“Years ago, people in the workplace had a much clearer picture of business ethics and having personal integrity within the workplace. Today, given a recent survey just released by PopCap Games, this traditional definition has been lost and probably forever.

Did you know that 10% of your white collar workers waste their work time playing video games anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour each day? For the average American worker being compensated at $30,000 who is playing video games on company time is costing the bottom line anywhere from $375 to $3750.

For years people complained about smoker’s in the office wasting time and affecting other employees’ productivity. Yet, many of these same complainers see nothing wrong with engaging in activities that are not within their job description. Being someone who was educated to have high work ethics, this behavior is frankly astounding not to mention arrogant and entirely disrespectful.

How can any company function when employees believe that they are entitled to playing a video game to take the edge off their day? Of course, I am sure that these employees including top level executives do not believe that they are costing the company anything. Given the culture of the times, the employees’ beliefs that companies have endless bank accounts and what the heck it is only 15 minutes seem to take over good common sense.

Simply speaking, when employees play video games on company time unless of course they are video game programmers, they are demonstrating extremely poor work ethics and a total lack of personal and professional integrity. There are no excuses for not delivering an hour of work for an hour of pay.

With a shrinking workforce and an expanding economy, business owners will continually face this challenge of poor work ethics or what I called attitudes toward performance. Take the time to review your values statements and create the necessary policies to ensure that your employees play those video games on their own time.

Simply speaking, leaders are readers. If you enjoyed this article, you may find the Leadership Audit of interest here.

Visit me, Leanne Hoagland-Smith, The Chief People Officer for people and organizations or want to improve results here to explore everything from how my solutions double results to articles and resources including the Simply Speaking series.

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Tags: business, ethics, training, course, ethical

Many people wonder if business ethics is just a buzzword that has been tossed around lately, due to some of the aggressive tactics we have seen them as we enter the 21st century. I assure you, it is here to stay. What needs to be done is for more people to brush up on their ethics, as they relate to business, to make sure they always operate with a high standard of moral conduct. In this article, I will discuss with you why this is important to help you with your business.

Business ethics training comes in two forms — one for the employer and one for the employee. For the employer, a good sense of what type of ethics are required as a business owner is needed, because the owner is the one who makes all the final decisions. They need to be a good leader and a representative of somebody who has strong moral and ethical ideology, if they are going to expect the same from their employees.

For the employee, business ethics training is even more important. Especially for somebody who is new on the job. If you start early, and instill a good sense of ethical conduct within your employees, or as an employee cultivate these ethics within yourself, then you can be assured of working in a company that will not fall prey to deceptive practices and fraudulent processes.

It is important that you take the time to develop your own sound business ideology, as it relates to ethics. You must consider what is acceptable, and what is not, as far as practices are concerned. On your own, you can only do so much. But, if you consult with professionals to help you design your own code of ethics, you will be that much better off.

Consider the facts — every day there are certain ethical codes in business that are being violated, even by people who otherwise have been upright and outstanding citizens. How does this happen? How can a three to seemingly honest person one day do something stupid, and jeopardize the company, or even worse — get thrown in jail?

It was because they did not have a well developed ethical business code, which you can receive with the proper training. So consider this type of training a valuable resource, if you want to build a strong solid foundation and business environment.

Want to learn more about Business Ethics? Steven Ross has written many more fascinating articles here

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Tags: business, ethics, training, course, ethical

“Being an entrepreneur was never easy. Starting a business up from scratch is one of the most difficult and complex things to do. If anyone ever told you that it was easy, then that person is wrong. But now, a lot of would be entrepreneurs are looking at a much safer and hassle free option of buying an established business. The reasons for this are many. It reduces the hassles, the anguish and the pain by leaps and bounds, getting finance is easier etc. But buying a business is also an equally challenging task. If you go wrong, then very soon you will have made a huge financial mess. You need to ask a few questions to yourself to ascertain whether the business that you are about to buy is right for you.

You as the new owner

Besides the finance, there is a lot more at stake when you buy a new business. Your reputation for one, your ability to run the new business and your working capabilities are all at risk in starting a new venture. When you buy the new business, you need to understand that the focus of the business shifts completely upon you. You need to be qualified both technically as well as in terms of experience to run the business effectively. A business can be really stressful as you might have to deal with difficult employees, uncertainty, adversity and lastly, loss. The faster you are able to gauge your expertise, the easier it will become for you to determine whether the new business is right for you.

Background check

This is one of the most important steps in securing a good and strong business. You need to conduct a complete background check of the business that you are about to takeover. Does the business have a positive cash flow? Valuing the business is a part of this background check. A business valuation analyst will be able to help you determine the actual value of the company. The valuation of the analyst is based on experience and professional standards. The analyst does not take the financial details of the company into consideration.

