The etiquette system in Japan is perhaps one of the world’s elaborate. It involves every aspect of one’s life, with its strict codes of behavior governing daily etiquette and manners. Although the Japanese mostly adhere to these codes, it is not expected that people visiting Japan be familiar with them and would not be reprimanded. However, making an effort to be polite and to show at least some understanding of local customs can make life in Japan a bit easier.

Hierarchy and social standings – Japanese etiquette is based on a social ranking. For example, “me-ue-no-hito” (or “person whose eye is above”) are those of higher social standing such as a top ranking corporate executive, government official, or teacher. Meanwhile, “me-shita-no-hito” (or “person whose eye is below”) are those of lower social standing relative to the other person such as a corporate staffer, a government employee, or a student. Older people have higher social standing than younger people, and that the emperor and his royal family are considered “me-ue-no-hito” by all. This hierarchy is evident in speaking, such as the polite speech (keigo), regular speech, and casual speech, as well as male speech and female speech.

The “Giri” – The “giri” refers to one’s innate sense of duty, obligation, morality and the absolute need to return a favor. Everyone in Japan is bound by the giri, like a person’s bond towards his parents or towards his teachers and benefactors. It is also expressed by meeting one’s obligations and responsibilities as best as possible. Meeting the demands of giri is the same as defending one’s personal honor even under the most adverse circumstances, which includes taking suicide (for some Japanese).

Bowing – The practice of bowing is basic to Japanese etiquette. It is the way Japanese people greet each other, say farewell, express thanks, and even apologize. The Japanese can be particularly conscious of his or her personal space, which is why bowing establishes a comfortable and respectful distance between two people. Although modern Japanese have become used to the Western “handshake” as a form of greeting towards foreigners, they are very much appreciative when a westerner shows respect by bowing when meeting. The degree of bowing is determined by social status, bow deeper towards a person of higher authority. Typically, a bow is done at about 15 degrees of bending your body towards the front; the longer the bow is held the more feeling it evokes. When bowing as an apology, it must be as low as 90 degrees.

On the street – It is very common to see packs of tissues being given out on the street for free. Rule of thumb is that you should take one, as using a handkerchief for blowing one’s nose is a definite no-no. You may also notice some people wearing face masks while walking, especially during spring. Do not worry about an unannounced epidemic. It is just that they are protecting themselves against pollen inhalation. Meanwhile, eating on the street is considered impolite, even if you see people doing it these days. Spitting and urinating in public (mainly by middle-aged or drunk men) may seem obnoxious, but these do not necessarily raise eyebrows in Japan.

Basic table manners – A typical Japanese meal involves many different foods and sauces presented in little dishes. It is considered polite to pick up these small dishes and bring them close to your mouth, especially when eating soup and rice. The soup bowl (usually on you right side) is picked up and the broth is directly sipped from the bowl. Chopsticks are used to pick-up tofu, seaweed, vegetables, and other food items in the soup. The rice bowl (usually on your left side) is also picked up and brought near the mouth, using the closed chopsticks as a shovel. When dipping sauces are used, chopsticks are used to pick up the food, dip it into the sauce, and then you place it on the rice before eating it.

Basic restaurant manners – Upon entering a Japanese restaurant, bars, or inns, guests are given a wet face or hand towel called “oshibori,” which is used to freshen-up the face and hands before eating. After using, it is taken away by the hostess. There are no napkins at restaurants in Japan; that is why most Japanese carry handkerchiefs that they use during meals and place it on their laps. If you are having difficulty with using chopsticks, asking for a knife and fork is all right (especially if the restaurant serves Western food). Toothpicks are used in restaurants after eating, and it is all right to pick one’s teeth after a meal as long as it is done discreetly.

Slurping – Slurping is a double-edge sword. It is considered impolite, but if you don’t do it the chef would be insulted. Consider slurping when eating “ramen” (noodle soup), “donburi” (big bowls of rice topped with meat or vegetables), and on “miso” soup.

Saying grace – Before eating, it is important to say “itadakimasu,” which literally means “I shall partake” and serves as a kind of pre-meal grace. You could practice it by quickly saying “eat a duck he must.” Once the dinner is over, remember to say “gochisosama deshita” to show your appreciation for the meal.

Drinking – The Japanese may be quiet and reserved, but not when they are drunk. Drinking with fellow students or coworkers is almost a ritual in Japan, and considered the best way to break the ice as well as solidify relationships. However, the Japanese can get pretty rowdy when drunk, but all is forgiven and forgotten the next day. It is polite to pour other people’s drinks and then hold your own glass while your host or friend fills it. Upon toasting, remember to shout “Kampai,” which literally means “dry glass.” If you are invited out, it is common for your host to pay the bill.

Gift giving – There are many considerations in buying a gift for a Japanese person. In Japan, gift giving etiquette specifies when, to whom, under what circumstances, and what type of gift is appropriate to give. Also you should also take note how much the gift costs and how the gift should be wrapped. Traditionally, the Japanese do not celebrate birthdays or Christmas. Instead, give gifts to people you feel indebted to (like a business owner towards his customers, or a patient towards his doctor) during June’s Obon Festival (in which the gifts are called “oseibo”) and in December before the year ends (in which the gifts are called “ochugen”), not to mention during special occasions like weddings, gradutations among others. When presenting or receiving gifts, it is polite to hold the gift with two hands and bow respectfully at the exchange.

The “Omiage” – Another highly ritualized practice of gift giving is called the “omiage.” This is done by thanking someone for an invitation, paying someone a visit, and before and after taking a long trip. For instance, when visiting a friend or acquaintance in Japan, you should bring food items like a baked cake, rice crackers, or a beautifully-wrapped fresh fruit. Meanwhile, when visiting the office of a client, potential business associate, or government official, the omiage might be in a form of tea cups or laquerware and would be more expensive.

Visiting someone’s home – If you have been invited to someone’s house, remember to bring the omiage. Upon visiting, say to the house owner “Tsumaranai mono desu ga,” which is similar to “This is just a little something for you.” Before entering, take off your shoes by the “genkan” or hallway and put on the slippers provided by the host. If you have to use the toilet, you would have to change slippers again. Upon leaving, the host would usually say “Kondo asobi ni kite kudasai” or “Please come around my place sometime,” but this is only said just out of politeness. Visiting the house unannounced could be embarrassing to both of you.

Business cards – In business meetings, it is customary to exchange “meishi” or business cards but in Japan there is a certain manner of giving and receiving it. Business cards are given and received using both hands and each person bows at the exchange. Take note to present your business card written-side up and facing the person receiving it so that he doesn’t have to turn the card around and read it. After receiving a business card, you should read (or look as though you are reading) the card and make comments about the company or the address (it is some sort of “breaking the ice”). In keeping the card, it should be handled with respect and place in a special “business card holder” and not in your pocket or purse. When meeting new people in a conference or dinner setting, you should place your business cards in front of them on the table so that they can easily refer you by name.

Bathing – Communal bathing in Japan dates back for centuries and visiting one of its thousands of “onsen” (hot springs) or “sento” (public bath houses) can be a highlight of your trip. Like in any bathroom, you should wash yourself outside the bath before getting into the hot water and soak. You would notice that people usually scrub each other’s backs. Remember to bring your own toiletries and put your shoes and clothes in designated lockers. Bath houses are always separated by sex, but these days there are a few mixed bathing places that you could try.

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Tags: business, ethics, code, society, article

Do you walk your talk as a professional sales person? Are your personal and professional ethics consistently demonstrated 24/7? Do you have a credible reputation within your sales territory?

If you believe that your reputation is impeccable, then what behaviors are you demonstrating to those within your marketplace? For example, do you respond to every phone call or email promptly?

Much of relationship selling is truly dependent upon the business ethics within the referral generating process. People in business who know other people in business make referrals each and every day. Businesses such as Business Networking International (BNI), Leads or LeTip have actually evolved in helping to increase referrals. However, without a strong reputation within your business community, all the referrals in the world will not increase sales and help you become successful.

Locally, I belong to an informal networking group that has generated over $2,000,000 in sales during the last two years. One of the greatest challenges is making referrals and then having that referred party not respond to the referral. Not responding is a negative behavior that damages the reputation of the referred party as well as the referring party. I am asked to make referrals, but if the referring party does not respond, this creates an incredibly difficult situation.

Reputation is also visible in how you deal with your perceived competition. For me, my competition is myself and dollars, but for many others the competition is that other person or business that is doing something similar.

I believe that speaking ill of the competition is not only unprofessional, bad business ethics, but is also very damaging to my own personal reputation. As my Swedish grandmother once told me: If you cannot say anything nice, just don’t say anything at all.

Gossiping is another negative reputation behavior. When you actively refuse to gossip, you demonstrate your high work ethics and reputation for being authentic. Living your personal core values as a professional sales person is critical.

If you are engaged in relationship selling, then look to maintaining and increasing your professional reputation, your business ethics and personal ethics, with your target market. Remember, people buy from people they trust and an exceptional reputation makes it much easier for people to buy from you.

Do you want more sales? Then register for FREE professional sales skills assessment, click here.

Are you where you want to be? To find out where you are, then M.A.P. for Success, a FREE email course may help you begin to chart a course of business, professional or personal success. Visit this site.

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Tags: business, ethics, corporate, code, managing

The Presidential campaigns have begun, and with them a host of shows, ads and debates. I don’t pay much attentions to ads, mostly because they’re paid for by those supporting said candidate. The ads are, of course, biased. I am a “researcher” and I prefer to find actual FACTS on the candidates. What have they done already? Have they lived up to the promises they made when they ran for previous (or current) office? Did they do their job, representing the people in their respective districts? These are the things that count to me. In other words, the proof is in the pudding. Don’t make promises. SHOW me what you’ve done and what you hope to do.

