Years ago, when earning my Masters, I came across What to Do If You’re Riding a Dead Horse?”and put it into one of those save files. (The source was unknown.)

1. Buy a stronger whip.
2. Change riders.
3. Declare, “This is the way we have always ridden this horse.”
4. Appoint a team to revive the horse.
5. Ignore the dead horse. . . . What dead horse?
6. Create a training session to improve your riding skills.
7. Outsource contractors to ride the dead horse.
8. Appoint a committee to study the dead horse.
9. Arrange to visit other sites to see how they ride dead horses.
10. Harness several dead horses together for increased speed.

Native Americans simply answer this question with one word – dismount.

Yet, in business, when we are supposed to actively pursue all qualified prospects because of our commitment to our ethics and customer service, many times we, as sales professionals, business coaches and business owners, continue to ride dead horses. This behavior is very expensive because it wastes our time.

During the last several months, I have had to dismount numerous times even though doing so might be perceived as poor customer service. However, a professional and ethical business sales person should never ride a dead horse.

What continually surprises me is the number of people who call, leave their name, leave their phone, leave the purpose of their call and then when you call back within a couple of hours, they never return the call. For me, many of these calls are from realtors who say that they will get back to you in less than 24 hours. Maybe they should add the clause only if you are a potential prospect!

Then when you catch them doing your due diligence of making the contact, they ask you to call back at another time. You understand because everyone is busy and so you call back at the appointed time. Again, you leave another voice mail because they are not there.

The lack ethics is demonstrated by through this incredibly poor professionalism. When I tell someone I will be around to take a call, I am always available because I respect his or her time. Never do I “blow off” the call. If another call interferes with the anticipated call, I end the conversation as quickly, ethically and professionally as possible. If the caller left a voice mail, I immediately return the call before taking any other calls or appointments.

One hears adults talking about the poor work ethics of young people. I believe in some cases that these same adults need to look in the mirror at their own ethics and professionalism.

So take action right now and update your voice mail if you tell people that you return calls in 2, 4 or 24 hours. Your actions of not calling back are much more about your lack of ethics and poor professionalism than the person calling you.

Remembered, how you felt when people wasted your time by not returning you calls or taking your calls when they promised to be available. And more importantly, you never know what that person might say to someone else who just could be your next client.

Do you want to learn more about how to get to where you want to be? I have just completed a FREE 7 lesson on-line email course. Sign up here to begin to Build M.A.P. (My Action Plan) to Success.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. is a speaker and Indianapolis business coach & Chicago business coach who has written hundreds of articles with a focus on improving individual and organizational performance through excellence in leadership to executable strategic plans.

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Tags: workplace, ethics, business, training, professional

There are many different reasons business fail and much of it is debatable but there are some common mistakes that are detrimental in business failure.

Some of the reason many business fail are due to the following reasons:

• Overexpansion.

Many companies over expand too soon. They look at the books and see 3 months of good sales and profit and think right let’s get more staff. Then another 6 months down the line the profits have not followed suit which leaves you in a difficult situation. You need to stick with realistic goals and allow yourself to grow as needs dictate. And old saying ‘don’t not run before you can walk’ is relevant. You need to look at the statistics and watch for trends. If sales and profits looks good now it’s doesn’t necessarily mean it will look good tomorrow.

• Overspending and lack of reserve funds.

Overspending can have detrimental affects. You should only spend on what is necessary. Be realistic, just because you have good cash flow at the minute doesn’t mean you will have in the future. Ask yourself is purchasing this item really necessary, will it make a real difference or not. Look at all the costs of the business and if some are not necessary then drop them. Having money in the bank is important to carry you through market downtrends and seasonal slowness. You should always be prepared for fluctuations in business. You should always put money away in boom times to prepare for the slow times.

• Poor management

Poor management is one of the main reasons business fail. If you haven’t got happy customers and happy stuff your business is almost curtain to fail. Poor customer service, poor accounting and overall employee incompetence can all combine to collapse a business. You need to ensure your employees realise the importance of good customer service. Establish protocols for how tasks should be accomplished and ensure they are carried out. Many companies these days have a relaxed attitude and don’t place to much importance on carrying out basic good management practice. Having meetings regularly with all staff will help your business run smoothly. If no meetings take place then resentment can set in. Everyone needs to air their opinions and explain how their job could be done more efficiently.

• Poorly treated Staff

Labour is the biggest expense for most small business so it makes sense to ensure your company employs the right amount of people and treat them correctly. Companies that invest highly in their staff by offering training and advancement will find it easier to keep their staff. Ensure you pay your staff every month on time as not to do so would be breaching your contract with them. Invest in your staff; they are your biggest asset. If they feel they cannot advance in your business they will not stay long. Listening to your staff is important. If employees are leaving you need to be asking why. Treat your staff how you would expect to be treated and you will gain respect from them and get the best of out them.

• Poor or no business plan

Having a good business plan is your key to success. A well-thought-out business plan forces you to think about the future and the challenges you’ll face. As long as your forecasts are realistic and you have done plenty of market research you should be ok. Ensure your plan has a budget and stick to it.