Finding the right business

The Merger and Acquisition firm will help you to find the right business for you. These guys are intermediates or middlemen. They can be categorized into several categories based on the kind of business transactions that they can handle. For example, a broker can handle a business transaction for companies with sales under $5 million. The broker would nevertheless love to handle the transaction for a company with sales exceeding $20 million but neither do they have the competency nor the expertise to do the same. So when you seek the services of a M&A firm, make sure that you choose the right one based on their expertise.

Planning

A proper plan in place will let you complete the entire acquisition deal in no time at all. If you run an aggressive plan, then it should not take more than three months for the complete acquisition to go through. So sketch out the plan and execute it in proper order.

William King is the director of French Wholesalers & France Wholesale Suppliers Directory, Wholesale Trade Offers & Wholesalers Dropshipping Supplies & Products, and Dubai Property & UAE Property & Dubai Real Estate Properties. He has 18 years of experience in the marketing and trading industries and has been helping retailers and startups with their product sourcing, promotion, marketing and supply chain requirements.

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Tags: ethics, ethical, business, training, course

Not a day goes by that you don’t see one industry authority or another remarking on the ugly state the residential real estate mortgage lending industry is in. We see the reason(s) for this are the exotic loans, fraud, reckless underwriting, thinly capitalized lenders, wholesale funding sources consolidating or simply closing their doors, Congressional hearings being scheduled … it truly is a mess … and like the old saying goes, industry wide everybody has an opinion on WHY? Here’s mine:

Today’s LO’s & AE’s are commission salesmen at heart and that is the core problem. Back when I was a young broker, we were institutionally trained to help the public and do the right thing for them. Today, an originator is focused on making the almighty commission check. It puts their interests above that of the client. Most people don’t understand that commissions are actually a new payroll structure for LO’s and AE’s that first came into being nine years ago. Before that, these mortgage professionals were paid salary with small bonuses for achieving their production goals. Some industries focus on “closing sales,” but our business should focus on fixing the lives of customers; as a by product, we earn a living wage and maybe sometimes a handsome one – the pay is a by-product of the activity. After the subprime industry nearly collapsed in the Fall of 1998 and there were thousand of people unemployed, those weaken but still standing organizations (frightened to offer bigger salaries yet eager to pick up some good people, began this “commission” concept); once property values soared and rates plunged for several years following, those commissioned people had the surprising opportunity to earn big dollars – it was ‘easy money’ for many. This new business paradigm (commissions) went full force and has been at the core of the subsequently developing problems.

Once the hearings and etc. have all been completed, the Loan Officer & Broker force decreases significantly, and the lending consolidation and failures slow and all the blame’s been handed out – it will be time for industry leaders to determine how to fix this mess so it doesn’t happen again.

The remedy is to get back to what worked for decades before – remove the big gagging commissions from the ranks of the LO’s and AE’s. Paying the origination side of this business big commissions cannot help but attract the wrong type of individuals, and corrupt even the most honorable people. The commission approach tends to suggest that the origination force is, or should be, a SALES function, which is absolutely incorrect. The job description of AE’s and LO’s are actually a customer service type of position, not a sales/closer type of job for as far back as I can remember prior to the beginning of this last industry cycle. With this adjustment, the money saved by the owner operators will help to suitably capitalize their diluted ranks again.

The payroll structure I talk about here, is what my first employer did for the 45+ years before I started with them, and the way I did it in my own company for the next four decades. Since I was there as an employer for a long while, and have seen the effect, both before and after, this change to commissions, I have a perspective different than many.

As more owner operators revert back to this business model, there are any number of significant positive improvements which flow from it. The biggest one, is a more confident healthier attitude of the employer. And, since they already know getting a mortgage is the largest single financial transaction most Americans make in their entire life, they come to realize leaving such an important life changing event up to a “salesmen” LO who, just last week was selling used cars, etc. has been a momentous mistake. Actually showing up to a commercial office to work, will produce a better appearance/image both for their employees and the industry as a whole; no more mortgage ‘professionals’ working at home in their Jammies with the Bunny feet. One thing of course, is that since a ‘salary’ will be offered to new hires, employers are more sensible about who they hire/invest in, and the degree and intensity to which they’ll train them; consequently personnel quality becomes far superior and more productive then previously. This also results in no more ‘work at home loan officers’ because now they’re W-2ed employees who will work in the employer’s premise where their activities can be properly supervised and monitored. Formerly, being at home, they surely violated The GLB Act daily in many ways as well.