The biggest peeve I have is bashing. Candidates who feel they have to bash their opponents to get my vote are NOT going to get this vote. If that’s all you’ve got, forget it. I loathe the practice in politics as much as I do in business. When I was in sales, I NEVER, EVER put down a competitor. I believe that people are smart enough to see truth and anyone who has to belittle another competitor must have something to hide. That’s just my take. I made every sale I ever made WITHOUT ever mentioning a competitor. And, when asked to give an opinion on the matter, I would always tell folks that comparison shopping was THEIR job. I can share the differences, but I will NOT put them down. Besides, what most salespeople fail to realize is that by belittling their competition, they’re also risking belittling their prospect. Why? Because if I’m shopping, say, for a car, and I’m doing my research and I’m test driving, etc., let’s say I narrow it down to Toyota and Honda. Now, I go to Honda and the salesman says “Oh, you don’t want a Toyota. They aren’t nearly as good as a Honda. They have problems with….blahblahblah. They’re actually junk.” Okay. NOW the knucklehead has basically just insinuated that I’m stupid because I’m even considering a Toyota. NOT a good thing to do. Again, whenever I am met with such people, I take myself and my business elsewhere.

Now, the reason I am on this little rampage is because it’s come to my attention that there are folks out there who are doing the same thing with the company I distribute for. I have heard and seen some of the crap online about this company and done a very thorough investigation into these accusations. And here is what I’ve found:

WITHOUT FAIL, every single person who’s bashed this company (which will remain anonymous in this article, for my own integrity) was, at one time or other, considering the opportunity. And, for whatever their reasons (I know what they are, but again, will NOT go there), they chose to go with some other company. Now they use these same tactics to advertise their new business, using slander as their tool. I don’t get it. I don’t get why people need to do this. I think it’s both despicable and unethical. Am I a bit indignant about this? You bet I am. Because it seems to me that the level of integrity practiced in business (I don’t care WHAT kind of business) is fast diminishing and we are being bombarded with this mentality to the point of madness. It’s just plain CRAZY!

It seems to me that we need more integrity in our business dealings. We need to stop buying the slander and support ethical business practices. We need to look beneath the presentations and see the root of such claims. The sooner we ALL do this, the sooner we’ll eliminate the people who do this and their businesses along with them. Why should anyone support a business that uses negativity for their own gain? What happened to offering a service, or product or opportunity based on the NEEDS of the prospect, as opposed to personal gain? Someone once said, “”When you give people what they want, you will have what you want.”" I think that’s a pretty awesome perspective to take when doing business. And it is from this mindset that I do business. I have what I consider to be a very wonderful opportunity. But just because it’s wonderful for ME, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wonderful for YOU. But I choose to let YOU decide, without slander, without opinion, without pressure. Because after all is said and done, you’re the one who has to live with your choices and who the hell am I to tell you what’s right for you?

It is my sincerest hope that you will do whatever you do with integrity, with passion and with honesty. These are the tools that are best practiced, all for the greater good. Of course, these are MY opinions and, as they say, everyone has one (or zillions!). Wishing you great success and a good night’s sleep!

Camille Strate is an author, critter-keeper and entrepeneur who has spent her life in search of the perfect pasture. She is a staunch believer in the “Pay It Forward” philosophy, and her business is a reflection of this belief. Marketing Personal Development products is one of her passions; she loves seeing other people empower themselves and find their true paths. Her latest book, “Whispers” will be released sometime in Spring of 2008. Visit this site to read more about this topic or visit my blog here.

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Tags: business, ethics, corporate, code, managing

I think I finally figured out the secret to success. It came to me as an epiphany one night as I was driving home from work. Frankly, it was so simple and obvious, I can’t believe it took me years to figure it out. It came to me as I was thinking about some of the key people I’ve met over the years in the Information Technology field, and I found their attributes were essentially no different than other successful businessmen I’ve met. I guess we should begin by asking ourselves what we consider to be a “”success.”" To me, this is not just making a comfortable living. Instead, I’m talking about those people who dominate an industry or company, primarily through their personalities. I do not wish to portray this concept of success in a cynical light, but rather as a realistic perspective of the captains of industry.

In order to become a success in any industry or business, I have discovered it is not necessary to produce a good work product, nor do you have to be conscientious about your craft. No, it’s much simpler than that; you just have to be an ass****. And I say this with the utmost sincerity. All of the “”movers and shakers”" I have met over the years, particularly in the I.T. industry, fall into this category and you would be hard pressed to find anyone that doesn’t possess these simple attributes as described herein.

First, you have to find a cause for you to pitch. It really doesn’t matter what it is, just something you are comfortable with, and something that appeals to the masses, particularly if it relates to a human weakness such as greed, violence or sex. Or it might be that you have invented a new mousetrap. In this event, you need to portray it as “”state of the art.”" Either way, you want to go well beyond simply peddling your offering, you want it to dominate market share.

Next, you have to cultivate a certain physical image, something that distinguishes you, usually by not conforming to current standards. This could be something as simple as a new hair style, facial hair, clothes, hats, jewelry, etc. The more outlandish, the better as you will inevitably be falsely mistaken for a genius and it becomes your unique logo which people remember. For example, I remember one guy who loved to wear a cape. You may not remember exactly what he said, but you remembered him because of that stupid cape.

Next, you have to master the art of communications as well as miscommunications. Very important: you do not have to be right in your message, just entertaining. This means you can be loud, obnoxious, even insulting in order to get noticed. And the more verbose your vocabulary is, the better, as people will misunderstand what you say yet regard you as a genius. This means you always try to speak above your audience, and most definitely not at their level. By doing so, you are endeavoring to dominate your audience through intimidation. You must also be a master politician as you have to be acutely aware of the hot buttons needed to motivate or coerce people to do what you want them to do.

This fixation on physical image and communications obviously means you realize the importance of facade as opposed to substance. It also means you understand the need to keep moving along before somebody understands what you are truly about. This requires you to be able to move politically faster than your opponents and undermine them as required. I am reminded of one CEO in the I.T. field who during the work week would make the life of everybody in the office miserable, but always made it a point to attend his church each week to be absolved of any wrong doing.

All of this highlights two points: first, morality and ethics have nothing whatsoever to do with becoming a success, and second; you must be self-centered with a huge ego. You see workers more as servants as opposed to employees. It also means your word is not your bond. In fact, honesty and integrity have absolutely nothing do with becoming a success. To illustrate, I remember when Hitler wrote that preposterous Munich Agreement for Neville Chamberlain promising he would never invade the Sudetenland: what a classic!

To be a success your behavior is perhaps best characterized as “”pompous”" and you enjoy a highly visible profile. I am reminded of a customer of ours in the Midwest who was developing new information systems for the business. Whereas most of the project teams quietly went about their business and delivered quality systems on-time and within budget, there was one Project Manager who never delivered anything of substance on time or within budget. But because of the nature of the projects he was working on, whereby he was applauded for his skills for putting out fires, he enjoyed much higher visibility than everyone else and was promoted more rapidly than others. In other words, he capitalized on “”the squeaky wheel gets the oil”" phenomenon. As an aside, we advised our client that their chief firefighter was also their chief arsonist (which never quite set well with management or the subject in question).

Successful people are certainly not afraid of stepping on toes and making enemies as they already know how to combat them. Show me someone who is successful without making any enemies and I’ll show you a fraud. If they’re not pissing someone off, they’re not doing their job. In fact, they’ve discovered employees generally work better when they’re pissed off. This sense of ruthlessness may make his confidants squirm a bit, but not to the point of creating a mutiny.

To offset their unscrupulous tactics, successful people will support high profile causes, such as charity, which is designed more to improve the person’s image as opposed to helping a worthy cause (besides, it’s a handy tax write-off). Another earmark of the successful person is his/her infatuation with toys. They have to have the most expensive car, the largest boat, or their house has to be wired with the latest technological gizmos. All of this is aimed at projecting a certain “”winning”" image to impress others. It’s one thing not to be apologetic for your success, quite another to flaunt it like P.T. Barnum.

Now for the big question: Do you have the strength and temerety to be a success? Just remember, you have to look at yourself in the mirror every day. Frankly, most of us do not have the intestinal fortitude for it, and quite often our moral convictions prohibit us from acting accordingly.

Please understand, I do not present this thesis to be insulting, cynical or even humorous, but to consider the subject very objectively. We certainly do not like to believe these attributes for success are valid, but are they? The idea of someone working their way from the mailroom to the boardroom in this day and age is simply a ludicrous fantasy. It requires taking some rather unscrupulous tactics in order to succeed.

But interestingly, the masses are enamored with successful people, even in the face of some of their practices. For example, on one hand we are appalled by executives who are generously rewarded with hefty bonuses even if the company is floundering, but on the other hand we envy their success.

There is only one drawback to being a success, it is very lonely as you have no true friends to confide in. In fact, you are closer to your attorneys and accountants than you are to your friends and neighbors. Nonetheless, you trust nobody but yourself. But if you have supreme confidence in yourself this may be a small price to pay.

I guess the point of all of this is that there is nothing fair in business, a message I often convey to young people entering the work force. If you want something, you are going to have to earn it, which will inevitably require you to compromise your principles.