• Dishonesty and Greed

Being dishonest will catch up with you eventually. Remember your ethics, try to treat your customers and staff as you would be expected to be treated. Don’t charge the earth for customers just because they look like they can afford it, this is exploitation and will come back and bite you on the bum. Greed is another aspect that kills businesses. You feel like you’re on a roll and feel invincible so you over charge people and promise them the earth. When you can’t deliver you will lose customers and eventually your reputation. Always be honest and ethical and you will reap the rewards.

There are other reasons business fail and I have only touched base on some. As long as you work hard, do plenty of research, treat staff and customers with respect, keep a tight control over your accounts and leave your ego at home you should be alright. Oh and most importantly use common sense. You would be surprised at how many business owners are egotistic, arrogant with no personnel skills and very little common sense, these business are bound to fail eventually.

Carolyn is the webmaster of Angel Startups, specialists startup funding, business grants and Business Advice.

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Tags: corporate, article, ethics, business, professional

Whether you want to buy a used phone as an upgrade to your existing account or simply replace a broken one, it is getting more and more difficult if you are provided service by Verizon. It seems that Verizon has taken steps that are not in the best interest of their customers, almost forcing them to buy brand new phones rather than reactivating used ones.

It is no doubt that cell phones are BIG business and it seems that Verizon might be making some attempts to make it even larger and more profitable for them. Keep in mind that when you “sign up” for service from one of the major carriers you usually sign a 2 year contract. Not too long ago it was only one year. You are also charged an early termination fee if you should happen to break that agreement. The new trend that seems to be employed, most notably by Verizon, is to retire your cell phone once your agreement is up and you choose to move on or upgrade.

So what does “retire” mean? How do you retire an old phone and why should anyone care? First of all, “retire” means disabling the ESN (electronic serial number) that identifies that phone. This means that once the phone has been disabled, it can no longer be re-activated. So again, you might ask, “What’s the big deal”? Well, the reasons are two fold.

1. First, and most importantly, that phone is your property. If you should decide to change carriers after your term is up or upgrade to a new phone, you should be able to do what you want with it. It is somewhat similar to your car. Once your payments are up, does the finance company deactivate the VIN thus rendering your automobile useless? Of course not. So how does a large carrier, like Verizon, get away with it? Technology changes so fast that the laws cannot keep up with it. Eventually, a young, new and energetic lawyer will initiate a class action lawsuit that will force the courts to examine the issue. That is similar to what is going on now regarding the early termination fees that the carriers charge for breaking contract. There is Governmental movement to ban the practice. But again, let’s not gloss over the ownership rights of the phone. You bought it, that gives you ownership. Ownership grants you the right to do what you want with the phone (within legal boundaries). To have a carrier render the ESN useless could be construed to be nothing less than stealing the phone from you. You are probably thinking, “Why would they do this? How could they benefit from this?” The answer is simple. Revenue. If you cannot reactivate a used Verizon cell phone and you have more time on your contract, then you must buy a brand new one. So the next time you drop your phone one too many times or get it wet and it doesn’t work anymore, the likelihood that you will be able to go online and buy a used Verizon cell phone will be slim to none. Get ready to shell out several hundred dollars for a “run-of-the-mill” cell phone. So now you own a useless phone which brings us to the second reason why you should care.

2. The second reason you should care centers around the environment. If you have 1 million Verizon cell phone users over the course of say five years have their cell phone ESN’s retired, then what do you think might happen to them? I would venture to say they would not end up at a recycling plant! I doubt anyone will take time out of their day and spend a fortune in gas to drive to a recycling plant to dispose of one or two phones; it just isn’t going to happen. They are more likely to find their way into your household garbage which will find its way into our landfills. The problem? Cell phones are highly toxic and enough of them could do serious and irreparable damage to the environment. It is irresponsible for a company of that magnitude to inadvertently encourage people to dump their useless cell phones into the environment, all in the name of the dollar!

That is the fundamental reason behind the creation of cell phone buyback companies, such as SellMyOldCellPhone.com, to help recycle used cell phones and keep them out of the landfills. So that when people broke their phones, they could purchase a lesser expensive alternative used cell phone. Some people simply want to upgrade, but before buying the new one, they want to try a used one first to see if they like it. When carriers render the ESN useless, they cannot do that. People are forced to buy brand new phones. Old useless cell phones end up in the garbage, polluting our environment.

What can you do about it? The best thing to do is just be aware of this. Knowledge is power and power enables people to make change.

1. First and foremost, when you call an agent on the phone or visit one at a local store, do not be surprised when the first thing they tell you is, “It can’t be activated.” Do not settle for that as an answer. Some agents simply do not know what they are doing. I have encountered that problem numerous times. Insist on another agent until you get one who can handle the problem or request to speak to a supervisor. The ones who may lack knowledge are followed by the ones who were trained to “sell, sell, sell.” You can’t make a commission if you don’t sell service, accessories, or a phone and a store cannot make money if they don’t sell service and phones.