This change back to pre 1998 thinking will tend to create true mortgage professionals, like the public deserves, not some ‘closer’ looking for a STATED Eager Earner 100% Option Arm with a 4 point YSP with every applicant.

Article by Peter Samuel Cugno, Chairman & CEO of Secret! University, the educational division of Americas Money Center, Inc. with 40 years experience in the subprime industry niche. For more information, click here

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To build a successful organization, leaders need to understand the importance of group dynamics and team chemistry. In other words, members in organizations need to respect each other and get along. Yukl, the author of Leadership in Organizations, maintains that a high-exchange relationship contains high mutual influence. Clearly, good chemistry is vital in achieving any level of organizational excellence. Leaders need to build relationships with followers in a constructive manner.

King, author of The Moral Manager, explained that some academic scholars suggest that religious principles and values have a significant influence on value formation, development, and performance in an organization. While some philosophers such as Nielson argue the connection between God and morality as an ethic compass, other scholars, such as Lisa Sowle Cahill and Douglas Groothuis, suggest that ethic principles originate from religious and spiritual foundations.

In 21st century organizations, ethics become the glue to organizational cohesiveness and becomes a defining moment for good leadership. Ethics relates to the code of moral principles that governs the behavior of a person/group to what is right. Followers will not respect a leader low in integrity. Effective leaders understand how their behavior impacts group dynamics. A leader can’t trick them with promotions or bribe them with money and an unethical leader brings demise and shame of his organization. In the long run, character does count in an effective organization. Therefore, it can be shown that effective leaders understand group dynamics and promote good organizational chemistry with their integrity and good ethical conduct.

References:
CNN (2005). Reid: White House owes an explanation. Received on October 31, 2005 from website.

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

Draft, R. (1995). Organization Theory & Design. Congress gets low ratings on ethics, honesty.

Harris, J. (April 12, 2005). In recent scandals, a rethinking of capital’s conventional wisdom. Washington Post.

Heuser, B. (2005). The Ethics of Social Cohesion. Peabody Journal of Education. 80(4), pp.8-15.

Kern, C. (2003). Creating and Sustaining an Ethical Workplace Culture, Pepperdine University.

King, S. (2006). The Moral Manager. Public Integrity. 8(2), pp.113-133.

Lester, W. (2005). Associated Press. Congress gets low ratings on ethics, honesty.

Nelson, M. (1994). Why Americans hate Politics and Politicians. Virginia Quarterly Review. 70(4), p.636, 18p.
Yukl, G. (2002). Leadership in Organizations. Delhi, India: Pearson Education, Inc.

© 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 four books, including More than a Conqueror: Achieving Personal Fulfillment in Government Service. Do you want to improve your life? Do you want to make better decisions? If you answer “”yes,”" then go to the ‘master decision-making’ website

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The historical ethical school of thought has to do with how we can control our environment and everything in it. In this school of thought we are taught that nature’s bounties are there for us and we must be responsible for the upkeep and use of these resources. Human rights and the right to use these resources or covered, but the mismanagement of those rights and the harm of other human beings is considered unethical. Our government rules our country as do most governments throughout the world under a code of ethics or religious law. The morality of the society dictates the law and how things are considered it right or wrong.

From the beginnings of an autocratic rule, the ethics of even a sovereign ruler would dictate the ethics of the nation or community outside the religious realm. When you mix the religion of the society with the dictates of an absolute ruler, the mixture of the religion and the ethical mentality of that ruler will set the grounds from which that society will be judged. As governments turn into democracies and expand in bureaucratic growth, the ethics will change to meet the diversity of the society. As history, nature, and ethics, evolves so will the interpretations of those ethics evolve.

The historical schools of thoughts will change as technology changes the world. The basis of ethical thought on religious texts and societal norms is changed into an idea of what is right and wrong on the electronic realm of the Internet. As businesses develop electronically and people sell products that they do not even own or produce the direction of ethics will be dictated by the electronic world society more and governed less by the leaders of the countries of the physical world.

Don Rainwater has written many articles on ethics, education, and historical thought. To see his latest books and products visit this site

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Tags: ethics, training, course, ethical, business

An educational leader can encourage other leaders within the educational system to model ethical behavior by stating what ethical behavior needs to be modeled and then model the behavior for the leaders so that they may describe the ethical behavior to their subordinates and model it for them. It is a trickle down system that will allow the top educational leader to put forth the ethical decision in a format which all can be understand and modeled. If several ethical decisions are put into place, the organization will resemble one that has a normative culture that will allow an ethical culture to be present. If the principal of the school puts emphasis on ethical decisions and practices, the emphasis should be relayed and promoted within the staff of that educational institution.