A lot of people confuse the quirky mannerisms described herein as “”entrepreneurial”" or mistake them as signs of brilliance. In reality, it is nothing more than a charade. To paraphrase an old expression, “”You don’t have to be a brain to be a success, just an ass****.”"

Tim Bryce is a writer and management consultant located in Palm Harbor, Florida. You can find his work on the Internet, click here

Copyright © 2007 Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

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Tags: personal, ethics, code, professional, social

“Ethics is defined as being a set of principles of right conduct, and as a Rolfer the therapeutic relationship necessitates this structure as much as it is defined by it. Les Kertay, Advanced Rolfer, defines ethics as the principles of a therapeutic relationship. In this brief review I will discuss insight into how and why problems arise in the therapeutic relationship spoken to at the 2002 Rolf Institute Annual Meeting, and give general principles/guidelines into begging the question “”What is Rolfing?”"

The basic assumption with Rolfing is that complaints stem from a failure of the therapeutic relationship or ethics. “”What to do about what is”", is the Rolfers ontological resource that should be used when engaging a past, current, or future client. It appears to be as much a philosophy as it is a psychology, a complete lifestyle, which in and of itself begs the question “”What is Rolfing?”" All health care relations are therapeutic relations and the phenomena known, as Transference/Counter transference that exists between a Rolfer and his clients is palpable, in all meetings. The nature of the work will magnetize expectations of fix-it sessions and or desires to process emotions through the sessions, this is where it can start to get sticky. The Rolfer is always responsible for the framework of the relationship that always includes Transference/Counter transference so the boundaries and framework should begin with an Informed Consent form. This will always serve as a resource when dealing with unrecognized/unexpressed expectations of a client, a misunderstanding. NEVER HAVE SEX WITH A CLIENT. Do not make exceptions; if you do you have just changed the context of the relationship! Do not do anything with a client that you cannot discuss openly and comfortably. Remember that clients may be seeking boundaries by testing them.

Problem clients can include those involved with workman’s compensation or car accidents, which means an attorney is involved or soon will be so keep no secrets and give no guarantees. It is always best to be yourself in dealing with clients because you never know when you could be ordered to testify under oath or end the relationship. Make rules, don’t break them. Never say, Rolfing can “”do”" anything, especially about pain, do not create expectations. It is also wise to separate the intake interview and the first session to give both parties time to gauge the potential or lack thereof. Some clients will jump around from every Rolfer in town so as to navigate control of the therapeutic relations. Don’t get caught in the Victim Triangle.

“”What is Rolfing?”" Rolfing is an inquiry to the optimal functioning of the human being, so learn to tolerate ambiguity. It is a science, an art, a philosophy and psychology. It is action and non-action. It requires the practitioner to immerse him or herself in it completely, to merge with it. Honor the process by being completely unattached to expectations. Rolfing is the optimal functioning of the therapeutic relationship; so don’t offer what the client doesn’t want. Don’t get caught in the trap of “”trying”" to legitimize Rolfing as if it needed recognition. This does not need recognition, it facilitates resource and points to a potential of higher order that does, and this is the manifestation of health in the context of the therapeutic relationship. Rolfing is always changing and adapting to the way of the human being. This, applied appropriately, is ethics at it’s best.

In 2002 Les Kertay spoke at the annual meeting about ethics and therapeutic relationships and it was my intent to communicate the content within the context of Rolfing as he did. Ethics are the principles of the therapeutic relationship and Rolfing is our gift as somatic therapist to engage life fully.

The Certified Rolfing Ten Series has the potential to reduce pain and release tension in the connective and myofascial tissue of the body associated with TMJ, CTS, RLS, Fibromyalgia, Sciatica, Fascitis, Bunions, Scoliosis, and Cerebral Palsy. Fascial asymmetries can cause foot, leg, knee, hip, back, shoulder, neck, arm, hand, and head pain; integration therapy is necessary. Orthopedic, Chiropractic, Physical, and Massage Therapist recognize Rolfing and Rolf Movement as premium pain management utilizing Structural, Functional, and Postural Integration. Before and after photos of some of my clients proven results available only on my website.

John Barton, Certified Rolfer & Rolfing Fort Worth, Texas/Dallas, TX

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Tags: ethics, business, corporate, code, training

“Americans and Canadians may share the same continent, but they have differences (as well as similarities) in behavior and etiquette. Here we take a look at the how to deal business in Canada.

They value individualism – Just like any English-speaking citizen, including American, Canadians value individualism highly. For them, success is measured by personal achievement.

They are open about everything except themselves – Canadians are open to discussions about anything. However, they tend to hold their personal privacy off limits to all except for relatives and close friends.

Ethnocentrism is high – A lot of Canadians think highly of their own culture, and every other culture-including that of Americans-are judged according to their perspective. This belief of considering their owns culture as superior to other cultures reflects best in the French province of Quebec.

Plan for a very cold climate – Stuff your travel bags with a lot of fall and winter clothing especially during wintertime when the country is at its coldest. Remember, even its summers are cold.

Dress conservatively – Men should wear a dark conservative business suit with tie, especially if you are dealing business in an urban setting. Your business wardrobe should be based on classic likes such as suits with a traditional lapel width, in colors of either navy, gray, or black, and shirts in white and light blue. Meanwhile, women should wear a conservative business suit or dress, using classic lines and colors in mind. Avoid wearing anything “”trendy”" on a business meeting. If you are dealing business in a rural area, be a little less formal yet sticking to the conservative side.

Dress casually outside the boardroom – If you are not working, or still dealing business during an outdoor activity like playing golf, casual wear works best. The weather and activity will dictate what you would be wearing.

Be careful when doing the “”V”" sign – A “”V for Victory”" hand signal is considered an insult in Canada if your palm is facing yourself. Do this sign with your palm facing away.

Dates are written differently – Americans are used to writing dates in a “”month-day-year”" format, while Canadians write their dates in a “”day-month-year”" manner. For instance, today is 25 August 2007 (spoken as either “”twenty-five August”" or “”twenty-fifth of August”").

Do not eat while walking in public – As much as some of us may be used to the concept of “”street food,”" Canadians prefer taking their snacks in a cafe or a restaurant.

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Tags: business, ethics, code, society, article

How do small business owners deal with the real world situation when employees suddenly up and quit their posts? It frequently happens with little or no explanation. This can be troublesome to employers, because a great deal of time and expense goes into hiring and training staff. Fortunately, this can be handled through investigative technique and a willingness to communicate in a supportive way with an employee.

In every business organization, no matter the size, it is immensely beneficial to have a designated ethics officer. It is this person’s responsibly to handle communication breakdowns and unethical conduct. When an employee gives notice that they are intending to quit their job, it would be up to the ethics office to investigate why they are quitting and take measures to attempt to resolve any issues surrounding that decision. Often, once the issues are resolved, the employee determines not to quit after all and goes on to contribute a high rate of productivity to the company.

Ethics officers have been trained in the knowledge that:

- People are basically good.

- A staff member will attempt to protect a benefactor (small business owner) from damage caused by unethical behavior.

- A staff member will eventually quit his post if he is the perpetrator of the unethical conduct.

For example, if an employee has been going home every Friday at clock out time with a box full of paper clips, pens and other office sundries that belong to the company with a justification of any sort for doing so, he is a perfect candidate for quitting the company. Because an employee is basically good and ultimately does not wish to hurt his benefactor, he would rather quit the company than continue to steal from it. The ethics division, in gathering data for a case, would take steps to determine what unethical conduct the employee had undertaken. If it was revealed as having happened, then the ethics officer would further investigate to discover reasons for the employee’s conduct in the first place. In handling and resolving the unethical conduct, the ethics officer would have the employee list:

- Details of the act his or her unethical behavior.

- Exact time and location of the act.

- The effect those actions had on other employees, departments and all else involved.

The ethics officer would proceed then to discover any communication breaks that had affected the employee’s state of well being and productivity. The officer would seek to understand if the employee:

- Understood company policy that affected his or her post.

- Had thorough understanding of the requirements of his or her post.

- Had been correctly handed off the responsibility for handling his or her post.

- Knew the company system for communicating with other posts and departments.

In any area where the employee lacked information or understanding, he would promptly be trained and upgraded. Following this basic system of handling ethics has proven to be effective for small business owners in reducing employee attrition rates. As an aside – when an employee requests an unscheduled raise in pay, make your decision based on their current pay rate compared with their productivity. If they don’t meet the productivity requirements for the raise they are requesting, take the time to help them determine how they can increase their productivity to warrant the additional pay.

Robbi Gunter is a staff writer for Strong Business Credit, a free educational web resource for small business owners and businesses seeking to obtain business financing and credit cards.

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Tags: business, ethics, corporate, training, code

“Any corporate social responsibility strategy (CSR) must be fully integrated with the organisation’s brand management and commercial strategy. This means that the CSR strategy must support the underlying commercial requirements for the business and deliver to its customers or the ultimate consumer safe goods, products and services that are fit for purpose and deliver optimum quality, optimum price and the expected level of customer service. Internal and external stakeholders are increasingly becoming more concerned about the way an organisation delivers its commercial and marketing strategy especially how it balances the economic, social and environmental aims and objectives within this strategy. Ethical objectives that need to be embedded within the CSR element of organisational strategy include:

- Service related issues – service design, management of customer care initiatives, quality assurance and sustainable sourcing and supplier approval, ethical trading protocols;

- Product related issues – product design, quality assurance, quality control, sustainable sourcing and supplier approval, ethical trading protocols;

- Operational issues – management of resources including raw materials, land, energy, water, control of waste produced as a result of activities, including disposal, packaging recycling strategies, management of logistics including transportation of goods and product distribution strategies;

- Colleague issues – development of social policy and practice including worker facilities, terms and conditions of employment, personal welfare, health and safety, training and development;

- Community issues – management of the organisation impact on the local, national or global community including environmental issues, such as noise, smell, visual impact, use of resources, production and disposal of waste;

- Brand and organisational risk management – management of legislative, commercial, operational and brand risks

Does your organisational strategy address all these areas or do you need to revisit your management of CSR?

