. Ciulla, author of Ethics: The Heart of Leadership, explains that all leaders bring a certain agenda to the table based on their value systems. Organizational leaders listen to consultants if they’re highly respected.

Fortunately, a consultant’s role can serve as a preventive and remedial action for management. In profit-making, Brown-Volkman, management consultant, argues that successful businesses stay positive. Consultants can use their influence for good. They can model high moral integrity. A consultant’s level of influence on customer values is a sliding scale on his or her expert power. If a consultant is highly respected, organizations may listen more about their ethical shortcomings. However, there’s a mental breakdown. Although the consultant’s influence is limited, he or she must always maintain their ethical standards. In bad situations, it is better over the long-term to just get out. Therefore, good consultants can make a difference by their moral conduct.

References:

Brown-Volkman, D. (1995). Four Steps to Building A Profitable Business. New York: iUniverse.com Publishing Company.

Ciulla, J.B. (1998). Ethics: The Heart of Leadership. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Draft, R. (1995). Organization Theory and Design. New York: West Publishing Company.
© 2006 by Daryl D. Green

Daryl D. Green has published over 100 articles in the field of decision-making (personal and organizational), leadership, and organizational behavior. Mr. Green is also the author of two acclaimed books, Awakening the Talents Within and My Cup Runneth Over. For more information,visit his website.

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Most people do not easily accept the new, mostly because of the unknown factor that people tend to call fear. It is not only as Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky had put it that “”taking a new step, uttering a new world is what people fear most.”" Even in slight things the experience of the new is rarely without some stirring of foreboding. In the case of drastic change, like the one information technology has currently imposed on the distribution systems inside every market discussed earlier, the uneasiness is deeper and more lasting. No man is really prepared for that which is wholly new. Everyone has to adjust and every radical adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem. By undergoing through a change people have to prove themselves right. It needs inordinate self-confidence to face drastic change without inner trembling.

In present times, global population is subject to drastic change and has evolved to a population of misfits, unbalanced, explosive and hungry for action. Through action mankind can regain confidence and control, can prove its worth, while at the same time it is actually a reaction against the lost balance. Thus, drastic change is one of the agencies that release a man’s energies, but certain conditions have to be present if the shock of change is to turn people into effective men of action. There must be the abundance of opportunities, and there must be a tradition of self-reliance. This era of technological advancements is probably the most challenging one. The conditions that prevail today, from the film distribution industry to the ability of people to shop online from Italy while living in Brazil, have created a population subjected to drastic change that it is only a matter of correct timing before plunging into an orgy of action. The issue now is the sacrifices one has to endure in either case. Becoming active and consciously getting involved in any type of action, within any kind of market, the civilized individual has to select a position regarding his/her role in the overall process and sacrifice blissfulness that usually comes from states of ignorance, or apathy.

As Sigmund Freud had written in his book ‘Civilization and its Discontents,’ civilization imposes such great sacrifices on a man’s aggressiveness that we can understand better why it is hard for him to be happy in that civilization. According to Freud, the civilized man has exchanged a portion of his possibilities of happiness for a portion of security. Although Freud did not discussed the outcomes of distribution and the severe interference of markets to the circulation process, he successfully conveyed that the stages through which a person undergoes before beginning to feel happy entail usually a scary process of unknown outcomes and difficult to comprehend practices. By trying to avoid the unknown consequences of any major change, people prefer to remain in their constant place with or without any control of their destiny, but holding on to the feeling of security in their familiar environment.

But through network connections and progressive learning practices, this practice has already changed. Future generations will be better equipped to judge the present choices vested upon us. The only thing present generations can do before accepting any change offered, is study and research the reasons behind the negative reactions people tend to have when any kind of distribution advancement is introduced to ease their usual routine. It is always an issue of control and respect of choice.

Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles on many topics including Business, Alternative Health, and Jewelry

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All businesses are grey. A loaded statement but one which befits today’s business milieu. The debate is on the shades of the color and not the color itself. Wealth creation precedes wealth distribution, an unalterable sequence. There is a growing realization that former belongs to the exclusive domain of business and the latter to a shared domain. Businesses demand autonomy from others to create wealth and others demand accountability from businesses for the wealth created. Both, autonomy and accountability are worthless in isolation. Accountable autonomy is the panacea. Current business landscape is unprecedented. It is a world where the ends and not the means are brought in to question leading to business ethics boiling down to a personal and not an organizational call, taken everyday by millions, closer to the ground to succeed and more importantly survive.

All the stakeholders-management, employees, board, investors and society are asserting their influence simultaneously. A historical perspective on corporate governance suggests different approaches- (organization+stakeholder)-control approach and capital-market control approach dominating at different times and in different geographies. Both approaches have come alive globally and are trying to pip each other.

India Inc. has moved away from regulation toward latitude since early 1990′s and with the markets coming into their own, the governance style seems to be headed the capital-market control way.

Board of Directors, the venerable interface has to ensure accountable autonomy by fostering its own culture which includes promoting constructive dissatisfaction, actively monitoring the firm’s risk policies and practices, not contingent on having considerable expertise in the areas concerned and avoiding soft conflicts.

Enron and other scandals happened at the best of times and at the worst of times. The aftermath ensured till then increasingly becoming adventurous management’s retreat, activism in boards, dispelled smugness of investors and an acknowledgment of fast becoming oblivious society’s rights and responsibilities. Business initiatives with social spin-offs and not the other way around initiatives are welcome as the need is of responsible corporates and not of over-hyped corporate social responsibility.

A culture, undoubtedly percolating from the top echelons fostering openness and adherence to laws is required.

It has to be appreciated by everyone involved but its adoption has to be voluntary and customizable. The organizations should disseminate the information like practices, policies and risk appetite needed to take a fair call and not accord the right to itself of other stakeholders primarily markets to judge the firm. A culture of transparency starts where regulation ends in achieving accountable autonomy. Every stakeholder must understand that she has a role to play and has certain rights and responsibilities. Separations of powers are difficult to achieve but are crucial for the organization to do the right business and for others to ensure that the former does it the right way as the eternal bottom-line is- the business has and will always be managed by executives, investors have and will always be the ultimate decision making authority on investing and society has and will always be affected by the businesses.

Introduction

The world operates like a simple pendulum. Its microcosm, the business world is no exception. One extreme is autonomy and the other is accountability. It is hard to strike a balance between the two. Both are benign in their own space but too much of a good thing is also detrimental. Business environment has and will keep on testing both extremes. When one extreme is about to be reached, then its dire consequences are realized and businesses move back from the brink. The force which pulls them back from the disaster is so potent that it adds tremendous momentum till the other extreme is tested. This process is eternal and gives businesses a grey shade, blurring the line between right and wrong. After the corporate scandals that rocked the world in 2001-02, the pendulum has swung in the favor of accountability. This shift has happened at a time when the businesses around the world are about to peak. Hitherto unexplored markets are being forayed by organizations worldwide. Issues of business ethics, right and wrong, and corporate governance are hot debating points across the business landscape. All parties- management, board, employees, shareholders, regulators and community are asserting their presence. All of them have to collectively make a decisive move as both regulation and latitude are looking equally enticing and as doing the right things is mulling on the imperative of doing things the right way. The world is waiting!