2. Do not hesitate one minute to write a letter to the company threatening to cut off your service and go with another carrier. You might think, “Big deal, no one is going to listen to one letter,” but you would be surprised what happens when they start getting a stream of letters all threatening to cancel service. Sprint had the worst customer service record of all the carriers for several years recently and eventually culminated into a huge financial loss, thus forcing them to change their practices. They had what appeared to be the highest exit rate in their history. Also, don’t be afraid to follow through with your threat. They are a cell phone service provider, not a home or auto loan. There are no legal repercussions. Look for companies that do not engage in these practices. A lot of small, local cell phone carriers (like Pocket PC and Cricket) have these practices. They are month to month with no termination fees.

3. Finally, if you choose to sell your cell phone to a buyback company, such as SellMyOldCellPhone.com, let the carrier know that they must “release” the ESN for reactivation. All release means is that they remove your name from the phone and make it available for re-use. Do not settle for any excuses as to why that cannot be done. You are the customer and the phone is yours as long as you have met your obligations (which might be changing soon, regarding the termination fees).

We let these large companies dictate to us how the rules work, when in reality, without our money, they have no rules. We are all guilty of just accepting what we are told by these giants, but sometime we need to remind them who pays the bills!

Mr. Johnson has been the operations manager of a website for the past several years. He has noted a large increase in the number of Verizon phones that cannot be reactivated. A similar trend has been noted in the industry.

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Tags: legal, ethics, problems, rules, professional

Many of us work in industries where we interact with customers/the public on a regular basis. Though the kinds of jobs that fit under this description are very varied indeed, they are all the same in one important respect:

Ultimately, they are service jobs.

Now, if you have a pulse (and have had one consistently for at least a couple of decades) I probably don’t have to work very hard to convince you that there are many people in service positions that haven’t got the foggiest idea what good service is (or at least don’t seem to think it’s terribly important).

And I think that is very sad indeed.

I understand that some people (especially the young) may be in jobs that they dislike. But that’s no excuse to shortchange the customer on good, polite service.

It should be realized and remembered that:

1) Your actions or inactions in this position reflect directly on your employer. They gave you a job. They are paying you. And for this reason, for as long as you are working for them, they deserve to be represented well.

2) Your actions reflect directly on you, and determine who you are and how you develop. Don’t shortchange yourself. Be the best you can be. Respect yourself.

3) The people you are dealing with are…people. And that’s the only qualification they need to earn your respect and courtesy.

If you are in a job that truly makes you unhappy, you NEED to find a way to get out of it as soon as you can. But as long as you are there, and when you leave, serve others and yourself well.

Good luck in everything you do.

Cindy Jones is an Independent Insurance Adjuster. She publishes materials for people who want to get into Adjusting. You can find out more about her here

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Are you a small business owner, sales professional, C-Level executive or front line worker? What are your top major complaints as you travel the roads to greater business be it locally or globally?

Given how in touch we are between emails, voice mails and wireless connectivity, the most frequent and most frustrating complaint that I hear from business coaching or sales coaching clients, prospects and colleagues is the growing lack of professional courtesy. This complaint extends from business networking events to answering emails to actually returning phone calls. And even within my own business coaching training and consulting practice, I must agree that this is Complaint Number One.

Of course, most individuals engaged in business receive a lot of unsolicited contacts. However, the continued lack of professional courtesy is specifically directed to:

* Individuals who ask to be called back and then do not return phone calls
* Individuals who request information and then do not respond when contacted
* Individuals who make appointments and then do not show

Let’s accept the fact that everyone is busy. So being busy is not a justifiable excuse to be, simply speaking, rude!

Possibly, this lack of professional courtesy is because of the ongoing issue of wishy washy values or ethics. The Do as I say and not Say as I do belief stills appears to be very much alive. For example, small business owners to senior level executives demand that their sales to customer service people follow-up, yet they fail to model that same behavior.

Business building and sales research suggests that today’s uniqueness in the marketplace has much more to do with being reliable, doing what you promised in the time frame that you promised, than truly being different be it product, service or price. Reliability is a value, an ethic, a truly non-negotiable behavior that separates your business from everyone else.

Small Business Coaching Training Tip: To truly be that Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray suits, revisit your strategic business action plan and reread your ethics or values statements. Commit yourself to returning all phone calls, answering all emails and honoring all appointments. Who knows you may even realize increase sales in the process?

Chicago Sales Coach Leanne Hoagland-Smith helps to quickly increase profits & increase productivity for individuals & organizations involved in service industries of health care, real estate and regional railroads; distribution industry of new car sales and manufacturing. Process coaching and development works because my clients quickly double their results.

Sign up to read Leanne’s weekly business coaching training column. Visit Here to discover the value added articles, e-books and other tools.

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Tags: professional, ethics, code, conduct, work

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

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

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

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

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

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“I recently attended a networking event that was absolutely fabulous. Over 50 women business owners shared what they do with each other. The energy was high and the business exchange was tremendously valuable. As part of the formal networking structure, each owner was asked to give their unique selling point. I was struck by the lack of understanding of what a USP is among these successful entrepreneurs. The majority of owners I heard said that what made them different is that they conduct their business with integrity and honesty. It was clear that as we went around the table, the owners failed to recognize how many people said the same thing. None of the women could say what made her business stand out from the rest.