Read more here.

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Tags: ethics, social, responsibility, code, work

“When visiting China, whether it’s for business, pleasure or for both, you will want to take the time to brush up on Chinese etiquette before you go. If you’re going to China for business, here are a few important facts about handing your business cards out to prospective clients and business associates.

• When handing someone your business card, make sure you’re handing it to them with both hands and be careful to face the writing toward the person you’re giving it to. Follow with “I’m pleased to meet you.”

• When receiving a business card do not place it in your pocket or purse immediately, this is considered very rude.

• If you know a couple months ahead of time you’re going to China, it’s a good idea to get your business cards printed in English on one side and Cantonese or Mandarin on the other.

• If seated at a conference table, place your business card in front of you on the table. This shows respect to all who are there.

• Use simplified Chinese characters for China and not classical characters from Hong Kong and Taiwan, there is a difference. Remember too that China is the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan is the Republic of China.

• Business gifts are always reciprocated, not to do so is bad etiquette.

When you take the time to learn a little something about the people of the country your visiting it will save you much embarrassment and keep you from offending someone. This is especially important when doing business with people from different countries. If your traveling for pleasure, you need to know how not to make those from different cultures uncomfortable, even when you think your doing something generous like giving a gift. Below are a few helpful tips about giving gifts to the Chinese.

• Chinese people are required to refuse a gift two or three times so be persistent but gentle. Also be sensitive to genuine refusals.

• Never ever give cash.

• Don’t be too cheap when choosing your gift. You will be seen as an “iron rooster,” i.e. getting a good gift from you is like getting a feather out of an iron rooster.

• If possible, give gifts in pairs since Chinese philosophy believes in balance.

• It’s proper to give gifts for celebrations, thanks for assistance given and even to soften up for future favors.

• Never give a gift for no reason, or “just because.” It’s considered offensive and in bad taste. A witness should be present also whenever giving gifts.

• When receiving a gift from the Chinese, do not open them unless they insist that you do so.

Shirley Tan is the owner of My Business Gifts (see here), known for their unique and superior quality business gifts at bargain prices was started in 2006 to offer high quality gifts for businesses and corporations at affordable prices.

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Tags: business, ethics, workplace, code, professional

“Before we even begin to discuss some of the general business practices in the United States, there are two key points in American culture that we need to understand. Individualism and egalitarianism are two important elements in American culture that have significant effects on their business etiquettes.

According to the research and studies of Geert Hofstede, a Professor of International Management at the University of Limburg at Maastricht, the Netherlands and a notable expert on business culture having done comprehensive studies on values in the workplace, the United States has a high level of individualism in its society.

This is the reason behind Americans show more self-reliant behaviors and, aside from themselves and close family members, tend to form loose bonds with other people. American culture emphasizes and practically awards those who take the initiative and those whose goals are towards personal achievements. Status and age doesn’t matter much and what is looked at are one’s personal achievements.

Meanwhile, egalitarianism or the concept of equality is important as well. Americans believe that they should be provided with equal rights, equal social obligations, and equal opportunities. Equality, however, is still based on individual achievements. Americans feel and believe that working hard and doing their best deserve success and better financial gains.

This concept of equality influences how Americans treat people that are richer, older, and authority figure. Americans generally don’t show much respect to people who are financially and/or socially higher in status. Professional titles are very seldom used and people prefer calling each other by their first names.

You’ll find that American business culture is very task centered. Americans are direct and will say “”no”" if they want to. It’s normal for them to criticize work, performance, or persons in public so don’t feel embarrassed if you find yourself in the receiving end.

Furthermore, punctuality is considered sacred in American business culture. People are expected to attend meetings and appointments on time and deadlines are expected to be met on the dot. Failure to do so is often frowned upon and is seen as highly disrespectful. Being punctual and meeting deadlines are further emphasized due to the “”time is money”" philosophy which is practiced by the general business community.

Americans are willing to work long hours and overtime due to their work ethic. Office/business hierarchy is also being practiced with stress being given on company organizational structure. However, because of individualism in American society and business culture, the working environment is highly competitive with emphasis on personal competence, professionalism, and individual accountability.

With regards to some business etiquettes, firm handshakes signal the start and end of business meetings. Show of sincerity and interest is shown by maintaining direct eye contact during the initial greeting and during important parts of a conversation. Exchanging business cards is viewed as an ordinary or casual activity and follows no formal rules.

When you do business in the US, it is important that one pays attention to guidelines and rules dictated by business policies, procedures, and laws. Be careful when giving gifts, since the practice is often discouraged by many companies since the gesture can easily by misinterpreted as a bribe.

Visit us to read more about this topic here

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Tags: business, ethics, code, society, article

“So you want high business ethics? Well, that may just be a pipe dream if the data from existing universities is confirmed through actual behaviors.

In 2005, Duke University released one report that revealed over 75% of high school students admitted to cheating. That number climbs to over 90% if copying by sharing homework is included.

An extensive article in the San Francisco Chronicle by Regan McMahon published on September 9, 2007 shows the depth of cheating and the potential impact to the business world within the secondary education world.

And the graduate world is also a mecca for cheating students. A report published in 2006 by the Academy of Management Learning and Education journal suggested that 56% of the MBA students admitted to cheating. These are potentially the future business leaders. Other reports released have suggested that soon to be lawyers and teachers also practice cheating on a consistent basis.

The American business economy has already experienced the affects of bad business ethics. When people point the finger at companies such as Enron and Arthur Anderson, the unethical behavior was not caused by the organization, but rather these individuals were already unethical. Again, the belief that everyone does it was probably not far from their conscious actions.

The excuses for cheating are many just like in the work place where business ethics are violated on a daily basis. However, what is interesting to note is that when everything is peeled away, the belief that everyone does it whether they do or do not is driving this cheating behavior.

This belief that everyone does it is not only regulated to business ethics, but human behavior in general. Children complain to parents well so and so can do it. Adults complain to other adults about so and so doing something.

To change business ethics demands that the beliefs driving the attitudes demonstrated through the behaviors must be identify. Ignoring these beliefs will only make the current situation worse.

Simply speaking, would you like to increase the overall performance of your organization? Then you may find the FREE Leadership Audit of interest here.

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Tags: ethics, business, corporate, code, training

“Are the business work ethics and values in your organization suffering? Would you like to improve these critical skills necessary for business success? Consider, then looking at the beliefs that are supporting these values and ethics.

Let’s get to the heart of the matter? What do you believe is keeping your employees from the bottom to the top or the top to the bottom from consistently demonstrating high business ethics?

First, let’s take care of some logistical issues so to speak. You must have a written values statement that is explained to all new employees when they hire in. This values statement must be demonstrated by everyone to everyone, both internal and external customers (employees and clients).

Your employees must be held accountable for their ethical behavior or lack thereof. There must no be any exceptions because exceptions only reaffirm the current internal belief systems of your employees. These belief systems started why back in school or within the family when so and so received special treatment.

Then and only then can you begin to address the real obstacle to changing business ethics – the foundational belief systems of everyone within your company. And, no, by belief systems I am not referring to spiritual or religious beliefs even though they may be part of this overall system. But, rather, belief systems are the mental schema from which we take action regarding current events.

Every human being has a foundational belief system. This system is comprised on 3 key elements: Knowledge, experience and emotions.

In the 1960’s a Swiss developmental psychologist by the name of Jean Piaget released his findings from a comprehensive study of his children in how they learned. Many so called other professional psychologists debunked his study because of the limited pool. Yet, Piaget revealed a lot about how we as humans make sense of what we are exposed to within what we call learning.

Human beings learn by matching new knowledge with existing experiences with the goal to make sense of it or learn it. If for some reason, the new knowledge does not make sense, the human being casts it off and learning was not successful. This is why some young people or adults get it while others do not.

Within our belief systems, we have learned knowledge and hopefully have grown through these experiences. Yet, without understanding the impact of emotions within this process, is where many miss the boat.

For example, how we felt about our experiences is very much ingrained within our memory. My father modeled reading and showed great emotion when sharing a favorite book or explaining something he learned. I became an avid reader for two reasons: His physical modeling of reading and the emotional joy from reading. Therefore, I embraced a belief reflected through an attitude demonstrated by my behaviors that reading was an incredibly good thing and had tremendous value.

My mother on the other hand did not enjoy reading. Consequently, my younger sister saw my mother’s behavior and to this day she is not a great reader because she truly does not enjoy it. Her belief is that reading is not as valuable as my belief. In neither case, no one is wrong or right, but the belief needs to be identify.

A recent survey released by PopCap Games demonstrates how beliefs affect business ethics. The results of this survey suggested that white collar executives believed it was OK to waste up to 1 hour per day playing video games while on the clock. Their reasons for several from needing some down time to just relaxing. However, their beliefs were telling them that is was Okay to take this time away from the company. Again, until you identify the beliefs, you will not change behaviors.

There are many more examples regarding the impact of belief systems on business ethics. People for the most part know what they need to do to get to where they want to go. However, until the beliefs which are reflected through attitudes are changed, your people will still not want to change. And it is this want to which ultimately drives business ethics.