Business Ethics- Individual’s or Organization’s

Dis-connect between an employee and the ground realities widen as she moves up the ladder. Today, businesses are very target driven. At each level, targets are set and are interlinked. The performance of one’s superior is determined by one’s own performance and this process goes on till the very top echelons. Till such time one meets or surpasses the targets no questions are asked on the way of achieving those and disconnect mentioned earlier plays a huge role. It is only when the shortfall occurs, explanations are demanded and then also words like ethics are given a short shrift. In nutshell, only the end and not the means is what matters. In such an environment, where targets are means to not only success but more importantly survival, ethics boil down to a personal call. These calls have to be taken everyday by millions of people in real time with targets and survival at top of the mind.

The line between right and wrong gets blurred. Can one put a number on the price, less than which a gift is considered a culture token and above which it is considered a bribe? Doubt whether any corporate dossier conceptualized at the very top on ethics can address this issue on the ground.

Approaches to Corporate Governance

Over the years, two very distinct approaches to corporate governance have emerged. One is the mix of organization-control perspective and stakeholder-control perspective and other is based on capital market control.

The former approach sacrifices short-term focus at the altar of long-term sustainability. It is based on 1 person 1 vote dictum. The agreed upon goal for the management is to achieve stability and perpetuity of business. Board has representation of employees and society. Major chunk of equity comes from financial and non financial companies, which are ready to wait for longer periods for their investments to fructify. Firms are not too keen on going public thereby not lending themselves to the whims and fancies of markets. Employee welfare, obligation to local community, size and market share make up the essence of this approach. Myopic Market model by Marris is the fundamental pillar of this approach. According to this model, heeding the markets too much has a detrimental effect on the organization.

Excesses in this approach are created by managerial capitalism as executives are given a free hand in managing the show. At times, a host of objectives other than wealth creation are followed.

As the firm expands, it requires additional capital. If this capital is not forthcoming from stable sources like banks then the company has no other choice but to go public. This gives rise to capital market-control system. It is based on 1 share 1 vote dictum. The more the equity held by an investor, the more the firm is at her mercy. Investors are interested in the ends- dividends and capital gains. Hence, companies have to jostle for the mind space of these players. This brings in the short-termism of this approach. This perspective is based on Principal Agent model. Line is crossed in this approach when investor capitalism sets in. All other obligations of the firm are relegated to keeping the share price up and there is intense pressure on executives to perform consistently in the short-run leading at times to violation of norms.

Both the approaches are similar to the extent that they both give minority shareholders a short shrift. They have been taken for granted and most of their rights have remained on paper.

Lost Ground

Recently the stakeholder inclusive approach has lost considerable ground to shareholder savvy approach. The reason is capital becoming mobile. The global investors like private equity funds and pension funds are deluged with choices. But they lack one crucial element which the local investors have which is the closeness to the business which in turn lends stability to the equity provided. This means the firms have to attract these global investors by way of the globally acceptable parameters, toplines and bottomlines or their manifestation- the share price.

Catching up in the offing

What goes round comes back. Human capital is already the most valuable resource of organizations especially the ones operating in the technology sectors. With the focus shifting from attracting capital to retaining talent, the stakeholder inclusive approach with a sharp focus on employees might make up the ground lost in the last two decades or so to the capital-market control approach.

India Inc.’s Governance Evolution

Corporate entities in India stand out in terms of complexities in the ownership structure. The direct ownership of promoters is quite substantial and if that is not enough, the promoters indirectly have tremendous equity in and control of the firm through the rogue holding companies. It was believed that with the capital market reforms initiated in 1991, the dominance of promoters in the firms will pare. But unfortunately the last decade of the 20th century was marred by scams. The corporate entities went in for private placements making use of the relaxed regulations. These developments made the public spooky. In the last few years SEBI has put its foot down to crack down on the perpetrators and raised the disclosure standards leading to a renewed interest in the markets. The corporates are going global, a sign of their enhanced credibility.

Giants like TCS and Infosys have set global benchmarks in reporting standards and have implemented CSR in the fabric of their organizations.

With capital markets becoming dominant as the time passes and as organizations increasingly care to heed the market and keep the investors happy, it is safe to assume that the Indian corporate entities are veering away from organization-control to market-control approach toward corporate governance.

Right Directors mean Right Business

Board of directors is the highest internal governance mechanism in the organization. The board is the interface between external environment and management. The composition of the board reflects this. It has to straddle between providing necessary freedom to the management for wealth creation and protecting the interests of those who help create and of those who share this wealth. Just like an organization has a culture, it is critical for the board given the role it plays to have its own way of getting a handle on issues. No regulation can substitute for this. The non-executive members should meet separately to thrash out issues among themselves to promote ‘constructive dissatisfaction’. As far as the skills of the board members are concerned, they do not need to have finance or risk expertise to play an effective governance role. The task for the board is rather to understand and approve both the risk appetite of the company at any particular stage in its evolution and the processes for monitoring risk.

If the management proposes changing these radically-for example, by switching the portfolio of assets from low to high risk, or by engaging in off-balance-sheet financial transactions that inherently alter the volatility of the business and its exposure to uncertainties-the board should be quite willing to exercise a veto. Also, the management should be sensitive to the tricky context the board operates in and must grasp that directors’ independence can be compromised by ‘soft conflicts’ such as significant charitable contributions to a favorite institution or the employment of board members’ children.

Enron coterie Debacle – The positive fallout

There is a silver lining even in the darkest cloud that burst over the corporate world post-millennium. In the run up to the uncovering of some of the biggest frauds almost all in America, ironically a country which has always consecrated regulations, the markets were increasingly being viewed as infallible. Whatever information emanated from the organizations to the markets was taken as the last word. There was a reason behind this. The rules were set by the market and organizations were just playing by them leading to smugness all around. The disasters were eye openers for the gullible investors. Markets were vulnerable after all. Stricter rules followed. The corporate boards world over became more agile. The managements retreated. To a certain extent a long-term inclusive focus was restored in the firms having benign effects for every stakeholder.

The Undesirable side effect

Innovation is the mantra for success. But for corporates it has become a survival factor. The frauds have happened at the worst time. The organizations need to be more creative. Risk appetite should be high to capture the unexplored high potential markets. This calls for ingenuity on the executives’ part. But the atmosphere has become very restrictive. Regulations like SOX go overboard.