For example if the principal wants to make the test taking and the reporting of scores more ethical, he or she would not want to put it in his own goals for certain criteria for state or nationwide assessments. Without the pressure to meet certain goals for these assessments the teachers will automatically not look toward ethical means to make themselves or their class look good. Though this sounds dubious, there are many teachers who will adjust their teaching and their scores to meet the goal criteria that has been set by the state. By teaching the mid-level leaders a technique of not setting a bar or standard for those test scores, the principal can be assured that the ethical decisions of their teachers are not streamlined toward reaching a retrieved or pull through unethical means.

Don Rainwater has written many articles on business and educational ethics. To view more of his thoughts, books, products, or websites please visit this site

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Tags: programs, ethics, ethical, training, course

Ethics? Translators don’t need to worry about ethics, do they? When most people think of ethics and professionals, they tend to focus on people like accountants, doctors, lawyers, or other high profile jobs. However, everyone that deals with other people in their business has the duty and responsibility to be ethical. Translators are no exception.

It is easy for people to point out unethical behavior in certain professions, but what about translators? It might not be as apparent. However, unethical activities do occur and it’s important to know what some of these are and ways to keep them from being a temptation to you.

Unethical behavior in the translation profession can take many forms. For example, translators are usually on deadlines with clients and it’s important to be truthful to your clients in terms of what you can accomplish in a given timeframe. If you come to terms with a client and agree to finish a job by a certain deadline, it is unethical to decide not to do that job or not finish it on time without informing the client. They usually have deadlines as well, and not respecting those is not only bad for business, but is also unethical.

Another major way that translators can be unethical is by not keeping their clients’ information confidential. Translators are privy to all sorts of information, and some of this information is private and confidential to the client that requested the translation. It is definitely unethical for a translator to disclose this information to anybody.

Another way that translators can be unethical is by purposely overcharging a client when a price has already been quoted. Many translators’ clients are first-time clients and might not know or understand how translators calculate their fees. Translators must not give into the temptation to overcharge a client when they know that the client is a little in the dark. Taking advantage of this ignorance is unethical. Earning a few more dollars off of a client is no way to increase your translation business, and in fact is the perfect way to ruin your translation career.

Ethical issues and situations can appear in any profession, and the translation profession is no exception. Translators should be aware of the ethical issues that can come up so that they know how to avoid them as well. Being ethical is a responsibility that every translator has.

Clint Tustison is a translator interested in helping other translators improve their businesses. Visit his website, this site is filled with information helpful to translators regarding the translation industry, and his free monthly newsletter, Translator Techniques, has tips and techniques for translators.

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Tags: ethics, training, courses, course, management

Not too long ago people didn’t talk about heart and soul in connection with business. It seems that when manufacturing shifted out of the home and into factories, compassion stayed home. I think, for example, of the culture of Massachusetts, USA. Business men kissed their wives and kids good-bye in the morning and went out to join the fray that was American business. They believed they could not be entirely ethical and succeed. They believed competition was a basic truth. Actually they were making it up, creating a competitive world with their belief in it. They believed in scarcity and fought scarcity and drew scarcity for the many and even for themselves.

The idea of keeping women and children at home did not apply to the lower classes. Businessmen believed others deserved the lot of laborers. This was an age before pensions. The common laborer worked until he died. Keeping in mind that Social Security and Public Assistance did not exist until 1935 (these came about because of the threat of revolt during The Great Depression), we get a picture of the grim world of the 1800s. I used to live near Lowell, Massachusetts. Sometimes I drove by the deserted brick buildings that had once been cotton mills. I thought of the women and children who had worked eighteen hour days and died of white lung disease from the cotton fibers that accumulated in their lungs, something that did not happen to weavers at home or in cooperatives.

So, if you are a mill owner, you know you are killing people and just to get through each day you have to believe these people don’t matter. Not an ethical place to be. They made compromises-and split the (upper class) family into two parts, the kind world of home and the unkind world of business. It was as if these men thought they could leave their souls at home in the care of the women and return at night to reclaim them.

This mind set lingered through the 1900s. In the 1980s M. Scott Peck offered workshops to businesses to help with communication and mutual respect among workers and bosses. As reported in his book A World Waiting to Be Born, Peck would only do the workshop if the bosses agreed to participate fully. Sometimes a president or vice president refused. Peck concluded that such a person “needed” power based on something other than mutual respect.

The world Peck envisioned is being born today with internet business models that keep the heart and soul. I listen to the Business Whisperer, Kendall Summerhawk, and Jeff Herring the article guy, to name just two out of many, and I know I’m listening to people whose heart and soul are fully integrated with their business. It’s about service and success, and we can all do it.