P.S. And if you do not believe that beliefs are the key to changing behaviors, how many times in a day do you hear someone use the word believe or belief compared to know?

Would you like to increase the productivity of your employees? Then you may find the FREE Leadership Audit of interest here.

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Tags: business, ethics, corporate, code, managing

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

“Here is blatant hypocrisy, deception and carnal corruption. Have business ethics every been so raw and rancid as in this true scenario?

Having seen such a beautiful picture of a young pure powerful Church of Jesus Christ, suddenly the pendulum swings, and this is something we see often in The Bible. It is something we experience in everyday life too. Have you ever noticed that? Everything appears to be going so well and quite suddenly surprise confronts us.

The scene changes, in Acts Chapter 5, in the New Testament, where we read of another aspect of church life which is just as real.

We read of a husband and wife – Ananias and Sapphira. They sold a piece of property. Let’s say, just to get the feel of what was happening, that they got £200,000 for it. They talked it over, and deciding to bring £150,000 and present it to the leadership in The Church, but giving the impression they were offering the entire amount.

Have you ever been tempted to allow people to think you are giving and donating more than you really are? It may present a good impression for a brief moment, but you are kidding no-one.

One of the leaders, Peter, challenges Ananias when he comes with what might be regarded as a substantial offering, “”Why are you lying to the Holy Spirit? Why?

“”You were free to handle the money, weren’t you? Why have you behaved in this way? Whatever made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men – but to God.”"

Ananias dropped down dead. A great reverential fear came upon all who heard what had happened.
Sometimes it can be good to get a real fright. Sometimes it is good to be filled with a healthy fear.

Might this article make you give serious thought to your giving and donating – or perhaps to some other area in your business life?

About three hours later, his wife came into the Jerusalem Fellowship, not knowing what had happened. Peter asks Sapphira some questions. “”Tell me, is this the price you got for the property you sold? Was it £150,000?”" “”YES, that’s right. That’s what we got.”"

Is Peter giving her the opportunity to confess her sins, repent, sort things out and put right what was very wrong? There is no sense of Repentance or Confession, and she too dies.

If there was one thing, God was not going to permit in the Church at this time it was hypocrisy. If this had gone unchecked, it could have wrecked and ruined that young Church.

Hypocrisy wrecks The Church of Jesus Christ quickly, and where money is involved hypocrisy and deception can become dangerous.

Many years ago when I was travelling through Germany on a train a very wise man told me, as we discussed spiritual matters and money – “”Never touch the gold or the glory.”"

If God gives you money give away the surplus. If God uses you in any way, pass all the praise and glory on to Him – never bathe in any of it yourself. What precious advice.

I had been ministering at four Conferences and Preaching Engagements, and each group had given me travelling expenses and gifts of money – and to me, as a youngish preacher and teacher, all this had become a very real question and conundrum. I am so glad it did not become a problem. This wise man provided me with a wise answer, and I am glad I had the guts to put it into practice.

Their sin was that they wanted to be thought of as being as generous as Barnabas, who had given in a generous substantial manner, without paying the cost. There is a COST in PENTECOST.

Jesus Christ was so tender with adulteresses, but blasted hypocrites.

The signs and wonders continued in that young church, but the crowds of people joining evaporated and disappeared. People still came to faith in Jesus Christ, but it was a slightly different situation now.

There are ethical and moral principles here from which every business man could learn. These lessons could rescue a man from years of heartache and pain.

Sandy Shaw

Sandy Shaw is Pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship, Chaplain at Inverness Prison, and Nairn Academy, and serves on The Children’s Panel in Scotland, and has travelled extensively over these past years teaching, speaking, in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, making 12 visits to Israel conducting Tours and Pilgrimages, and most recently in Uganda and Kenya, ministering at Pastors and Leaders Seminars, in the poor areas surrounding Kampala, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.

He broadcasts regularly on WSHO radio out of New Orleans, and writes a weekly commentary at this site entitled “”Word from Scotland”" on various biblical themes, as well as a weekly newspaper column.

His M.A. and B.D. degrees are from The University of Edinburgh, and he continues to run and exercise regularly to maintain a level of physical fitness.

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Tags: individual, ethics, code, issues, business

“Organizational Behavior is a study which deals with group or individual dynamics between individuals in an organization. Learning and implementing this study in an organization will add credibility to the organization.

Organizational Behavior is a non-performance related set of practices which when implemented in organizations lend good credibility to the organization for its ethics. Imagine, an organization also gets the label of an ethical company along with the company already known for meeting the productivity expectations. It is this thought process that drives many business owners to experiment with the thought of implementing organizational behavior practices in their companies.

How can one implement Organizational Behavior practices in their company?

• Implementing and managing organizational behavior practices are almost the last steps for companies to consider for the practices. Enough thought and effort should be given on learning various theories related to Organizational Behavior.

• Business owners must understand Organizational Behavior deeply and also assimilate the fact that integrating organizational behavior practices in the company may cause resentment within the employees resulting in a possible dip in productivity.
• Business owners can tackle this in two ways -
  1. Research on the employees to find out their reactions to a perceptible policy change,
  2. Prepare a contingency plan which could deal with the possible dip in productivity levels.

  Though both the methods are highly recommended, the former is highly advocated as a very efficient approach to change management.

• Business owners could decide on implementing the organizational behavior practices in their companies after considering the strategic objectives of the company as well as the Operating model of the company. In most case, these practices are set in such a manner that they blend well with the Operating Model of the company.
• Remember, any efforts to integrate and implement organizational behavior practices in a company may be a failure if the business owner does not get the support of all the employees. Of course, the business owner may manage the implementation of organizational behavior practices in his company.

There are many theories for Organizational Behavior which act as valid inputs for companies or business owners to implement Organizational Behavior practices. You would have Theory X, Theory Y, Hiedelberg’s theory and more to choose from.

The best way of implementing organizational behavior practices is to present the problem statement before the employees and ask the employees to come up with behavioral changes which could help the company to achieve its business objectives.

Business owners could understand ways of implementing the practices effectively by reading sources of information provided by Robbins, Schermerhorn and many more.

Business owners must realize that organizational behavior practices are not desired to cause a dip in productivity. It is to ensure that the company is highly disciplined and ethical in its approach to work.

Ruth Campbell owns and operates Organizational Behavior site .

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Tags: ethics, business, corporate, code, training

Corruption in big business is a matter we are hearing about in a seriously increasing manner. Why do so many people think they can get off with it and get away with it? They obviously do not know that Almighty God says, Behold your sins will find you out. It is not just just that your sins will be found out. It is much more serious than that. You will be found out!

Thieves can be forgiven – even those who have stolen from God. Aren’t you glad?

Some people may not be aware that they can rob God. How is that done? There were those who actually asked God, “”How do we rob You?”" – and back came the answer, “”In tithes and offerings”".

Because God’s people were not giving a tenth of their income, plus offering offerings they brought the whole nation under a curse.

Giving a tenth of your income was the law at that particular time.

We are no longer under the law. We are free from the law when it comes to being right in the eyes of God, but surely that freedom does not mean we give less. We are now free to give more.

When Zacchaeus met Jesus Christ he realised he was a rogue. As a customs officer he had lined his own pocket. He had been a totally corrupt character, robbing God and robbing God’s people.

The transformation in Zacchaeus’ life is astonishing. Knowing he had been a cheat and a swindler, he had to put things right and make restitution. He told Jesus that he was going to give back to the people from whom he had stolen, four times what he had sinfully taken.

God says stealing is wrong.

Funds are misappropriated in various commercial and business undertakings – the United Nations ‘Oil for Food’ programme in Iraq being presently under scrutiny. Even charities occasionally discover people with their fingers in the till, and overseas aid money is mysteriously siphoned off.

There is little ‘love your neighbour’ when man behaves in such an abominable manner.

Corruption occurs because man is corrupt, and Jesus Christ comes to correct that consequence of The Fall.

We witnessed hasty undignified mass burials being broadcast on our news bulletins following the tsunami. Why were they necessary? To prevent the spread of disease.

The spiritual parallel is equally essential. When a man comes to faith in Jesus Christ he is a new creation. The old man should be buried. It is inappropriate, even offensive, to leave an unburied body lying around.

God teaches us that when we are baptised in water the old man is buried and we are then able to rise to live a new life.

New Testament believers regarded baptism as important and urgent, submitting themselves to God at the hands of men, as soon as they came to believe. That prison officer, and those in his home, who came to believe, did not even wait for dawn to break.

All God asks for is obedience. The condition is obedience in small things and great things, for the small things are as great as the great things. God usually presents the small matters before those matters which we might regard as great.

The man who is faithful in small matters is more likely to be found faithful in great matters. Those who are not reliable in little things are likely to be unreliable in big issues.

The size of the work or project is irrelevant. What matters is obedience, and when you obey you no longer evaluate what is trivial or important.

We are not good judges of what is small or big.

Jesus was baptised by John to fulfil all righteousness and He says, “”Follow me”". It is unwise to overlook what Jesus says.

Don’t dismiss some decisions as being unimportant. These might be key moments in God’s plan for you.

Sandy Shaw

Sandy Shaw is Pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship, Chaplain at Inverness Prison, and Nairn Academy, and serves on The Children’s Panel in Scotland, and has travelled extensively over these past years teaching, speaking, in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, making 12 visits to Israel conducting Tours and Pilgrimages, and most recently in Uganda and Kenya, ministering at Pastors and Leaders Seminars, in the poor areas surrounding Kampala, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.