Boards would much rather have a conservative rather than an adventurous management. This does not bode well for the society as a whole as cagey entrepreneurs will not be able to fulfill their outstanding objective-wealth creation.

Business Initiatives with social spin-offs and not vice versa

Prima facie, ITC’s e-choupal venture seems an effort in the direction of social responsibility. But intrinsically the effort makes eminent economic sense.

It is not a subsidy but an effort which is mutually beneficial. Corporate social responsibility enthusiasts might label such efforts as social initiatives. But the bottom-line is that such efforts generate returns, which guarantees shareholder support. Till such time the business gains precede societal benefits and the society appreciates this reality, the long-run sustenance of these initiatives is guaranteed. Responsible corporates and not corporate social responsibility is the order of the day.

Crucial Culture

Culture is the way people behave when they are not being watched. It is very organization specific and very unlike regulation which is procrustean. The magnitude of damage that can be caused by an individual to the stakeholders of the firm increases as he/she moves up the corporate ladder. The power to influence attitudes also increases on the way up. Hence self evidently the top brass of the firm has a big hand in shaping the culture of the firm. If the honcho crosses the line, it sends out an implicit signal to the people lower down to knowingly or unknowingly to act in a similar manner as the stakes are not that high as they are for the men at the top. The trickling down of an open culture might take time but one can be rest assured that the only way in which it is going to impact the firm is positively. But where organizations go wrong is where they expect the same things from culture as the regulators do from regulation. It is never going to be a one size fits all story. This is where the earlier talked about concept of ethics being very individual specific and not organization one comes into picture. Do not impose culture. Let people understand and appreciate it and find their own way of incorporating it into their work life.

The information imperative

A fair judgment is based on fair information. Often, the best appraisal is done by those who are at a certain distance from the subject matter and at the same time affected by it. Organizations err when they try to preemptively guess others’ reactions. This leads to distortion of information. Doing business is the primary task of business; it is not in the best position to evaluate it from different angles. Hence, organizations should pass on information about its policies, practices and risk appetite. Let the other stakeholders primarily the markets assign an appropriate risk premium and cost of capital. Part of this information dissemination has been achieved by regulation manifested in balance sheet et al. The other part has become more crucial as the businesses have grown complex and can only be achieved with the will of the management and the board. A culture of transparency goes a long way in achieving the latter. Of course transparency has its limits.

But voluntary initiatives like Triple Bottom Line reporting which not only cover the financial but also the social and environmental impacts of the company signal a start. All kinds of companies from the ones with most to hide like chemical to the fairly innocuous ones with the least to hide have adopted this practice. Why? It does make social and environmental sense, but more importantly, thanks to competition in and integration of the world economy, it makes eminent business sense.

Conclusion

Wealth has to be created before it can be distributed. The responsibility to create wealth is of business. And responsibilities and rights must go together. Hence, the society cannot disarm business of its rights which are essential for creating value. The spookiness comes in when business accords certain rights to itself by itself. The importance of wealth creation and difficulty in achieving it blurs the fine line.

As we have seen there is no silver bullet for settling issues like business ethics and corporate governance. Separations of powers just like between executive, judiciary and legislature is imperative. No one stakeholder is an apex authority. Everyone has a role to play.

Regulation defines these roles to a certain extent. But it can only do so much. A culture epitomized by the top management and communication of the right information do much more than regulation. At the end of the day we are all human. We think differently and have different takes on different issues. Till such time this fact is appreciated and co-opted by every stakeholder and a healthy debate continues on the rightness of business, we are certain that businesses will keep on doing what they are good at and others will keep making sure that businesses do it the good way.

Sudeep Sanwal

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Tags: business, ethic, code, articles, policy

Once again, I experienced why ethics is so critical for today’s small business owners and why many small business owners just don’t get it.

The other day I was invited to a networking event from someone whom I had just met at another networking event. He said that there would be some time for us to get to know each other better, information presented about his company and there would be opportunity to meet some potential prospects. I asked two very direct questions that I advise all my entrepreneurial and small business clients to ask:

1. Would those in attendance be in my target market of small business owners of $1 million to $10 million in sales?
2. Is this a multi-level marketing event?

I was told emphatically Yes and No. So I agreed to come because I believe in power networking: Attending as many networking events that are in or potentially in your target market.

After registering for the event at the front door, I then was given a tour of the facility with the emphasis on the people within each office and their accomplishments. My ethic’s detector antennae(EAD) began to tingle. Then I was introduced to a variety of associates who began asking me personal questions. Now my EAD is in full vibration. From a sales process, these individuals had not established any relationship, but presumed that my relationship with the person who invited me immediately extended to them. There really wasn’t any opportunity to meet any potential ideal prospects because each guest was being held in conversation by anywhere from one to three associates nor was there any time to meet with the individual who invited me because he was circling the room meeting all the other guests. Now the words, multi-level marketing and cult began circling in my head.

Given that my time is quite valuable, I asked one of the associates as tactfully as possible if this was informational or a recruitment meeting. Again, I was told it was informational, absolutely not a recruitment meeting and to please keep an open mind because everything would be shortly explained.

Guests were then directed to a small room with stacking chairs (minimum padding) and spent the next almost 2 hours listening to their successful marketing director all the reasons to buy into this multi-level marketing business. Since I was in the back of the room and was not raised to be a rude individual, I stayed. However, I was not a happy camper because I was definitely lied to by the person who invited me because 2 of the 3 points on the last Power Point slide specifically involved recruitment.

What really bothered me was that the majority of people (mostly young people under the age of 30) in the room were actively listening to this sales pitch which was identified numerous times by the marketing director as not a sales pitch. After all, if you joined them part time you could make over $20,000 annually by just working with 4 families in a month. Of course, the marketing director did not say that you need 4 new families each month to sustain that income. As the old adage goes If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

So what does this have to do with ethical values in business? Absolutely everything! Ethics first and foremost are about being honest. When I asked the associates what they did, the only response was We help people. Any further questions were slickly evaded by having a new associate enter the conversation.

Second ethics is a referral mechanism or criteria. Since I network a lot, I also believe in referrals. Ethics is about knowing individuals and what type of values that guide them. Since I was intentionally mislead, I can no longer refer this individual or his organization and when asked will honestly share my perception that this is not a reputable firm no matter what some nationally known business guru said.

As in this case, not only was I mislead by the individual who issued the invitation, but the associates I met at the firm as well as the marketing director. Isn’t it funny that a firm can’t even be honest and call their marketing director a sales director? I guess by calling them a sales director would be too honest or ethical and might scare people. NOTE: Upon returning home, I did a Google search of this organization and discovered yes they were a multi-level marketing firm. Yes, I should have done this before accepting the invitation, but I believed that the person was forthcoming in directly answering my 2 questions.