There are certain principles that are a given in business. Having integrity and honesty is great, but this is not what makes you, your product, or your service unique. Things like integrity, honesty, great customer service, or service with a smile are all expected by customers. These are standards that no one business owner should claim as what makes him or her different from all of the other business owners with similar offerings.

Having a USP is very important in a crowded business environment. Ideally, a good USP can increase market share and ultimately increase the bottom line of a business. So just what does distinguish one business from another with similar offerings? An effective USP is a statement that tells the benefits you offer and what it is that you do that no other business can do. Your USP should be compelling enough to motivate the prospect to take action. The following five steps will help you identify your uniqueness in the marketplace.

1. Describe the benefits of doing business with you and/or your company.
2. Identify what makes you different.
3. Identify what problems your prospects face and how you can solve them.
4. Close the Gap between what your prospects need and what you offer
5. Use all of the information to write a clear and concise statement.
6. Deliver your message
7. Preserve and Defend Your Message

When you come right down to it, your USP is a powerful message that will drive prospects to choose your company over others offering similar products and services. When writing your USP, avoid using words like more, bigger, better, and faster. These words are generally worthless because they cannot be measured. As you develop your USP, remember that prospects want to know what you can do for them, not how great you are. They want to know how you will solve their problems and make their life easier. Focus on results, and create desire and urgency. It may take a few rewrites, but it is well worth it. The ROI on a well crafted USP statement is an increase in market share and substantial business growth.

Cynthia Renee Frazier is Co-Founder of Energy Tour Café, a marketing company that helps success minded women grow their business. Right now, Cynthia has time in her schedule for three challenging and stimulating projects. If you are ready to invest in your own explosive business growth by developing a strategic action plan, go to http://www.EnergyTourCafe.com and click on Shop For Success. Select Laser Focus Coaching to begin the process of phenomenal growth for your company.

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Tags: ethics, business, intergrity, honesty, professional

“It seems that Ethics is a growth industry. There are even advertisements in the newspapers for “”professional ethicists”".

Does this mean that we are getting more ethical? Are we at the place of which Plato dreamed, where “”kings are philosophers and philosophers are kings”".

Alas, the opposite seems to be true. The fact that so-called “”experts”" have to be employed to say what is ethical is just one sign that many people are increasingly incapable of telling right from wrong for themselves.

Indeed, the “”professional ethicists”" are not really concerned with moral right and wrong. Rather they are a junior branch of the legal profession. Many sectors, especially those related to medicine and human services, now have “”codes of ethics”" or “”codes of conduct”". A breach of these codes may have legal consequences. The purpose of the “”professional ethicist”" is to give a degree of protection from those legal consequences. Surely this is the very opposite of ethics.

The last century has seen an enormous expansion in the scope of the law in most jurisdictions. Activities which were previously left up to individual conscience are now regulated by the state.
This is particularly true of business.

Yet it has not made business more honest. To rely on force rather than conscience to get people to do what is right is to undermine conscience. When people are forced, rather than persuaded, they will do what they are forced to do and no more. They will feel no sense of obligation.

More and more, the business world is filled with people who are governed by the principle of “”what can we get away with”", rather than by what is right.

It was not always so. We must not be so naive as to imagine that there was ever a Golden Age when everyone was always honest – but things certainly used to be better than they are today.
Previous generations were less likely to see a conflict between doing what was morally right and doing what was in their own best interests.

Partly this was due to the greater emphasis that was placed on Reputation in those days. Business communities tended to be smaller, either because they were geographically isolated or because there might be a small number of specialists in very close correspondence. If a man did anything dishonest, it would soon be known by everyone and his chances of remaining in business would be negligible. Today, the global market is so big that it is unlikely that everyone will hear if someone has a bad reputation.
Mainly, however, it was because business communities usually had shared religious values.

Max Weber described the “”Protestant Work Ethic”". The same principle which encouraged people to work hard to succeed in business – a desire to please God – also imposed strict honesty on those business dealings. Protestant devotional works sometimes recommend standards that seem laughable today – like not taking advantage of information that was unknown to the other party in a deal and not charging market price where the profit is excessive. Yet the people who read those works often became very wealthy, not least because they had a reputation for fair dealing.

In the same way, Jewish bankers were able to do business, even if the face of virulent Anti-Semitism, because they built a reputation for scrupulous honesty. This only irritated the Anti-Semites even more.

Even today, an entrepreneur is better off if he deals with someone who is concerned about his reputation for honesty – and who possibly believes that there is an Accounting beyond the balance sheets of this life – than relying on any number of laws and regulations and artificial codes for protection.

Guy Kingston produces and presents the Mind Your Own Business podcast, offering free business advice to entrepreneurs and business owners. As well as audio podcasts there are more articles like this, compelling videos and a must-read blog. All at http://www.myobpod.com or you can network and join in discussions on the MYOB Facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12117784275).