Article by Patricia Lapidus, author of the memoir SWEET POTATO SUPPERS: A Yankee Woman Finds Salvation in a Hippie Village. Patricia is a writer, editor, teacher, and an encourager. Up coming books include SWAMP WALKING WOMAN, a mythic fairy tale about women’s strength, and GIDEON’S RIVER, a novel dedicated to all who live with a temper, their own or someone else’s. Note: SWEET POTATO SUPPERS is due out soon in a second edition. This memoir is for those interested in communities, in spiritual hippies, and in the personal journey of discovery.

While I was raising my family and working full time, my explorations into how to create a better world were often limited to reading books. I read Thomas Moore, M. Scott Peck, Riane Eisler, Alice Miller, and Winona LaDuke, to name a few. From these I stored up wisdom for the future. Suddenly we are here in that future. I see dreams coming true.

See this site

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Tags: ethics, training, course, practice, behaviour

With today’s environment of 24/7 technology, less people doing more work, the demand for almost what appear to be instantaneous decisions, demonstrating daily high work ethics is a challenge for every business owner to employee. The question is how do you demonstrate your daily work ethics? These 7 steps should assist you to strengthen your own work ethics and provide greater self-satisfaction.

1. Assess your beliefs
2. This step is really several combined into one if you don’t have a purpose in life, values and vision statements. Define your beliefs as you carry out your purpose, vision and values. Are those beliefs consistent and in alignment with those statements? Look to your goals
3. Do you have written goals that you continually striving to achieve? Without goals, why would we work less alone be concerned about our work quality? Ask for feedback
4. Seeking feedback from mentors, peers as well as bosses helps us to know if we are on target. Sometimes due to our filters of experience what we see is not what others see. Hone your skills
5. Becoming the best at what you do is a good thing. Seeking continuous improvement will demonstrate that you are truly committed to a delivering a high level of work ethics. Determine your standards
6. What are the work standards that define your work ethics? Do you go along with others and settle for mediocrity or are you comfortable striving for more because you know you can do it. Model your beliefs through your behaviors
7. Are you daily behaviors demonstrating a high level of work ethics? If no one is looking, do you act the same way or do you change because it’s okay since no one is looking and can report my behaviors. Reflect each and every day
Before you fall asleep or head off for work, take a few minutes for reflection of today’s actions or what may be facing you during the next 8 hours. Ask yourself: Can I be better? If so, How? If not, Why?

If you truly want to stand out in the crowd and demonstrate your work ethics, then begin to realize that work ethics are yours to control. Worrying about others is usually out of your control. If you continually demonstrate a high level of work ethics, you know that you did the best that you could do and will sleep well tonight and every future night. Let others worry about those who chose not to engage in a high degree of work ethics. For it is to be, it is truly up to me.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith coaches small businesses to large organizations and high school students to entrepreneurs to double performance by closing the gap between today’s outcomes and tomorrow’s goals. Please visit this site and explore how she can help you from the free articles to the improvement tips.

Mention that you read this article and receive a complimentary 60 minute coaching session.

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Tags: ethics, training, corporate, course, counseling

My beloved intelligent husband can tell when he has given me an explanation that goes way beyond my level of understanding or what I want to know. My eyes start to glaze over, I look down at my toes and begin to ponder if I am ready for my next pedicure, I begin tapping my knees, and begin to scratch my head. He has a background in Electrical Engineering and I have a Masters Degree in the Applied Healing Arts. He likes to know how and why things work. I just want to know that they work and be amazed by the mystery of it all.

I like simple words and easy reads. One thing that I get a big kick out of is Mission Statements that go on with way too many sentences and “impressive” business vocabulary—the kind that you have to read over three times and you still go “huh?” The average adult American reading level is 8th to 9th grade. However, nearly 1 in 5 adults read at or below the 5th grade level; and nearly 2 out of 5 older Americans and minorities read at or below that level.(“Adult Literacy in America (NALS)” National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement (NCES 1993-275), April 2002). Perhaps that is why some of my best friends are monkeys.