So you as a small business person who may actually have such a firm in your formal networking group can avoid my unethical networking experience by following these two rules. (I used to have only one rule, but expanded to a second one.)

1. Directly ask if your potential client market will be there?
2. Do a Google, Yahoo, etc. search on the Internet regardless of the response to question #1

You will learn two things. The first is the ethics of the person involved and the ethics of the organization. Possibly the individual has been conditioned hence why the word cult is used as a descriptor not to think of the organization as MLM.

Small business owners have limited time and need to leverage every moment to build their business. Networking is one such activity. Yet, when other small business owners take advantage of their colleagues through the demonstration of unethical business core values, then everyone loses.

I am sure that this national firm will continue to grow because many individuals want that magic pill for success. However, I believe that by being a lot more ethical, this firm and some of the other similar firms could grow with greater speed and not earn the negative unethical reputation as a cult based multi-level marketing firm.

What other actions do you need to take beyond ethics to increase sales? Take this free sales skill assessment.

Did you know that loyal customers are worth their weight in gold? This free audit looks to how you can build customer loyalty.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, Chief Customer Officer, helps organizations through business training coaching services to return to the purpose of business that being building ravings fans while increasing productivity and profitability. With offices in Chicago, Indianapolis and colleagues nationwide, she can help you become the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits.

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Tags: ethical, debate, issues, articles, cases

Jorge was a young construction worker, sitting near the front of the bus. Natasha was an older lady confined to a wheelchair. She asked him about his orange safety vest, “Where do you get those?”

The vests are highly reflective and are easily seen by oncoming automobile traffic. Natasha thought that a similar vest might protect her as she crossed the street from the bus stop to her house in the evening.

Jorge stood up, took the vest off, and presented it to Natasha as a gift.

In a world that seems less concerned with the well being of others, than with grabbing what you can, Jorge’s selflessness stands out as a welcome gesture.

In our personal lives and the business world there is room for improvement in manners and etiquette. In the business etiquette training video America the Rude, the lack of good manners and honesty is pointed out as a growing problem.

“As common courtesy becomes less common and good taste is all but a contradiction of terms, Americans continue to push the envelope of socially acceptable behavior. Does the Golden Rule still apply, or are people too busy to care about the feelings of others? This program probes the apparent erosion of decorum in the United States, which has had a profound impact on respect for authority, trust for one another, and willingness to give a helping hand. Experts include Professor Stephen Carter, of Yale University; psychologist Arnold Nerenberg, author of Overcoming Road Rage; and Pier Forni, of Johns Hopkins University’s Civility Project.”
– Ad copy for America the Rude

Doing nice things for people should be the norm, not the exception. In our shrinking world, we need to make the effort. We still need to adhere to the golden rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Is that really so hard? Of course, if were easy, we wouldn’t need training videos like America the Rude, which is actually the first tape in a two-part series called Truth and Consequences: Is America Going Downhill? The second video is called Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire.

Lies and rudeness seem to be so prevalent that small courtesies really stand out. This is good for people and businesses that do practice polite customs like expressing pleasantries and sending thank you notes.

Who really wants to be an oaf or a bumpkin? In today’s world it’s easier than ever to be a gentleman or a lady. Sometimes all it takes is a smile, a nod of recognition, or the gift of a used plastic vest.

Don Doman is a published author, video producer, and corporate trainer. He owns the business training site Ideas and Training, which he says is the home of the no-hassle “free preview” for business training videos. He also owns Human Resources Radio, which broadcasts HR and business training information, program previews, and training samples from some of the world’s great training speakers twenty-four hours a day. You can listen and learn on Human Resources Radio.

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Tags: ethical, news, perspectives, articles, issue

Have you ever been at work and noticed something highly unethical happen. Did it bother you to the point you almost quit? Well did you know that 38% of all Americans have had the same experience? A recent survey seems to indicate that we have an ethics problem in the United States and it is not just in Government or with cheating spouses. It is also prevalent in the Work Place as well. But if you do quit your job, well who is going to pay the bills?

It is amazing how easy in life it is to become ‘ethically unemployable’, but integrity is something that is becoming more and more scarce in our world. But you know what can you expect from a bunch of humans. The interesting thing about ethics is that it is so perception based. The person at your work who caused this ethical event that you are now thinking about since I brought it up? I bet they had some justification didn’t they?

So hold that thought for a moment and consider the issues of the “Ends and Means” debate. They say sometimes; “The Ends do not justify the means.” Indeed this is true, sometimes, but a pragmatist might say that sometimes the Ends are so great that the means are justified to win, complete the task or perhaps in a company make the deal? But still you shrug, why? Well, because you are an ethical person and we are deeply troubled discussing this aren’t we? But we also realize that there are rare circumstances when as much as we do not wish to admit it, well the ends might possibly, justify the means

For instance, inadvertently hurting a few to help the whole. Now that stands against everything we stand for in the US, however realize that it is unfortunately bathed in truth that sometimes you have too. I am sure you can consider examples of this and we are dealing with these issues now in some recent political events, which have been brought to light aren’t we? Or rather aren’t we always?

Now then is the “Ends do not justify the means” debate is an ethically troubling issue indeed. But what if we turn it around; what about the “Means do not justify the ends?” For instance what if you do the right thing, because it is the right thing to do, rather than focus on the ends (winning) and then your poor decisions fails to secure the necessary objectives and the whole of all involved are severely hurt because you did everything “politically correct” for instance but in doing so you built a really bad Dam? And the dam broke and everyone died. But you can save face because you did what was ethical in the process to build the dam without offending anything or anyone else?

So, often the ethical debate misses that flip side of the argument. The true answer in many cases is to do nothing. Yet in doing nothing there is no progress, no progress means nothing gets done and stagnation occurs which is a travesty also. So, then in ethical debate this is to be considered, as well, we must consider the opposite in the “Ends do not justify the means.” A pragmatists can do this, politicians have to, otherwise they cannot survive? Is this best for the whole? Sometimes, because you have forward progression, other times it is not good for the whole, but serves the few. Yet sometimes what is good for the few is good for the many (Ayn Rand type theory) so that also must be considered. So ethics is tough, but suffice it to say the best way to look at things is to encircle them from all perspectives and then you get a better picture. Ask yourself is it fair for all concerned; yes or no? If not find a third way and think hard on better and more ethical decisions; Think on this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” – Online ThinkTank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance. Lance is an online writer in retirement.

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I know, it’s the 21st century and yet a lingerie catalog was considered reason to fire a manager of a restaurant. It’s true, a manager that was just about to be promoted, did not have any other discrepancy reported, was known as a good performer, and yet a lingerie catalog cost him his job. Not only that, Ryan’s also denied him the ability to collect his unemployment check.