He broadcasts regularly on WSHO radio out of New Orleans, and writes a weekly commentary at this site entitled “”Word from Scotland”" on various biblical themes, as well as a weekly newspaper column.

His M.A. and B.D. degrees are from The University of Edinburgh, and he continues to run and exercise regularly to maintain a level of physical fitness.

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Tags: personal, ethics, code, professional, social

“I called a guy I’ve known for about three years.

Along with his wife, he’s been to multiple parties at my house, and we’ve been very genial.

He’s a professional actor, which for me was a road only partially traveled, so I take some delight in hearing about his career, how he addresses its challenges, such as rejection, and the inevitable ups and downs.

And I suppose I’ve always told myself, “I can do what he does, any time I want.”
And some day, I may do that.
In the meantime, there are very few nexuses between his field and mine, though I perform by giving speeches and seminars, and I do a considerable number of appearances on TV.

Finally, the day came when I needed some advice from him pertaining to where I might take my media career.
I phoned him and he didn’t seem particularly busy.
What surprised me was how easily he dismissed the subject of my inquiry, and turned the tables.
He said, without a trace of regret or reluctance, “I can’t help you, but if there’s anything you can do for me, don’t hesitate to call!”

I was a little put off by that, but I scratched it up to “show business.” He could be one of those people you meet that are superficially friendly, providing you can help him, but if you can’t, the conversation’s over.

Then I got a call from a long-lost business associate from the rural Midwest, a salt-of-the-earth type and someone I remember as a good guy. After catching-up, I mentioned that his seminar sponsorship might come in handy one of these days when I get back to his neck of the woods, but he just demurred.

In nearly the next sentence, he told me he has some great new financial products to offer and I should discuss them with him.
I got off the phone and simply shook my head.
Whatever happened to the idea of reciprocity? One hand washes the other, right?
I’ve always been of the mind to believe, “If you want to get value, give value, in return,” especially in business.

This is a proven idea in friendship, i.e. Want a friend? Be a friend.
But this ethic of reciprocity could be changing.
If so, it’s very disappointing, and I believe, foolish, because Win-Lose relationships don’t last very long, no matter where we’re located, or what business we’re in.

You don’t have to keep an official score of favors received and returned, but it seems a lot more sensible than acting as if professional advancement is a one-way street.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is a top trainer, conference and convention speaker, and sales, service, and negotiation consultant. A frequent expert commentator on radio and TV, he is also the best-selling author of 12 books, more than a thousand articles. and several popular audio and video training programs. His seminars are sponsored internationally and he is a top-rated faculty member at more than 40 universities, including UC Berkeley and UCLA. Gary brings over two decades of sales, management and consulting experience to the table, with some of the best academic credentials in the speaking and training industry. A Ph.D. from the Annenberg School For Communication at USC, an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management, and a J.D. degree from Loyola Law School, his clients include several Fortune 1000 companies and successful family owned and operated firms.

Visit his website, and he can be seen here.

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Tags: personal, professional, ethics, code, social

During intermission at a women’s event recently, I was asked, “Why do hairstylists assume they can ask you such personal questions?” I thought to myself, personal boundaries are essential on both sides of the chair. My first reaction to the woman’s question, was to defend hairstylists. Inside, I also knew this was an honest, evocative, question, and there are a lot of assumptions made by people in the hairstyling industry, and a lot of unprofessional behavior that gives us all a bad name. I needed to take a closer look at what was being stirred up inside me.

I muttered, “Hm…interesting question.”

I have witnessed, and overheard, many hairstylists going for the jugular in their quest for knowing who sits in their chair. Some hairdresser’s inquiries–incessant,insatiable curiosities leave me to wonder, whether they are really thinking about the client’s experience. Did they get permission,unspoken perhaps, to be as personal? Or, did the trust develop through years of seeing one another? Or, were there alot of assumptions made right from the get go? I’m sure a little bit of everything goes on, but what gives us the right to do so? How does it all happen?

When a client sits in my chair there is a boundary line between us, and that line invisible as it may be, is there, and will move depending on who sits in my chair. A line can be found that winds back and forth on itself, building a wall as thin or as thick as anyone of us wants. It is up to each of us to determine what we want to reveal, what we want the time in the chair to look like. And, I know I am guilty of taking the session into a personal realm, of being too self-focused, or maybe even getting too personal,instead of talking about their hair. It always comes back to the hair.

So, how is it then, that this wall can seem imperceptible to us at times, as if there is no boundary? I certainly have experienced clients who have a hard time respecting my boundaries when they sit in my chair, it’s up to me to decide just where the boundary line is, although I find it delicate to establish at times. For example,I have a client who comes in every six weeks for a hair cut, and has for the last 20 years. Once every session, for the last five years, this very loyal client, has asked me, “When are you getting married?” She insists that I need to, and now even more so because my partner and I have a child together. Now, she is at least twenty years my senior and works as a therapist, a little hard to consider speaking up for myself.

“We’re talking about it.” I’ll say, hoping this will end the conversation. I can’t tell her, “Please don’t ask me that question anymore. Please don’t play the role of my mother. And please, don’t pretend to know what is right for me to do.” I love this client, and appreciate her greatly, and I wouldn’t consciously do anything to have her disappear. And yet, I suppose that is some of the fear, that I would lose my clientele if I set a boundary of that nature. “I don’t work that late,” is a boundary of another kind.

The boundary line gets muddled because we like people, and we want to be liked. We want to avoid hurting people, or being hurt, whenever possible. When a client sits in my chair, especially a new client, I follow their lead, I want them to feel comfortable. So I ask questions to get to know them, and remember the answers. I allow them to set the tone of the experience. Do they want to chat? Do they want quiet? I respect whatever it needs to be. I air on the side of being a listener. It’s about their hair after all. We build trust together and we respect the needs. of one another. If it is a new client and they divulge it all in the first visit, I’m left with, “Wait!” There was no time for the intimacy to be established, too much information, so I cut silently.

The normal rules of relationship apply here, even if I do have permission to touch a client’s head, and style their hair, does not mean I may assume they want anything but a haircut. Personal boundaries are essential on both sides the chair for things to work.

If you would like to know more, check out here

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Tags: ethics, business, training, corporate, code

Can there be any hope in promoting ethical behavior in the modern business culture? The public’s general skepticism of corporate ethics is understandable considering the track record of organizations in recent years of continued downsizing, outsourcing, scandals, increasing executive pay and decreasing employee benefits. “Many believe that executives are not being held accountable for bad management decisions and the pain they inflict on employees as a result(Trevino and Nelson, 2005, p. 3).

For there to be any hope of promoting ethics in a business culture, ethics training, policies, programs and finally, actions, must be deeply ingrained into a culture of an organization in order to be seen as more than half hearted public relations gimmicks that only provide lip service to ethical behavior while the real culture of an organization runs in the opposite direction. Ethics must become a primary function and responsibility of the modern leader in order to have real impact on organizations and teams. While these leaders still must protect and promote the healthy profits of their organization, they also must recognize “”that business has a responsibility to address certain social problems because of its unique abilities, and because a healthy social environment is a prerequisite for a healthy business environment (p. 7). Such a leader recognizes that by serving all of its stakeholders to the utmost of their ability, including their customers, employees, and community, that in the long run they will best bring a return on investment to their shareholders (p. 7).

“Ethics is a body of principles or standards of human conduct that govern the behavior of individuals and groups” (Bottorff, n.d., p.1). While ethical behavior is based on a set of values and principles, ethical behavior goes beyond mere belief; it also encompasses actions of individuals, groups and organizations (p. 2). For there to be ethical behavior in an organization, leaders must not only state a belief in a set of actions, their actions as a leader must be in alignment with those values and beliefs. The leader must work to establish clear business practices within the organization that reward and promote positive ethical behavior and promote the reasoning and consequences of ethics as strongly as they promote business results. In time all individuals and teams must be able to follow the ethical decision-making process involving; “moral awareness (recognizing the existence of an ethical dilemma), moral judgment (deciding what’s right), and ethical behavior (taking action to do the right thing) Trevino and Nelson, 2005, p. 15). They can only do this if an organizational culture has been developed that clearly defines its values and supports actions in alignment with those values. Because individuals may have different values and cognitive ability that influences their ability to recognize and act ethically, leaders must ensure that training, rewards, recognition and consequences are clearly defined in the organization in order to help individuals act accordingly.

A perfect example of such a leader is the story of Aaron Feuerstein, who was the owner and CEO of Malden Mills, the New England manufacturer of “climate control” materials like Polertec and Polarfleece (p. 38). Feuerstein was a business leader who had built his business based on Talmudic teachings and values that extended beyond his responsibilities to the shareholders, but also to the workers and community (Shafran, n.d., p. 1). When a fire destroyed the companies’ New England factories in 1995, Feurestein faced an ethical dilemma (moral awareness). While most other fabric manufactures were closing plants in the US in order to reduce manufacturing costs, he had maintained his factories in Maine. Now he faced a dilemma; would he rebuild in New England or re-establish his facilities overseas where construction and manufacturing costs would have been less. Feuerstein explained “that the ideas of his religious heritage had played the major role in his decision” (p. 1), (moral judgment). He stated in an interview with Parade Magazine in 1996 that “I have a responsibility to the worker; both blue-collar and white-collar…I have an equal responsibility to the community” (p.1). His final decision (ethical behavior), which was in alignment with his stated values, was to rebuild the plants and keep as many employees on the payroll until they opened operations again (p. 1).