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Tags: professional, ethics, code, conduct, work

Does dishonesty in business pay? The answer to this question is: Yes, No, Maybe, and Sometimes. Dishonesty may pay, but usually only over the short run, and the consequences may be severe. Honesty may not always pay, although it’s still the “best policy.”

Examples

Bernie Madoff, the famous Wall Street Investment Advisor is a prime, and recent (December, 2008) example of business dishonesty on a large scale, and for a long period of time. While, at this writing, details of his scheme are still emerging, it appears as though an elaborate Ponzi scheme was perpetrated over at least a twenty year period. The total amount involved could be as much as $50 billion, as the $17 million that Mr. Madoff had under management was highly leveraged. In the meantime, Mr. Madoff was released on $10 million bail. The primary concern about this story is that Madoff was a highly regarded Advisor, practically above reproach,with heretofore unquestioned integrity. The man was an icon, as one of the founders of the NASDQ exchange. The damage to investor confidence may be considerable.

There are numerous other examples of fraud, deception, and thievery on an even larger scale. Some scandals reach into the hundreds of millions, perhaps billions. The Forbes Magazine “Corporate Scandal Sheet” (Patsurius, 2002) listed over twenty big ones, while acknowledging “chronicling every corporate transgression would be impractical.” Names like Enron, Global Crossing, Adelphia, Time-Warner, Bristol-Meyers, Haliburton, K-Mart, Tyco, WorldCom, and Xerox are on the list. But there have been many more. In fact, cheating, falsification, and “crooked” accounting seems rampant. Everyone from big brokerages, accounting firms, manufacturers and retailers had their turn.

So who can you trust?

Enforcing Corporate Honesty

The Sabanes-Oxley Act (2002) was enacted following the Enron scandal. The law strengthens reporting requirements and directs corporate oversight and internal controls. But can external requirements work when the rewards for a little corruption can be so astonishing? Obviously not. Corporate scandals continue unabated. There is a “risk-reward” equation in operation that seems to favor taking chances. Ethics and honesty often lose out when confronted with the possibility of huge financial rewards, the profitability demands of shareholders, and the relatively small chance of legal recourse.

The Consequences of Dishonesty

The consequences can be severe. Not the jail terms, personal disgrace and business failure, but the taint of the entire business community and the distrust of even reputable businesses. Commerce can grind to a halt, liquidity shrivels, and financing may be practically unattainable. Consumers may curtail their spending, investments and purchases. Promises, guarantees, and contracts will be under suspicion, or of limited meaning. These are the consequences of dishonesty. If we can’t trust each other how do we transact business?

Copyright © 2008, Dr. Ben A. Carlsen, MBA. All Rights Reserved Worldwide for all Media. You may reprint this article in your ezine, newsletter, newspaper, magazine, website, etc. as long as you leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in any way, leave my name and bio box intact, and you follow all of the EzineArticles Terms of Service for Publishers.

Ben A. Carlsen, Ed.D, MBA, is an experienced CEO and manager. Dr. Carlsen has over 30 years experience in management, consulting, and teaching. Currently the Head of the Business Department at Everest Institute, Hialeah, FL., he was Chairman of the Los Angeles County Productivity Managers Network and President of the Association for Systems Management (So. Calif. Chapter). Additional information can be obtained at http://drben.info

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Tags: business, ethics, workplace, code, professional

According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ “Report To The Nation On Occupational Fraud And Abuse” (Report), “participants in the study estimate U.S. organizations lose 5% of their annual revenues to fraud. Applied to the estimated 2006 United States Gross Domestic Product, this 5% figure would translate to approximately $652 billion in fraud losses.” Of course these organizations must pass on this cost to consumers. This translates into each of us paying approximately 5% extra for fraud when we purchase a good or service. If the average household spends $40,000 for goods and services each year, their annual cost of fraud is $2,000.

Part of stopping occupation fraud is understanding it. The Report defines occupational fraud as, “The use of one’s occupation for personal enrichment through the deliberate misuse or misappropriation of the employing organization’s resources or assets.” We all know that people steal from their employers, even in very small amounts. Most of us at some time in our lives have taken home a few pencils, pads of paper, or perhaps some of the product sold by our employer. We also have heard about overstating of expense reports or the number of hours worked. These types of small frauds happen every day and cost us all billions of dollars each year. The Report breaks occupational fraud into three categories: asset misappropriation, corruption and fraudulent statements.

Asset misappropriation is the type of fraud we are most familiar with and includes the ones listed above. It is the largest type of occupational fraud in number, but not total amount. Corruption includes frauds such as bribery or conflicts of interest. Fraudulent statements generally include frauds relating to the organization’s accounting system and financial statements and are the largest type of occupational fraud by amount. Recent examples of fraudulent statements are Enron, Health South, World Com and other sensational frauds, which have been well publicized.