Here is how it happened; The company auditors came in to review the books and procedures of an Augusta Georgia store. While they were in the office, they started nosing around all the paper work and clutter, (hey, that is their job), under a bunch of stuff, on a shelf, they find the lingerie catalog. They approach the manager about it, not thinking that this was a big deal, the manager told them it belonged to him. A day and half later, they terminated him due to “inappropriate behavior becoming a manager”.

No one had complained about the catalog. The catalog was not in plane view. But, because an auditor felt that it was too risque, that a team member might see it and file a law suite against the company. During their investigation, they did, in fact, discover a few of the team members had seen some lingerie catalogs. Not one of them thought anything about it. Not one complained, not one thought the catalogs were inappropriate.

Now I grant you, in today’s world, law suites run wild, and they are to be fearful of. They can cost a company huge amounts of money, diminish the profits, and can even cause companies to go under. But, there wasn’t any complaints, this manager was known as a good performer, why terminate him at this stage? He removed the catalogs as soon as they brought it to his attention. I think a warning might have been a good idea. At most a suspension, a write-up, something other than termination.

Has corporate paranoia gotten to the point where they are willing to sacrifice good managers over the smallest infractions? Zero tolerance policies are taking there toll on american society. Restaurant mangers are hard to find, they have to work a very demanding job. Personal sacrifices, long hours, in a challenging position. Surely, it is a bad idea to toss them aside.
Ryan’s has let other managers go for the silliest of infractions, one male manager was reported as being terminated due to giving a female team member a ride home. Zero tolerance. They area supervisor even stated that this particular manager was the best he had at working the dining room.

I see that Ryan’s has started advertising for managers in the Augusta area. Three months have gone bye and they have been unable to replace this manager they elected to fire over a lingerie catalog buried under a bunch of stuff stuck up on a shelf. Maybe zero tolerance is not such a good idea, maybe, one day, corporate america will grow a back bone and start seeing the benefit in standing up and saying enough is enough. We live in a world where a disgruntled employee can have a manager’s career ruined just by making a claim of sexual harassment or racial discrimination, no real proof is even needed. Makes managing a very unattractive carrier choice.

I think it is time to start suing over zero tolerance policies. We need to take these policies to court in order for corporate america to wake up and see the cost of following such ridiculous policies. If unjust termination was a law suite infraction, then we could put a stop to this ridiculous practice.

Zero tolerance policies have worked their way into our schools, or jobs, our government, and our lives. Good students, and good workers a being sacrificed in paranoia. We need to take a stand. The Government, who also has zero tolerance policies, needs to start the movement against these kinds of policies. And then mayb

e, an honest manager that says “Yeah, thats my catalog, I thought I had taken that home.” won’t pay the price of paranoia.

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Tags: ethics, articles, hosmer, management, social

You want it. Everyone does.

Only trouble is, the more you need it, the less likely you are to get it.

Why? Research shows that 98% of us do one or more of these three things when we have a difficult message to convey – and we think we’re doing “the right thing”:

-We Ease In: We try to make our point without being obvious about it. This can come out as:

Leading questions: “How do you think your presentation went?” (while privately thinking it was a disaster) or “Don’t you think it would be better to…” (while privately thinking it would be foolish to do anything else).

Or in statements that only partially share what we’re thinking: “You might want to consider another strategy.” (while privately thinking that the current strategy has at least three major problems, and is costing the team its reputation)

-We Censor: We simply don’t say what we’re thinking at all.

-We “Data Dump”: We just say what we’re thinking. Plain and simple. If we’re thinking the presentation was a disaster, we say it. If we think it would be foolish to do anything but what we think should be done, we say that.

The problem? No matter which option we choose, we approach difficult conversations believing we’re right. People who disagree with us are wrong. We understand the situation – those who see it differently don’t. We have pure motives – those who disagree don’t. And to make matters worse, we’re usually unaware that we’re thinking this way.

This way of thinking and these strategies dramatically limit the amount of useful feedback we get and give – they also generate defensiveness. Judge for yourself – how do you respond when people approach you like this?

Changing the way you think and changing the way you act creates a more productive option.

Here’s what this new option looks like:

1. Try to keep your assumptions specific and linked to hard data – instead of thinking “that presentation was a disaster,” think “she didn’t answer three of the board’s questions, she yelled at Ted and Mary, she said she forgot to collect the cost data. I’m very concerned.” How? A key question to ask yourself, or to ask others: “What did this person say or do that led me to believe this about them?”

2. Be Transparent and Curious. Share your views, treat them as potentiallyright, and ask questions about what others think. Instead of saying “You didn’t answer three of the board’s questions,” say “I think there were three times when you didn’t answer the board’s questions (and give the examples). Do you remember that any differently?” For this to work, you have to be genuinely curious as to the other person’s view, and be open to missing something in some way. You also need to be consistent – these are not “tools” to be used when it’s convenient or comfortable to do so.

How would you react if someone gave you feedback in this way?

For us and our clients, thinking and acting this way has a few key benefits:

-It greatly reduces defensiveness – yours and others’.

-It significantly increases learning: you both get the specific, candid feedback you want, and can make specific, powerful changes if you wish.

-Because you’re being genuinely curious, and saying what you’re thinking, there’s an important additional side-effect of all this: increased trust and higher quality relationships.

What are your reactions to all this? Please come to the Mutual Learning Action Group and share them.

© 2005 Matt Beane

Matt Beane is an associate with Roger Schwarz & Associates and co-authored a chapter of the recently published “Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook: Tips, Tools, and Tested Methods for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers, and Coaches,” available at any quality bookseller.

This article was originally published in Fundamental Change, Roger Schwarz & Associates’ free, monthly ezine. You can subscribe at this site.

In exchange for subscribing, you’ll receive a link to a free .pdf copy of “Holding Risky Conversations,” a chapter from our recently-published fieldbook.

We write Fundamental Change to help you create workplaces and communities that are highly effective and that improve the quality of life.

Every month we:
* Address issues important to you as practitioners and leaders
* Share client examples and case studies
* Offer tips and tools for challenging situations
* Offer resources to help you become more effective

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Tags: ethics, groups, workplace, articles, communication

In only a few weeks, Chuck Conaway went from relief to indicted. Last month Conaway had been absolved of bad management by a panel of judges. However Federal securities regulators have now charged Conaway and former chief financial officer, John McDonald, of financial fraud.

The regulators claim the pair misled investors about the company’s financial condition in the months leading up

to the bankruptcy.

In the months prior to the bankruptcy, Conaway and McDonald were steadfast in their claim that the company was financially sound. In addition to weekly reassurances delivered by voice mail to all employees, the company provided misinformation to the vendor base and stake-holders.

The SEC charges are specific to the financial report issued for the third quarter and nine months ended Oct. 31, 2001. This was the last financial report issued prior to the company’s bankruptcy filing.