All leaders must have the same moral courage to support and to make similar ethical decisions, even if they are on a much smaller scale. I lead the learning and development department for on of the world’s leading organizations for all of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The company attracted and maintained top talent in part based on one of its stated core values of developing people. Because of this core value and our international approach to development, the company had been recognized for several years as on the world’s top training organizations. I faced an ethical dilemma when the company, which was projecting loses in revenue in the coming years, decided to “downsize” and re-align the Leaning and Development Department. I saw this as a major departure from the company’s stated value of people development (moral judgment). I had to decide whether to abandon this key value and go forward in support of the re-alignment or leave the company. I decided (ethical behavior) that I would stay with the company for one more year in order to ensure all cuts and re-alignments were carried out in a manner that showed respect to the people who had dedicated themselves to people development and to help our clients finish their learning and development commitments. I then left the organization in order to start my own training business where I could contribute to the development of others.

The public’s trust in ethical business behavior can only be re-established by strong leadership of individual leaders within their own sphere of influence; great or small. Leaders must take strong actions to elevate the importance of ethical behavior based on clearly stated values that emphasize equal commitment to all stake holders equally. This may be a strong departure from traditional bottom line focus. Leaders and organizations would benefit from development and coaching from ethics trainers and coaches who can help leaders understand the steps to establish ethics within a team and/or organization.

References:

Bottorff, D. (n.d.). What is Ethics? Retrieved July 6, 2007 from a Website

Shafran, A., (n.d.). Aaron Feuerstein: Bankrupt and wealthy. Retrieved July 6, 2007 from a Website

Trevino, L., and Nelson, K., (2005). Corporate social responsibility and managerial ethics. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Since founding Magnify Leadership and Development, James has developed, facilitated and coached programs including; Change Leadership, Coaching, Communication Skills, Sustaining Learning, Interviewing Skills, Leadership, Territory Management for dozens of leading global organizations; including, Advantis Research and Consulting, IMS, CMOE, Pfizer, Sinclair, Disetronic Medical Systems, StratX, ASTD, Coventry Health Care, Wilson Learning, and many others. James is bilingual and can facilitate and coach in both English and Spanish.

Prior to founding Magnify Leadership and Development, James headed Pfizer’s Learning and Development for all of Europe, Canada, Africa and the Middle East where he was instrumental in the development of a global management curriculum and other training initiatives to enhance organizational effectiveness for over 30,00 employees.

Visit James website here to learn how we can you with your leadership and communication development needs.

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Tags: ethics, business, code, dilemma, issue

Along with his wife, he’s been to multiple parties at my house, and we’ve been very genial.

He’s a professional actor, which for me was a road only partially traveled, so I take some delight in hearing about his career, how he addresses its challenges, such as rejection, and the inevitable ups and downs.

And I suppose I’ve always told myself, “I can do what he does, any time I want.”
And some day, I may do that.
In the meantime, there are very few nexuses between his field and mine, though I perform by giving speeches and seminars, and I do a considerable number of appearances on TV.

Finally, the day came when I needed some advice from him pertaining to where I might take my media career.
I phoned him and he didn’t seem particularly busy.
What surprised me was how easily he dismissed the subject of my inquiry, and turned the tables.
He said, without a trace of regret or reluctance, “I can’t help you, but if there’s anything you can do for me, don’t hesitate to call!”

I was a little put off by that, but I scratched it up to “show business.” He could be one of those people you meet that are superficially friendly, providing you can help him, but if you can’t, the conversation’s over.

Then I got a call from a long-lost business associate from the rural Midwest, a salt-of-the-earth type and someone I remember as a good guy. After catching-up, I mentioned that his seminar sponsorship might come in handy one of these days when I get back to his neck of the woods, but he just demurred.

In nearly the next sentence, he told me he has some great new financial products to offer and I should discuss them with him.
I got off the phone and simply shook my head.
Whatever happened to the idea of reciprocity? One hand washes the other, right?
I’ve always been of the mind to believe, “If you want to get value, give value, in return,” especially in business.

This is a proven idea in friendship, i.e. Want a friend? Be a friend.
But this ethic of reciprocity could be changing.
If so, it’s very disappointing, and I believe, foolish, because Win-Lose relationships don’t last very long, no matter where we’re located, or what business we’re in.

You don’t have to keep an official score of favors received and returned, but it seems a lot more sensible than acting as if professional advancement is a one-way street.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is a top trainer, conference and convention speaker, and sales, service, and negotiation consultant. A frequent expert commentator on radio and TV, he is also the best-selling author of 12 books, more than a thousand articles. and several popular audio and video training programs. His seminars are sponsored internationally and he is a top-rated faculty member at more than 40 universities, including UC Berkeley and UCLA. Gary brings over two decades of sales, management and consulting experience to the table, with some of the best academic credentials in the speaking and training industry. A Ph.D. from the Annenberg School For Communication at USC, an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management, and a J.D. degree from Loyola Law School, his clients include several Fortune 1000 companies and successful family owned and operated firms.

Visit his website, and he can be seen here.

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Tags: personal, professional, ethics, code, social

“As a general proposition, you’ve all heard that the consumer residential real estate mortgage lending industry is cyclical. This is best illustrated by thinking of a old grand-father clock, with it’s pendulum swinging back and forth. It swings in one direction for a period of time, then it reverses itself. It is those reversals we have come to call ‘corrections.’ In the early stages of these reversals, the industry goes through a cleansing period, a sort of punishment phase. The length of each swing before the correction, is as a rule, roughly for the same time interval.

So there I was, in my late 20’s with 7 years under my belt in the biz operating a branch office, the recently implemented landmark Federal legislation – The Truth in Lending Act was only a couple of years old, and both Fannie & Freddie were both newborns, as I faced the first industry wide correction. Thankfully, I was employed at The Mother Company, which sheltered me from most of the negative impact of it (my employer then was a rather large, solid, and sizable financial organization). Shortly after Watergate, it came rolling in all across the Nation. As I recall it was because of serious troubles in the American Economy in the early ‘70’s. We had run-away inflation, and long gas lines, etc. Rates on conforming were 10% to 12% on 1st mortgages and 16% to 18% on seconds.

The industry wide punishment segment of this correction lasted a few years, and since I was shielded from it I don’t remember it being all that extensive. This one wasn’t our fault, the industry didn’t do it to itself. What developed as a result, was the seven decade old subprime industry left the confines of the consumer finance companies, and began to be noticed by the more conventional mortgage world. The reversed cycle that followed was generally good for the mortgage industry and lasted more than 10 full years. I was young and fairly green way back then, and my memory could be off a bit on some of the details, but that’s what I recollect.

Only a handful of years after the MBS market was created , the Government de-regulated the Savings & Loan industry (they were most of the secondary market/portfolio buyers for residential mortgage loan transactions during that period), in ‘87-88 there was a huge explosion! Countless S&L execs foolishly began to make loans that were not on local SFR’s as they had traditionally been doing utilizing depositor’s money, the previous four decades (at modest LTV’s). Instead they began to finance large investor/builder owned apartment complexes in far-flung areas they knew little about, made risky business loans, plus funding a great many non-real estate related type loans, such as lending collateralized by cattle and such! That’s what started the snow-ball. As these S&L’s failed one by one, ultimately FSLIC failed (the S&L equivalent of FDIC at that time). Although it was the de-regulation that was the core problem that time; many S&L execs were easily fooled by being in regions they were unaccustomed to, losses were astronomical, many S&L senor execs and owners were convicted of criminal activity.

A few of you veterans will remember many scandals, felony convictions, and jail sentences … Charles Keating of Lincoln Savings and others. Industry wide, nearly everyone got punished, many MI companies went under, as did a great many mortgage bankers and brokers who fell like dominos … but basically it wasn’t our fault, Government corruption and de-regulation were at the center, was my analysis at the time. Today with the Internet, I found this article which summarizes it from an historical viewpoint. With my own head down and bullets flying-by close overhead, it’s not as tidy as Google shows you. The Government’s RTC bail-out (you can Google Resolution Trust Corporation) saved even more people from being punished. This industry punishment segment lasted a couple of years as well. During this one, I operated a fairly sizable nationwide wholesale company, with a $4+ Million annual overhead ($0 of that was commissions BTW), so I remember this one like it was just last month. I frequently had nightmares and was often scared to death throughout this period. As a result, the mortgage asset backed securitization market grew like gang-busters after this. The reversed cycle that followed was generally not favorable for the mortgage industry, it lasted more almost 10 full years like the last one. What I’ve written is from my memory, it was ugly, I was there and that’s how I remember it!

Two years after I closed my former company, underwent two Cancer surgeries and was an independent consultant helping mortgage operators locally, came the next correction. This last one, came as a result of the Russian Ruble crisis in the Fall of ’98. Worldwide Capital markets got squeezed big time … some of you might remember Old Stone, Conti Mortgage, Southern Pacific, and many more names back from that era, who didn’t make it. This market ‘reversal’ was a quick one, the industry wide punishment was mild compared to last time; it wasn’t a long prolonged slow bleed-out like today. We didn’t do that one to ourselves either. As a result, there were more than 350,000 new originators that jumped into this business, due to the paradigm shift of big commissions being offered to originators (a notion previously unprecedented) by the few lender survivors plus the new ones that developed – since there were many unemployed people available due to lender failures, this was the largest single growth period in the history of our industry … they’re exiting now.

As the pendulum swung back, this reversed cycle which followed, was historically the biggest boom-time for the industry I had ever seen. Housing values soared, rates plunged to the lowest levels in more than a half century, and generally a good time was had by all for the remained of this short lived 7 year cycle.