Occupational frauds are very hard to detect and most of them go undetected. According to the Report, the main detection tools are tips, accident, internal audit, external audit and notification by police. The Report points out that tips though anonymous hotlines is the most effective way of detecting occupational frauds. This means you are the one we count on to detect these frauds. When you are suspicious that a fraud may be happening in your workplace, do something about it. If your employer has a hotline, use it. If not, you can still provide an anonymous tip. Type out your suspicions and give it to a manager, who you do not believe is involved. You can mail it, put it in his in-box or use some other method, which will not identify you as the tipster.

What can you do to stop these frauds? Make sure you don’t commit them. This means the next time you need a few pencils at home, don’t take them from the office. You can buy them at the store and feel good about it when you do. This type of thinking, “I’m not hurting anyone”, only leads to encouraging others to do the same or it lets you rationalize that taking something more expensive is ok. You did not get caught taking the pencils, so take something more expensive next time. Secondly, when you are suspicious that a fraud may be happening, use the hotline. You don’t have to be sure. Someone skilled in investigating fraud will investigate and you won’t get your fellow employee in trouble, unless they deserve it. Thirdly, learn more about this type of fraud so you will know it when you see it. You are the main defense against occupational fraud.

Mr. Cuthill’s practice is limited to court-appointed positions in large fraud cases. His work has produced the return of millions of dollars of investors’ funds. For more information about him, click here.

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Tags: unethical, marketing, business, behaviour, professional

Many in the business, education, government and not for profit sectors consider themselves to be true professionals. Yet if this was so, why are we experiencing far more poor ethics from the financial meltdown to pay for play to the decline in even professional associations?

Professionalism is a word embraced by many, but in all honesty demonstrated by far fewer individuals. Its Latin’s origins come from the word profess which means “to avow before.” So the question is what are these individuals who believe themselves to be true professionals avowing before? Possibly the answer may be found within the word professional.

1. P = Positively proactive. Professionals demonstrate behaviors that are positive and proactive instead of negative and reactive.

2. R = Respect. Through this ethic and value of respect, professionals are known and trusted within and without their respective organizations.

3. O – Opportunities to help others. Those who avow before understand they have a responsibility to help others whether it is to grow self leadership skills or provide some expert advice.

4. F – Follow-up. No one likes to wait for un-returned phone calls or emails. Professionals make it a habit to follow-up on everything and accept responsibility when they fail to engage in that behavior.

5. E – Empathy. Professionals know how to be empathetic. This characteristic is a one of the signs of high emotional intelligence and a predictor for leadership success.

6. S – Self-confident. When individuals are self confident, they do not have to put others down at their own expense. These individuals have a high sense of balanced self-esteem and role awareness.

7. S – Sustainable. Professionals are truly sustainable in that they can continue forward when times become difficult. Their ethics and beliefs keep them focused.

8. I – Integrity. Simply simply, integrity is putting your values into action; doing the right thing when no one else is looking without personal gain or benefit; and accepting a potential personal cost.

9. O – Optimize all interactions. This is really critical because professionals do not negate the value of people. They look to see how one interaction can benefit someone else even before themselves.

10. N – Nimble. Being flexible and open to change allows these individuals to be quick on their feet, nimble to the opportunities that they encounter on a daily basis.

11. A – Awareness. Having a high level of awareness of themselves, the marketplace, the community and even the world helps these individuals to continually stay on top of things.

12. L – Leadership. Last, but not least, professionals demonstrate exceptional leadership skills and even more importantly self leadership skill. For if you cannot lead yourself, you cannot lead others.

Leadership Coaching Tip: Take a few moments to revisit this list and determine if there are any areas to be further developed. Remember the origins of the word professional – to avow before and are your actions in alignment with your beliefs?

P.S. This tools helps with developing true professionals

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Tags: ethics, business, behaviour, professional, value

Professional in any activity, sphere of influence or business has specific and unique qualities. What separates the true professional from the dilly-dallies who waste all of our time when we need something done right? For starters it is important to first define the professional.

A professional is someone who applying hard-won know-how in his activity. He does not operate off of luck or chance but instead utilizes this know-how with careful application. From a distance everything the professional does may seem easy. Yet on closer inspection you will see that the professional is taking care that every small action is precisely done and that it is just right.

This applies to anything from art to accounting, from law to graphic design. It simply applies to anything. What really separates the amateurs from the professional is the ability to work on anything as if it was the first time. Doing this one sees the necessity to do it right and has the self-determinism to ensure everything is done precisely. Not doing this will give you a decrease in product and service quality.

So next time you do anything, do it with an extra bit of care and a little extra push. There is no totally easy way to do anything. It has to be done with precision to create the desired result. Let’s make a pact between you (the reader), me and the rest of the professional world. Let us raise our standards so that we are always acting as professionals and really taking care that each little bit is just right. And I will see you at the top.

Article written by Brook Adyn

Manager at Sterling Web Design & Marketing
http://www.sterlingprm.com

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Brook Z Adyn – EzineArticles Expert Author

Tags: ethics, work, professional, define, practice

Let’s be clear here, I’m not actually receiving a pile of cash from uncle sam. If I were you, I’d be happy to hear that, because hey, uncle sam is you, and you’re already funding several other bailouts. Even if you like my article, I bet you’re not willing to pay me a million bucks for it.