The SEC charges were a confirmation to the stake-holders who pension plans and careers and to vendors that settled for pennies on the dollar, causing some of the vendors to file bankruptcy themselves.

Even before the third quarter results were released, employees and stake-holders were questioning the stability of the company. Both Conaway and McDonald were aware of those accusations. They either failed to investigate them or they outright lied about them.

Without making judgment as to which of the two choices is correct, let’s assume they failed to investigate. One of the traits of a high-performance leader is to listen to the concerns of employees and suppliers, using a fair dose of empathy. The leader able to empathize with stake-holders has a competitive advantage as they pick up on trends very early. In the case of Conaway and McDonald, the stake-holders were saying, “We are seeing things that are causing great concern.” By checking into the rumors and gossip empathetically, the two leaders would have found deep problems needing swift and decisive attention.

Today, organizations are turning to executive coaches to assist their leaders in the pursuit of high performance leadership. At MaxImpact, a Rochester Hills, Michigan, based leadership development company coaching is offered through a unique Catapult program. MaxImpact’s executive coaches use assessments to determine the personality, cognitive traits, and motivation of an individual. This information is supplied to the coach so a

completely personalized program is possible. The coach works with the executive on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis, either in person or over the phone.

Here are some of the successes from coaching:

= Larry was dejected and ready to chuck it all. Once the best salesperson at his company, he was extremely frustrated as the new Vice-President of Sales. Ready to go back to his old job,

his wife learned of Catapult’s 1:1 coaching program. She encouraged him to get started on the program and his follow-through was remarkable. In just a few sessions Larry’s demeanor had changed as he regained the desire to make his business successful. Six months later he graduated from the program and his department had a double digit sales increase, almost reaching his capacity. Larry says the fire is back in his belly and he “looks forward to work everyday”.

= Tobi was having trouble hitting the goals for her business. Although drained of capital and energy, she never stopped believing she could be a success. As her dreams were fading behind the need for cash, she took a step of faith and began Catapult. Within two sessions she identified a way to find short-term business sufficient to fund her through a long sales cycle. Today Polly is consistently meeting her goals, which have been realigned to take advantage of her new skills and determination.

= Marc was disappointed that he had lost some of the big accounts that had accounted for his early success. He realized he needed to refocus his business and rekindle the fuel that had made him a success. By understanding his motivators and abilities he developed a new business plan. Using his talents and energy, Frank’s business goals are now being exceeded every way.

= Andy’s business was okay, but that big account seemed to be eluding him constantly. In only took a couple of Catapult sessions to give Andy the understanding of himself and the business skills to land a huge contract.

= Gary struggled to get his team to share the vision he had for the company. His tight profit margins prevented him from hiring services, such as maintenance. This frustrated him even

more as he couldn’t even get his team to take out the trash. During his coaching Frank learned how to draw talent out of his team. Although he still doesn’t have maintenance service, after his first two weeks of Catapult Frank has never had to take out the trash again!

For more information about the Catapult coaching program, contact MaxImpact at 248-802-6138 or via email to info@getmaximpact.com.

Rick Weaver is an accomplished business executive with a wealth of experience in retail, market analysis, supply chain enhancement, project management, team building, and process improvement. Building on a strong retail background, Rick moved to full supply-chain involvement, working with hundreds of companies to improve sales, processes, and bottom-line results.

As Rick’s interaction in varied industries expanded, he became troubled as he increasingly noticed that people and companies had untapped or unfocused talent. Coupled with Rick’s passion for training and development, popular style of interactive workshops and seminars, and strong desire for continuous improvement, he founded Max Impact Corporation to be singularly focused on helping individuals and organizations achieve high performance.

Rick is a popular speaker at seminars, workshops, and conferences. He has spoken in 43 states, including Alaska and Hawaii, and in Canada and Puerto Rico. He is available to speak at groups of all sizes.

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Tags: cases, ethics, articles, issues, conduct

To get a new client, we might be inclined to make concessions no matter what the cost: offer a second or extra long sample session; reduce fees; set session times we don’t want to work. We might leap at any opportunity before looking at the possible return on investment of time. These situations end up being lessons learned, sometimes painful ones.

Before you get caught in another good lesson, set up your business with strong boundaries. They create a friendly and ethical structure that allows others to find their place with you. They speak volumes about your professionalism and keep both you and your clients on track.

Want only as much for your clients as they want for themselves.

If you find yourself feeling frustrated about your client’s results, you are wanting too much for your client. Challenge them and let go of the outcome. If you can’t let go of the outcome, you may need to let go of the client.

If this is happening often, consider setting criteria for your prospective clients. In my own business as a mentor coach, to avoid getting started with someone who isn’t ready to make progress, I pre-qualify possible clients by asking:

“Are you committed to building a successful coaching practice and ready to invest your resources (time, energy and money) to making this happen now?” I may even go further to inquire about how much time they will dedicate and how many months of coaching they will budget.

I’ve found this puts clients on notice that the success of the coaching is largely up to them. It also raises the perceived value of my coaching services because they see that I don’t take on just anyone.

Stand firmly by your chosen fees.

Set fees that will pay you well for the time it takes to market to, coach and manage your clients. If you discount your services because a prospective client won’t afford your fees, in essence you’ve discounted the value of your services. So will your new client. The coaching won’t be as effective because they will be depending on you to take on some of the burden of their financial limitations. This forces you both out of the Co-creative Relationship.

Consider developing group coaching at half price for individuals on a tighter budget. This way you offer them something of value without taking on their financial problems as your own. Once your practice is well developed you can have a client or two on partial scholarship where they pay at a reduced rate for a limited time, say two – three months. Then the fee goes up to your full rate. You’ll want to be sure they’ll make a strong commitment to doing their own work. And never call it a discount.

Create and hold time boundaries.

If your stated session time is an hour, do your best to keep that boundary. When answering inquiries, let the caller know you are available for a specified amount of time. These are courtesies that also keep you on track.

I enjoy my work and have often forgotten to hold time boundaries. I’m learning to value my time and energy in new ways. If I do spend extra time with a client, I note it by saying: “I’d like to gift you ten extra minutes today.” This effects my client two ways: one, they understand I’ve loosened the time boundary, and two, they perceive additional value.

When someone says “Jump!” look before you leap.

When asked to do something – take on a role, task or project – give yourself time to thoroughly review how well it:

- Fits your interests.

- Aligns with your business purpose and niche.

- Provides a good return for your investment of time.

Say no, unless it will pay off for you. This applies to non-business opportunities as well. If you’re overcommitted, you’ll not be able to dedicate enough time and energy to satisfy any of your priorities, especially your business goals.

Turn down work that isn’t ideal. If clients are not a good fit refer them to another coach that fits the client’s interest, values or price range better. It will make room for the right opportunities and your ideal clients.