Today as a Teacher/Mentor and the semi-retired Founder of www.secretuniversity.com I see, unlike the three previous ‘corrections’, this late 2005-2006 reversal has not been due to circumstances generally beyond our control, this one is due entirely to actions solely by industry insiders. Many of my peers and I have seen this one coming since early ’04 as it became apparent ‘the wheels were starting to come off the wagon.’ On the rise we saw originators working in their jammies with the bunny-slippers at home, broker/LO fraud starting to become a concern to wholesalers, wholesalers promoting irrational No Doc and Stated loans to low FICOs with high LTV’s, etc … The early symptoms began showing up in our newsletters, in late ’03 and well into ’04. An epidemic of greed prevailed nationwide for several years, with an industry flooded by unethical and unbelievably poorly educated, trained and supervised personnel who were our industry’s front-line, exploiting the public – a virtually frenzied wild-west gold-rush mentality. RESPA violations overwhelmed those that policed the industry, Wall Street greed incentivizing foolish wholesale lending program extreme offerings, that literally gave away money to borrowers, unethical behavior and greed fueled ramped fraud and abuse at all levels. By anyone’s definition, the industry did this one to itself. And, it’s going to be a long and slow bleed out, The reversed cycle that will follow, will by and large, not be complimentary for the mortgage industry.

Even if it’s as short lived as the last one, this pendulum swing should last at least another 5 years, while the industry punishment segment, should be generally over by next Summer, or Fall. There’s plenty of blame to go around. I do not believe the effect on the overall market will be as massive as the ‘87-88 collapse, but this one is gonna be close, and some in the know think even bigger!

As in the past, as the punishment portion ends, and this recovery ultimately begins, we’ll find many new and exciting organizations emerge from the wreckage of the retribution of this harsh reversal, and there will be countless innovative programs, products, and ways of doing presented. Even though scary as it is happening, this renewal of the business from time to time, gives us all hope, for a stronger and increasingly solid industry, that’s a critical and vibrant part of the American economy.

Article by Peter Cugno, Chairman & CEO of Secret! University, the educational division of Americas Money Center, Inc. with 40+ years experience in the subprime industry niche. Questions or comments may be directed online here.

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Tags: ethics, social, responsibility, code, work

The factors the influence a leader to develop an educational institutions code of conduct can come from two sources. Either the leader will instill the institutions educational code of conduct as a proactive measure to prevent unethical practices from happening in the future or there has been an ethical violation in the past and the institutions code of conduct needs to address those issues and put in place measures to prevent other unethical issues from arising. Either factor is imperative in maintaining an atmosphere where the staff of the educational institution contributes to the ethical and moral conduct while maintaining professional environment.

Ethical thinking needs to be instilled in any organization, not just educational institutions. The leadership should not assume that a staff will follow the moral past just because they are teachers or administrators. Each individual has their own set of morals that may be different than the overall organizations. The educational leader must realize that even though the individual may be thinking that he or she is making an ethical decision, that decision may go against the code of the institution or the leader’s vision of where ethics should be placed within the organization. An individual’s view of ethics is not always parallel to the ethics of a school culture.

A good direction for the leader to create, modify, or reinstall an institutional code of conduct is to create a committee of staff that come from different grades, departments, or job descriptions. This team can use their collective beliefs to come up with norms and dictates that will guide the staff as a whole toward more ethical decisions. The code of conduct should be reviewed in a systematic approach to change the ethical dictates to meet the changing views of society and the school culture.

Don Rainwater has written many articles on educational and business ethics. To view his books and products please view http://www.dkrainwater.com

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Tags: ethical, mind, reality, code, business

Defined as “”beliefs about the characteristics, attributes, and behaviours of members of certain groups”", stereotyping is a process that we engage in at one time or other towards a group of people who do not conform to our way of life. We hold their “”weird”" practices and wholly different ideals, for instance, as reasons to justify our ugly and intolerant attitudes.

There are some people who stereotype a person by virtue of his physical attributes, or dress sense. And then proceed to over-generalize the entire community that said person belongs to – which is often negative to say the least.

Regardless, such behaviour – if left unchecked – inevitably becomes prejudice; and subsequently selective discrimination and xenophobia. Not only productivity and work relations in the workplace are adversely affected, but so is the organization’s reputation and credibility. Furthermore, its Competitive Advantage and Market Leadership are harmed as well.

Thus, as a Culturally Intelligent individual, we are able to adapt ourselves to a completely new cultural work environment and ethics quickly and easily. We also become tolerant of people who never, or refuse to adjust themselves accordingly. In other words, Culture Shock is not an issue that we have to cope with; as no effort is spared to facilitate a smooth transition to our new environment.

We do not expect people with prejudicial mindsets to reciprocate our actions. But we are clearly at an advantage as – besides learning each new experience encountered – we embrace it readily. That makes us the more flexible in our future dealings with more varied groups of people, as globalisation is here to stay.

Thus, it is crucial that we check ourselves when we are caught in situations that lead us to stereotype new people we meet – due to first impressions. It is inevitable, but keep in mind that we are in turn “”tarred with the same brush”" by these same people, if not broadly.

Ange Teo is the Founder of e2m expat etiquette mentoring, a Singapore-based Cross-Cultural Communications Solutions Provider.

She has worked with some of the world’s leading multinational companies and Singapore-based small medium enterprises for over 20 years. Thus, Ange Teo has a good understanding on the intricacies of Intercultural work relations. Besides her intense belief in the importance of Cross-Cultural competency – a critical aspect of an organization’s global competitive advantage.

For more information about e2m Cultural Intelligence [CQ]-focused Communications Solutions, please visit e2m expat etiquette mentoring. An Interculturalist’s perspective on Life, the Cosmoverse and Everything: the blue marble we live in

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Tags: ethical, company, organisation, training, code

I didn’t choose entrepreneurialism. It was thrust on me by unemployment. In a way, that was a good thing.

When I lost my job, I was mad — really mad — for a good long time. It’s natural, a part of the grieving process, I guess. The source of my anger was injustice; I felt that I had been let go out of political maneuvering and not out of any valid business logic. I’m still pretty sure that was the case, but I’ve moved on. One very important lesson learned out of that experience is that it’s just awful business practice to treat people as expendable, but that’s only one tiny part of business ethics. Since going into business for myself, I have followed the Golden Rule with much success: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Whether you’re dealing with a client or a vendor, this rule applies. Do right by people, and they will do right by you. Your business will grow as a result. Below are some simple practices that have put money in my pocket. They may work for you.

* Give the people what they want. It’s not about you. It’s about them. A lot of times we get wedded to our way of doing things, and we forget that our purpose in business is to provide people with what they want. You don’t need to build a better mousetrap. Just build the one they want.
* The customer is king. You may have a client who is a pain in the neck. You may be tempted to let them take their business elsewhere. I would advise strongly against this. Serve them up a smile as you accede to their unreasonable demands. You will be surprised how the most demanding people can end up being very nice if you just give them a chance. Plus, they have friends and the best advertising is word-of-mouth.
* Honesty is always the best policy. One time I got a little behind on payments to a vendor. Rather than jerk them around or dodge their calls, I simply said, “Look, my cash flow is a little tight. I can give you $x today $y next week and $z the week after that. Is that OK?” Yeah, it was OK. It works in sales, too. Divulging some of the potential pitfalls of a product or service can often lead to an up-sell, and it definitely enhances your prospect’s trust in you. You don’t have to divulge your trade secrets or anything, but deal with people on a straight-up basis.
* Don’t do anything that you wouldn’t want your grandmother to find out about. If your grandmother has passed, honor her memory and imagine her looking down on you from heaven approvingly. This is the ultimate litmus test for me when I find myself asking, “Would it be right for me to…?”

I know they teach college classes on this stuff. But the above has worked pretty well for me so far. Remember that your greatest asset is your reputation. It takes years to build a good reputation and one stupid second to ruin one. Be good, and you’ll do well in business.

Good luck!

If you’re unemployed and looking to start a business, check out one of my ventures. It’s in the resource Box. Join the site. It’s going to be a great community!

Survive Unemployment

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Chuck Linart – EzineArticles Expert Author

Tags: code, ethics, ethical, business, rules

Have you ever thought what makes one manager better than another? It might start with his or her credibility. Good values give leaders credibility. Today’s politicians argue about God’s political affiliation. Politicians promote values like they were Nike shoes. As a result, Americans are now cynical their leaders.

Let’s examine this matter closer. In 1998, President Clinton was caught in a vicious sex scandal. Clearly, it was a national disgrace. There was a circle of low character issues, including adultery, lies, and betrayal. His opponents gleamed at the possible political advantages. However, the results were different than expected.

A character train wreck pursued. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich resigned, and his replacement Bob Livingston resigned after his adulterous scandal. As a result of these personal shames among politicians, voices grew quieter about these unethical deeds. No one was discussing good family values during this scandalous timeframe. However, people want to think highly about their leaders. Leadership gurus Kouzer and Posner explain that most individuals admire leaders who are honest, inspiring, and competent.

I wonder why these powerful people don’t get it. Why do some politicians feel they can short circuit good character in their offices? People do care about character. Clearly, effective leaders need to understand that character does count and is valued among followers. Therefore, more politicians need to listen closer.

References:
BBC.co.uk (1998). Received on October 5, 2006,

Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. (2003). Credibility. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

© 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. He is a columnist, lecturer, professor, and management consultant. Mr. Green has a BS in engineering and a MA in organizational management. Currently, he is a doctoral candidate in strategic leadership.

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Tags: article, business, code, ethical, issues