My good friend Willie, a 10 lb. Wedge Capped Capuchin Monkey, adores me. When he sees me, he squeals with delight and reaches out for my hands. If he is eating, it doesn’t matter. He stops eating and squeals and drools with food in his mouth and everything. Nothing else matters when I am there. He looks at me with true love in his eyes and his entire body language says “take me, I’m yours!” ( Although I have caught the little devil red-handed on public TV exhibiting the same behavior to a gorgeous female reporter who came to do a segment on Frisky’s). Willie will make a slightly different high pitched stress squeal when Johnny, a Weeper Capuchin in the neighboring enclosure, is taunting him with something Willie can’t reach. Then there are sounds they make when they are hungry. “Much of primate communication consists of a variety of vocalizations and facial expressions. When a capuchin has lost sight of a companion, he or she may call out “Arahh-Arahh-Arahh” in an attempt to relocate the individual or its group. While feeding, “Uhm” is often heard throughout the entire session, especially when a particular food is enjoyed. Aggression is indicated by an open mouth threat while “Eh-Eh” is emitted. This is often heard while the monkey is lunging in a forward motion or slapping the ground and twitching the tail. A more pleasant sound is the low, quiet “Um-Um” or “groom” me vocalization which is heard in more rapid succession.” (The Primate Care Handbook, The Simian Society of America, p. 53).

In short, it doesn’t take long to understand the body language and sounds of the monkeys. Although studies are still being done on the complexity of non-human primate communication, we seem to understand each other with what we know now.

Human communication however, can be quite a bit more complicated (and that is even if we speak the same language). So much of business communication is now done through e-mails and conference calls. This totally eliminates being able to read facial expressions and body language. I personally do not like conference calls. They seem quite awkward to me. People often try to impress with business lingo such as “synergy”, “strategic fit” , and “gap analysis”. I was recently e-mailed a brilliant game to play while on a conference call. It’s called Bull Bingo. Developed by Theodore R. Marmor from the Yale School of Management, you simply listen for terms such as the ones above (and “result driven”, “ballpark”, “game plan”, etc.) that are on a Bingo Board instead of numbers. When you hear one of the terms being used, you cross off or mark the spot. When you get 5 in a row, you stand up and shout “Bull”! What fun! I can’t wait for my next conference call now (I don’t think I would ever REALLY do this?? But it could depend on whether or not I am drinking a glass of wine).

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to a book on tape called Why Business People Speak Like Idiots—A Bullfighters Guide, by Brian Fugere, Chelsea Harduway, and Jon Warshawsky. They make some points that had me laughing out loud, because I could see that I was guilty of using some of the lingo they were making fun of. For instance, instead of using a fancy sentence like “Let’s initiate an action plan” , why not say “Let’s get started.”
They define Jargon as “using big words to make small points OR using big words to make no point at all.
“Must we wear knee high rubber boots to work to wade through the bull? Kick the jargon habit. Make a point that is starkly clear.”

I’m off to Frisky’s Wildlife and Primate Sanctuary to see Willie. We understand each other.

Heather Wandell is a Certified Laughter Leader with the World Laughter Tour and is the CEO of her own company.

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Tags: ethics, training, course, business, practice

G. Richard Shell, author of Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People, identifies three primary schools of ethics in negotiation. To me, they are equally valuable in examining ethics in the context of business in general.

1. The Poker School – “It’s a Game”

To poker players, business is a game and anything that can be done to gain advantage within the rules of the game (generally speaking, the laws of the land), is fair and just. If you love negotiating “gambits” (lowballing, goodcop/bad cop, red herrings, nibbling, etc.), and sales “tactics” (101 effective closing techniques, 30 tricks to getting past the gatekeeper,etc.) you may well belong to this school.

2. The Idealist School – “Do the right thing, even if it hurts.”

To the idealist, there is no seperation between business in life. If you would not lie to your loved ones, you do not lie to your clients. If it’s OK to tell a “white lie” to protect the feelings of a friend or prevent a tragedy, it’s OK to tell a “white lie” to protect a corporate ally or prevent a business tragedy. While two idealists may differ in the specific set of rules they live by, they share the rigidity of doing what they believe to be “right”, even when it seems contrary to their business goals.

3. The Pragmatist School – “What goes around, comes around.”

The behaviour of a pragmatist may be inseperable from that of an idealist,but the motivation is different. While the idealist tells the truth and treats people fairly because it’s “the right thing to do”, the pragmatist tells the truth and treats people fairly because they believe it is the most effective way of getting things done. However, they will not hesitate to use deception as a necessary tool in pursuing their aims. Because pragmatists value their reputation (being seen to be honest), they will tend towards “misleading” statements over outright lies.

There are also combinations of these schools. “Pragmatic idealists” dothe right thing because of their ideals but are not above pushing the envelope of truth when the pressure is on and the chips are high; “pragmatic poker players” tend not to bluff in order to evolve their reputation as trustworthy, but will take advantage of that reputation when it really counts. “Idealistic poker players” are those among us who recognise business as a game, fully expect everyone around them to do their best to lie and cheat, but will only involve themselves in games they believe they can win by doing the “right” thing.

Possibly the most important thing to realise is that not everyone plays by your rules. Your being honest does not ensure others will be honest with you; similarly, your willingness to lie, cheat, and bend the rules does not mean the people you are doing with will do the same.