Enjoy the structure and professionalism these boundaries bring to your business. In the next edition we’ll discuss coaching ethics, another set of important boundaries.

Rhonda Hess mentors professional life coaches to create financially successful businesses. With the guidance of her expertise in niche marketing, Rhonda’s clients create compelling programs to manifest their unique visions. Rhonda has trained and certified over 200 coaches through Coach Training Alliance. She co-authored the ecourse, the Coach Training Accelerator, a complete manual for coaches.

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My grandfather was a very wise man. Simple but wise. He once told me “The only thing you get in life for free is hungry.” There is a lot of truth in that. I see it all the time online and offline that people are looking for the perverbial “free ride.”

Online it takes the form of “get rich quick schemes” and overnight success stories. Promises of quick money for doing nothing. While setting back and doing nothing and watching the money roll in would be nice, the truth is that very few if any get rich quick promises ever pan out.

The thing to look for if you are seriously wanting to start an online business is one that shoots straight from the get go without making promises of exhorbitant amounts of money falling in your lap without you having to do anything. The greatest companies in the world took many years to build and lots of hard work. While it is true that you can start a company with little or no money the flip-side of that coin is you will have to put in extra time promoting and advertising it.

So one way or another you invest whether it be money or time. If you hear someone tell you something like “You don’t have to do anything but cash the checks” then the check you send them will probably be the only one cashed.

There are some easy signals to spot when looking for a business to get involved in. Like red flags that should tell you whether the business is worth checking out or not.

They want to charge you to sell their products:

If their products sell so good and you will be selling them for the company then why should you pay the company for the right to sell? After all you will be making profit for the company right?

They want money upfront for information about their “Opportunity”:

You see this a lot especially offline. People are duped into sending money for information about a “Business Opportunity.” When you receive the information it is pretty much useless and more times than not they ask for more money for more info. If it were a legit opportunity especially online they would let you check it out for free.

They offer you FREE products:

This is a very popular ploy online. You are offered free products only to find out that you have to buy something to receive your “Free Bonus.” If someone says this and this are free then they should give them to you free. After all that would be the honest thing to do wouldn’t it?

Is it a real business or just a Storefront?:

Both online and offline there are fly-by-night companies that pop up, take peoples money and then as quickly as they appeared they are gone. One of the main things to look for in a Business Opportunity is to make sure the company is well established. How long have they been in business? Do they have an actual brick and mortar business or simply a P.O. Box they operate out of? Do they use only auto-responders to answer e-mails or can you get a response from a real person?

These are only a few things that you can look for in determining if a company is reputable or not. Most times just common sense is enough to tell you if they are worth checking out. The most important thing to remember is don’t pay money to anyone for anything until you at least have an idea as to what you are getting. At least then you can decide for yourself if it is worth it or not.

John Dyer is the creator of the T.H.I.S. Online website. T.H.I.S. stands for Truth Honesty Integrity Sincerity. Dedicated to the presentation of ethical online opportunities, products, and tools, T.H.I.S. Online has very stringent guidelines for anything promoted on the website.

Check us out here

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Using article writing as part of your business marketing can generate traffic to your website and increase your income and exposure for you and your business.

In this article I’m going to look at why article writing is one of the easiest ways in which to market your business and why it needs to form part of your ongoing marketing mix.

If your business has a website, a blog or an online shop then article writing is for you. You can have the best website in the world but without regular visitors and traffic to your site then it’s not really worth having on online presence at all. And there really is only 2 ways to get traffic to your site – you pay for it (pay per click, banner advertising, affiliate schemes, directory advertising etc) or you get free traffic (optimisation in the search engines natural or free listings being the main way).

Don’t get my wrong paying for traffic can really work and pay per click advertising is great as it gives you instant results and if you can convert visitors to sales then it can make you and your company money.

HOWEVER, you can get even better results by being listed high in the natural search engine listings (or SERPS) and article writing can really help with this.

When people use a search engine like Google they are presented with numerous listings based on what they are searching for. The sponsored (or paid) listings appearing at the top and down the right hand side and the free or natural listings appearing on the main page. Pretty straightforward yes? But what am I telling you that you don’t already know?

Well did you know about the 70/30 rule?

The 70/30 rule means that 70% of visitors to a search engine will click on a free listing rather than a paid for listing who just get 30% of total clicks. This means that even if you run highly successful pay per click campaigns over two thirds of people searching for your product/company/service could be going elsewhere unless you appear high in the free listings.

Now if you have a large marketing budget then I’d recommend investing in search engine optimization (be careful though as there’s thousands of so called SEO experts out there who make big promises without delivering).

However if you don’t have a large budget then article writing can really help you move up the rankings, establish you as an expert in your field and mean you get traffic, visitors and sales for little time and money.

Marketing done well can transform your business from an also ran to leaders in your particular field and size of your budget doesn’t have to hold you back. Be smart with your small business marketing and article writing and watch your business grow. What are you waiting for? JUST DO IT!

Mark Burdett is the owner of one of the UK’s Leading Marketing Consultancy firms, The Marketing Buzz.

With almost 2 decades of marketing experience Mark has worked on highly successful and profitable campaigns for companies including Norwich Union, Kia Motors and Zurich.

Now based in Newcastle upon Tyne, The Marketing Buzz help small and medium sized UK businesses grow and increase their profits by using highly effective Marketing techniques.

If you want to grow your business and increase your profits contact The Marketing Buzz Here

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Tags: media, relations, articles, marketing, communications

The world of Public Relations and Press Relations is certainly interesting indeed. Sometimes articles in the news are really ad-vertorials and not actually stories or articles at all. That indeed can be a huge problem. Sometimes if the news about your company is too good people will think that you are paying the newspaper, magazine or trade journal reporter, author or writer of the article or story.

Case in point, recently a public relations and press-relations expert say an old article about our company in the Wall Street Journal and said I read your Wall Street Journal Ad. But it was not an advertisement article at all. It was a story and it was not even about our company, but rather our company was mentioned in a few paragraphs along with some other companies too.

That was a story or article not an advertisement, but then I see why she thought that now after I recently re-read it. There have been a couple stories involving our company in the WSJ over the years. It is also telling how someone can be so skeptical of good news about companies. As if to say all entrepreneurs and companies are some how dishonest. In fact it is quite telling of an anti-capitalist belief. What is more fascinating and something I have come to observe over the years is that it is interesting how individuals are portrayed in the media.

The media is a good tool, but dangerous too. They love to build you up, but will not hesitate to tear you down. Politics are deadly and it all about momentum during the weeks of voting. So you have to be careful, another reason why media relations is so vital to brand. The interesting thing about that particular Wall Street Journal article is that I actually remember it.