Do I actually need a bailout? Sure. Everyone needs a bailout. Everyone needs medicine, everyone needs therapy, everyone needs to be told what to do and how to do it and everyone needs a bailout. You can’t expect me to make all the right decisions all the time, can you? And if I happen to make a little mistake or ten that would put me in the hole, you don’t really expect me to bear the brunt of my own decisions… do you? Are you some kind of crazy Republican?

You feelin my drama here? I was a little heavy on the sarcasm, but the snarky tone behind it was pretty real to me. At least a few days ago. Yesterday, it changed.

Typically, I run with the elephants. Not always and not a party-line thing, but more often than not, at least in principle if not execution. My circle is mostly elephants. I get most of my news from my circle. Somehow the news finds them more often than it finds me (must be working more) and so my news comes pre-flavored. Like many, I run with like-minded beasts and typically the flavor suits me and I roll the same way. Once in a while though I find myself upside down-supporting a point I am not sufficiently educated on with someone from the other tribe who’s challenging my Republican-ness, or more likely not my actual Republican-ness but some point of view that’s associated with Elephant thinking, like a topical manifestation of my politics. I know that sounds like a rash.

That just happened yesterday, and in fact it did feel a bit like a rash. Something I’d considered part of me became uncomfortable when exposed to the light and I found myself compelled to be rid of it. My circle of friends and family had been bitching about the Detroit bailout, the UAW, and all things assocaited with the automaker bailout. People who are normally conservative, in the literal sense, were outspoken and in a bitter way. I was somewhat part of that and had voiced my displeasure at the thought of my taxes and future taxes being committed for me to bail out businesses that were, I thought, suffering the consequences of their own bad decisions. Detroit has a rap of being behind the curve in quality, safety, and economy. I used to be in the auto marketing business, and it was considered common knowledge that the Japanese started doing things really well in the 70s and, learning at every opportunity, really started eating our lunch and never stopped. This was largely the fuel of the argument.

Interestingly, the fuel of the argument was based on a trend. That trend, though unchecked for a long time, has more recently evaporated. The inertia it had built lives on with gusto and most people don’t know that the truth has changed. What! How can that be?

Yesterday I emailed a friend in Michigan and brought up the topic of the bailout. I mentioned that my elephants were seething about it. My friend responded quickly that Michigan was seething about the bank bailout and in a very circumspect manner pointed out the details of how Detroit automakers had, in fact, glosed the gaps. Quality? better than the Japanese in many examples, on par in many others. Safety? Same thing. Emissions? Doing just as well, thank you and in economy, doing BETTER than the Japanese for comparable vehicles. I’m a data junkie. When I say I was in the auto marketing business, I was in the auto quality measurement business for a well known market research firm. My friend had provided proper citations and I felt no compulsion to challenge them because I know my friend and I’d put my own money on him being right. It’s all out there. The part where I ate crow in regard to the Detroit Bailout Bill was in completely missing the inter-related nature of the banking and automaker bailouts.

Automakers all over, Domestic, Asian and European, are tanking in sales, which I attributed to the economy. I was aware that the Japanese builders, Toyota in particular, lost money for the first time since 1937, but I really didn’t connect the causality of the relationship (at least partial) between the banking issue (not the issues of the general economy, but the lasting tightening of the lending market) and the automaker’s financial issues. I knew people couldn’t get loans and weren’t buying cars, but I mistakenly thought it was a Domestic problem.

I also realized that the Detroit Bailout Bill inherited all the bad mojo from the banking bill. It seemed to come and go with less attention and iterations than the automaker bailout plan. The first one stirs things up and the second one gets double heat. The clencher for me personally was a personal discovery. After I realized that it’s not about quality, safety, emissions or economy of the vehicles from Detroit, and after I realized the very direct causal nature of the banking problem to auto sales and after I realized the one-two effect, the last ingredient that had stirred me to anger was national pride. This ties back to the misunderstanding about the vehicles themselves, but the pride component was what gave me my venom – I felt that I had been let down by American manufacturing and that we were all paying for it. Almost like being embattled in a war out of negligence – that was my emotion.

So here it is – I’m sorry. I think I probably made a mistake in my simplistic judgement. I’ll get my facts straight and think about it some more.

I have friends who have lost their homes, some who are getting really creative with trying to make a buck and some are just living scared. Some public services that rely on state or federal funding are lacking too, and some of these groups are getting creative also. I recently came across a group in Palm Springs that is raffling off a house to earn money to provide services to challenged citizens in the area. They provide job training and other self-sufficiency training and services, and raffle sales help pay for it. To me, that’s the epitome of the American way, getting creative and helping people out, good old-fashioned neighborly support and American resolve. And no, it’s not a house that someone foreclosed on, it’s a brand new house and the builder is part of the project.

So, how did I get a bailout? I got schooled a bit for making conclusions without all the details. My friend helped me get my focus back on my own work and on helping those around me. I think that’s better than a bailout.