Here are a few things you can do to put these theories of business ethics into practice:

1. If you haven’t already, identify what “school” you belong to. Remember,your motivation is as important an indication of your ethics as your actions.

2. Identify at least one person that you know or have read about that seems to embody each of the three primary and three secondary schools of ethics. Once again, be aware that knowing someone’s actions without understanding their motivation will not necessarily reveal their ethical bent.

3. Discuss this tip with friends, and see what else you can discover that will enable you to be who you are while dealing ever-more effectively with others.

Have fun, learn heaps, and remember – a good poker player will inevitably tell you they’re an idealist!

Michael Neill is a licensed Master Trainer of NLP and has written over 450 articles on in the areas of business success, money, relationships, health, happiness, well-being, and spirituality. His weekly coaching column is reprinted in newspapers and magazines throughout the world, and can be found online Here

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Tags: training, course, programs, trainer, seminars

I have been guilty living my life as if there will always be tomorrow. One day, all of us will have to come face to face with death, but men are living their life as if they will live forever. Men are killing each other not just physically but with their words, with their scheming plan.

It is heart breaking to know how men are conducting their business or running their lives in this world. Like the recent scare of contamination found in the baby milk in China with melamine for the purpose of cheatingly increasing the level of protein in the milk which causes many babies to have complicated medical problems or the cheap paint that contains high lead which causes total recall for all toys manufactured in China.

Well it does not happen only in China, even in Indonesia, they uses the clothes dye to dye the white rice into red rice and sold it for higher price. In Singapore where they uses toxic pill for slimming products, and many more similar stories all around the world. Does these people think that they will live forever? One day they would have to face the gates of death and I am not too sure if they are ready for it.

Well, these are the extreme, which many of us thinks that we cannot be categorize into. However many of us are also living as if we will never die, on the lighter note, we overeat, we treat others like garbage, we cheated our spouses, we did not pay our laborer wages what is due to them, we cheat on taxes, we cheated others in business deals, and many more.

Do this exercise with me. One day your doctor give you a death sentence, you are strike with terminal disease, a cancer at its final stage. You are only given 3 months. What will be your priority in life?

What will you do in your family, in your business, in your life? Will you conduct your business in more ethical way? Will you write these priorities down? How will you treat your employees? I am as guilty as you for living my life as if I will never die. This exercise has cause me to change the way I conduct my business and my personal live. Yes there will be time that we forgot and return to living this way, which is why I am writing this article to remind me again and again that I will not live forever and I have a short and limited time only.

I hope this article will encourage you to do this exercise regularly and be thankful that we are not given those death sentences as some would have received it. As business community, we are given a burden which we should be proud of, we can do more in our lifetime and affect more people with the power that has been endowed upon you and me.

Lets conduct our business and not only our business, lets conduct our life as owner of businesses with ethics. Not only with ethics but with the purpose to achieve in this limited lifetime.

For Free One Stop Business Resourcess, visit Here

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Tags: ethics, ethical, business, training, course

In the business environment, there are number of different ethical and moral dilemmas that may arise. Typically, they tend to deal with interpersonal relationships, financial aspects as social obligations. In this article, I will give you some information on the different aspects of business ethics.

If you work in or on a business, it is important that you examine the ethical principles that govern your choices. This is especially true in the 21st century, where the marketplace has become more ethically focused. For example, many businesses are now feeling a social responsibility to cut back on their pollution in the environment. Of course, there are certain pollution walls they have to follow, but many of them believe it is ethical responsibility to do more than just what the law requires.

Business ethics start with determining what the exact purpose of the business or company is. For example, a corporation has an ethical duty to secure the maximum return to its shareholders. Therefore, one could conclude that it would be unethical for the company not to act in the interests of its stockholders, as it relates to giving them a higher return on investment.

At the same time, the business has a certain social responsibility. Again, this will depend upon what you feel your extent to society is, beyond just economic and capitalistic motives.

Also, there are ethical dilemmas which may arise between different companies. For example, there is a lot industrial espionage that is going on. This could be something as simple as technological surveillance or trying to learn other businesses trade secret. Isn’t this ethical?

One of the biggest aspects of business ethics is human resource management. This deals with the employer and employee relationship, and covers the rights and duties that the employer is obligated to extend to the employee, and vice versa. Here, they deal with discrimination, privacy, and fairness of the employment contract.

Within every business there are marketing ethics to be considered as well. While there is a certain amount of flexibility and manipulation that is allowed with marketing, especially as it relates to hyperbole, there needs to be an ethical line drawn somewhere. Also, you have to develop ethics on the accounting process, production, intellectual property, knowledge and skills.