I talked to the guy for 30-minutes and explained my business enthusiastically, of course I love my business, it was my baby. I am retired now; yet in that half-hour of conversation the two paragraphs or so they wrote was interesting. Reporters are often like that, same with the USA Today article and the Franchising Trade Journal articles about our company. I tell you that the moral of the story is that press relations are important. I hope this article will propel thought in 2007.

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance’s Web. Lance is an online writer in retirement.

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Tags: advertising, articles, public relations, press releases, media

What do you see when you search for your company or brand name? Is there anything on the first page of the search engine results that you wouldn’t be proud to display on your home page? Consumer review sites, blogs and forums have made it easy for anyone to say whatever they want about your company, whether they be disgruntled customers or competitors who like to play dirty.

If you’re in a situation where negative publicity is front and center in search results, there are ways you can reclaim search engine real estate for your corporate identity. Though you can’t make negative results disappear from the search engine indexes entirely, the following strategies can help them slip off the first few pages of search engine results.

1. Good Old Fashioned Networking

Even if you take none of the advice following in this article, the first thing you should do is contact the webmasters of the sites in question with a polite request for removal of negative comments. There’s a good chance they’ll be willing to co-operate. Note that, even if they do remove the listing, the cached pages may remain in the search engine indexes for some time. But users who click through the search engine results will land on a page with the comments removed.

Check out some of the sites that already have something good to say about you. Send them an appreciation note, and offer them a link back from your site. You could even create a special page called “Gary’s Garage On The Web” (if that’s the name of your business) or “Press Room.”

2. Tap Into the Power of Wiki

Wiki websites allow users not only to add their own content, but also edit pages. They get their name from the Hawaiian word “wiki wiki” meaning “rapidly.” There are many wiki pages like AboutUs.org and LoveToKnow.com that you can use to create content about your company. If your company name is “notable” enough (meaning there are objective third party sites that already have pages citing facts about your company), you might also be able to create a page in Wikipedia. This is easier if your company is publicly traded.

3. Raise Your Profile

Some websites like PR.com allow you to post your company’s profile. An annual fee might be required. It’s not easy to find these sites, but you may find some opportunities by searching your competitors’ names and discovering where they are listed.

4. Wet Your Pen

Articles can help you kill three birds with one stone. Not only can articles rank for your company name, they also build valuable backlinks to your site and position you as an expert in your field. You can use your company name in the resource box at the end of an article along with a link back to your site.

Using your company name in the article body gives it a better chance of ranking well. You can research potential sites to submit your article to by searching for one of your industry keywords in a search engine like this: “car mechanics” + “submit article.” Or submit it to various article directories like Article Alley.

5. Become A Socialite

Using social bookmark sites like Netvous and Del.icio.us is an easy way to quickly create a page that ranks for your name. You can create an account for yourself that bookmarks all of your positive press, and anything interesting on your website, such as articles or videos. Make sure you use your company name in the titles of the articles (even if they are not the real titles) and in the descriptions. Although this may seem to be “spamming” the bookmarking sites, it really is not, as the purpose is to create a page that ranks for your name, and there is no ethical reason why you should not be able to create an account that keeps track of all your company’s press. You are simply choosing to make the list public for those that may be interested.

The links themselves are not given much weight by search engines, but you have an opportunity to use your company name in the titles and descriptions of your bookmarks and photos. Make sure you make good use of the tagging feature, using general keywords as these will also begin to rank for your name. For example, Gary’s Garage should tag: “Garys Garage,” “garage,” “autobody,” “mechanic,” mechanics,” “body shop,” “car,” “auto body” and so on. When you are first starting out, the more popular tags will start appearing on pages 1-5 in Google. They will eventually drop off as Google finds and indexes your content as you get it out there on other websites.

6. Become A Lensmaster

A company blog is certain to rank well, and it’s easier than ever to create one with Squidoo.com. When you create a “lens” for your site, you can easily upload pictures and also make use of tags. Unlike other blogs, Squidoo won’t show the posting date, so your lens won’t look neglected if you ever stop posting. You can build your blog’s link popularity by submitting it to blog directories like LSBlogs and BlogHub, and linking to it from your site.

Once you’ve done that, why not drop some other lensmasters a line and exchange lensroll links (Squidoo’s answer to blogroll). This may be a tactic that is passee in search engine optimization link building, but remember that Squidoo is a community. So it’s not as much link building as networking. In my experience, Squidoo lensmasters are quite keen to cross-promote.

7. Broadcast Yourself

Do you have promo videos or other visual media about your site? Why not create a channel on ? .

8. Explore Shopping Engines

If you sell products online, consider listing them in comparison shopping sites, or “shopping engines” like Shopping.com, Bizrateor Nextag. If you are not ready to manage a new e-commerce channel for many products, you might consider listing one product in one engine to start.

9. Use Directories For Deep Links

Search engines still consider a page’s number of relevant backlinks to be a strong indicator of quality and relevance to a search term. Octopedia, WorldSiteIndex and Microsoft’s Small Business Directory are a few examples of solid directories that allow you to link to deeper pages of your own site, like your About Us page, to help raise their rankings for your company name.

10. Post An E-Help Wanted Sign

Leverage the strength of sites like Craigslist.org to post your company’s current job offerings. Make sure you use your company name first in the posting headline: “Gary’s Garage Now Hiring Junior Grease Monkeys,” for example. This will ensure the title tag for that page is optimized, which is very helpful for SEO. And make sure to describe your company in the ad, repeating your name three or four times.

Tracking Results

I strongly recommend setting up an account with Google Alerts (free) which monitors the top 50 results, or with Google Alert, a professional tracking system that will monitor the top 200 results for you for as little as $4.95/month. You will be notified daily when new references to your name have been found in Google – not only to see when your articles, profile pages, blog posts and so on get indexed, but also to keep on top of any new negative or positive references to your name outside of your own reputation management efforts.

How Long Will This Take?

Results may vary but they won’t come overnight. You will get out of your reputation management efforts what you put in. It could take anywhere from a few months to a year. Expect monitoring and tweaking your strategy to be a long-term activity. As new pages are being added daily to the Web, search results for your name can fluctuate daily, even hourly.

The danger with social media optimization for reputation management purposes is that whatever you create easily through social media sites can easily be re-created by users disgruntled with your company. Using sites like 43Things to quickly create a high ranking page using your name in the title bar for “Buy XYZ Product” can attract similar posts like “Boycott XYZ!!!”

Wrapping it Up

As the World Wide Web turns, you may come across new or different ways to help your cause, especially as social media sprockets keep creating new opportunities. If SEO’s not your bag, consider hiring a consulting firm skilled in copywriting and public relations. The key is to look at reputation management as a long term activity and to take advantage of all the options you have to keep the search engine results positive.

Linda Bustos is the Marketing Director for Image X Media, a Vancouver web design and Internet marketing firm. She also blogs about social media and business.

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Tags: pr tips, public relations, press release, online, articles