In conclusion, I have discussed with you several different facets of business ethics in this article.

Want to learn more about Business Ethics? Steven Ross has written many more fascinating articles here

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Tags: business, ethics, training, course, ethical

Quite a bit of commentary as to the effects and affects of the related markets. I think that the answer to the question “”What happened?”" is a lot more simple than analysis of various economic indicators. Greed is what happened. That is the one word answer to which everything ultimately boils down. However, I know that I need to qualify that broad brush stroke with some evidence and specifics.

I am sure that one could argue that there are a number of facets involved in the so-called, collapse of the subprime market. As a brief aside, the subprime market has not in any way collapsed. However, there are several companies within the subprime arena that have indeed collapsed. At any rate, I think Paretto’s Principle applies here as it so often does in most situations. The fact is that at least 80% of the problem had to do with Greed, Irresponsibility, Lack of Ethics and Integrity and lack of Education and Training.

What happened? Loan officers around the country knowingly put borrowers in harm’s way. Loan officers helped scheme and package so called “”stated”" loans where income verification was waived allowing loan officers to inflate income on the application to keep the balance of debt to income (or DTI ratio as it is known in the business) within underwriting guidelines.

In plain English? Loan officers were involved in lying about how much money a borrower really made so they could be approved for a home loan. Reminder: A loan, that if the underwriters actually knew what the income was….would decline the loan! Here is the real problem, by the way. It’s not the poor lender, who ultimately was lied to….it is the borrower, who with the help of or
at the advice of…got a loan that greatly exceeded their ability to repay. They were doomed the minute they signed the application.

In many cases the loan officer knew that there was no way that this borrower or this family would ever really “”survive”" the loan…but hey, the borrower wanted it….so they got it! So integrity and ethics were
sacrificed for the commission from a loan that likely will be the stranglehold that chokes the life out of the family’s finances. In some instances the loan officer just didn’t know any better. That simply
attests to the lack of training so many in our business get. Can you imagine? It is estimated that as many as 78% of all of the loan officers in the business today, has less than 3 years experience!

This is not so much a Subprime issue as it is a “”Stated Loan”" issue. Certainly, the fact that these borrowers credit suggested that they already struggled financially (and that…by the way is really what bad
credit means for most people….that at some point, or currently, they struggle to pay all the bills on time…or at all.) certainly adds fuel to the fire. But it is important to distinguish what the problem really
was or is in order to avoid making the same mistake again…but furthermore not to tarnish the subprime borrower or lender for the wrong reasons. The problem lays much less with FICO score for most of these defaulting loans than it does with generous DTI (debt to income) guidelines or low or “”no-doc”" income or asset documentation. Some of these loans allowed for the stated DTI to be as high as 60 or 65%. This means that even if the income on the application was legit…and was not inflated (as so many were)….that 65% of the GROSS INCOME was being devoted to the housing payment!! If the income was indeed inflated then many of these loans were extended to people that were likely carrying debt to income ratios more like 70-80%. You do not have to be a Certified Financial Planner to know that you cannot possibly dedicate three quarters of your GROSS income to just your mortgage.

The fact that seems to be forgotten somewhere along the line is that the reason that there is an application in the first place is not to say “”yes”" but rather to say “”no”" when someone does not meet the guidelines that protect BOTH parties.

As experts it is responsibility of the loan officer to advise people what they can and cannot afford…NOT to simply be a conduit to approvals for debt hungry borrowers. Loan officers that can see the forest through the trees recognize that by helping their clients stay solvent in the long run they keep a client for life. For if they ultimately lose their home, they are of no use to that loan officer anymore.

The mortgage industry presents one of the most wonderful opportunities in the professional world today: An opportunity to serve, to help and to profit. For those who forgot about the first two, shall know what it is like to do without the third.

Born in Montreal Canada, raised in New Jersey and a graduate of Rutgers University, Stefan Lubinski is a nationally known trainer, speaker and consultant in the residential mortgage industry.

Prior to becoming a Professional Speaker Stefan’s diverse professional background included: Restaurant Management, Executive Recruiting, Corporate Sales & Marketing and Residential Real Estate Finance.

His unique combination of humor, “”hands-on”" industry knowledge, and ability to make complex ideas simple to understand put him in a class of his own!

Stefan is a proud member of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, the Association of Coaching and Consulting Professionals on the Web, and The National Speakers Association. He is also a certified Mortgage Planning Specialist.

Stefan lives with his wife Shelley and his son Carter (his four dogs and one horse) in Pleasanton, California. Although, most of the time, you will find him in the training rooms of some of the best companies across the country.

Visit his website here.

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