DesertARC provides vocational training, job placement and employment, independent living support and more to citizens with challenges. Their Dream home raffle is a great way to support others… and win a $1.2M house along the way. Kind of a personal bailout. – Dan Patrick

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Tags: personal, ethics, code, professional, social

When I think of an inventor, people like De Vinci , Ben Franklin, Edison, and Bell come to mind. Now days it seems anyone with an idea is an inventor. Granted, we do have people coming up with marvelous and very creative ideas. We see it all the time on late night info commercials. The reality is that less then 10% of patents even make it to market. I think it’s because most so-called inventors, don’t take the time to investigate if there is even a market for their product. None the less, thousands of people have ideas that are going to make them rich, and they don’t know where to start.

That is where your friendly Invention Company comes to the rescue. The thing is, they all offer legitimate services and have clients who have actually made money. Oh what money you can make too. A license agreement is the Golden Fleece for inventors. Many times a company who likes your idea will pay as much as $100,000 or more, in up-front money. Then the monthly residuals can also be in the thousands. Remember that 10% I talked about, well that pertains to the Invention Companies as well.

I’m not going to name names, because most of them operate in the same manner. You can always Google invention companies. I’m sure you will find more than a handful listed. I’m also equally as sure if you go to Rip Off Report you’ll see many of them listed there as well. Almost all of these companies reel their fish in the same way, with the offer of a free gift or evaluation.

THE BAIT

Invention Companies don’t want to scare you, so they usually offer to send out the FREE obligatory Invention Kit. It is always presented in a very attractive and professional package. They all send a beautiful brochure, and some even include a CD showing what a great organization you are getting involved with. Of course there is always information on Patent Help. They want to plant that seed of protecting your fantastic idea right away. The other document they enclose is your safe form to submit your idea. (This can also be accomplished online through their secure website) It won’t take very long before they contact you, believe me.

THE HOOK

When they contact you, it is always with good news. Your idea or invention has enormous potential. Before we can move forward however, it must first be determined if there is someone who came up with your idea first. Now it just so happens that they have put together the most efficient team of researchers, so they can keep the cost of a Patent Search very reasonable. The price they charge is somewhere in the neighborhood of $500-$700. Of course once they determine yours is a unique idea, then they will be there to assist you with a Patent. That cost is not quoted of course, because they must do the Patent Search first.

THE CATCH

For those unsuspecting “inventors” who let them do the Patent Search, the company also offers the complete line of services, designed to take your idea from concept to market. By this time you have fully researched them. Their Brochure has listed the hundreds of manufactures just waiting to buy your product. All we need now is the perfect PROTOTYPE. For only $10,000 to $15,000 of your money, they will design, build, and “market” your brainchild, and take only 10-15% of what you make. The “marketing” consist in most cases, of false promises. The so-called manufacturing contacts, constitutes no more then listing your invention on a website that prospective buyers can view. A good prototype will occasionally be presented at trade shows. Most cases however, sadly end up with a $20,000+ souvenir for their efforts.

There are a few Invention Companies that do offer to pay for everything, if your idea or invention is worthy of their investment. Of course they will take a piece of the pie,20-25%. That seems fair. If they’re footing the bill, then they are surly going to do everything to get you that licencing agreement. The “hook” here is that an evaluation must first be performed, to determine the validity of your project. That will be priced at about $200. Now if you truly believe yours is the next best thing, this is the way to go. It was for me. I will warn you however, your idea must be marketable to absolutely everyone, or don’t waste your money. I came about 12 points from acceptance, because I was catering to a niche market. A very large niche, but none the less, a niche market. I don’t regret the investment however, I was able to learn a little more about the business. They told me about the Provisional Patent. Which for only $100 will give you protection for a year. Let the manufacture who buys the idea pay for your real Patent. Something you’ll never hear from those other invention companies. They also guided me in the direction of some website’s that manufactures peruse. Which brings me to this little tip for you.

THE POOR MANS COPYRIGHT

It is something I learned about when I was a young writer submitting television treatments. Any original thought or idea that you come up with, should be protected with this procedure. On paper, write down everything about your idea, including all drawings or plans. Then mail it to yourself as registered mail. It will be timed stamped and dated. Keep it safe because it is considered a legal document, and will hold up in court.

Well now that I knew about patent searches, patents, and provisional patents, I thought what else didn’t I have knowledge of. Further research led me to an offer by a very respected inventor. He has dozens of patents, many of which has made him extremely wealthy. For only $350.00 he sends you his system that shows you how to take an idea and market it. The system also includes the inventor as your very own mentor.

Believe me, if I spent the $350.00, I would be giving you his name and website right now.

But I found something equivalent for a fraction of that cost.

Frank Stapleton the co-inventor of the Screensweep, has written an E-Book that tells you everything you need to know. Chances are you have used his invention to clear the dust off your computer monitor. Millions of Screensweeps have been sold since 1998 and are still selling today. His book covers everything, including:

* Patent an invention without paying the hefty patenting fees.

* How to get your product to market quickly WITHOUT wiping out your entire life savings or mortgaging your home.

* The EXACT sequence of events you need to follow to launch your invention idea. Just follow the simple step-by-step flow chart included in the e-book.

Please, before doing anything read this book. You can find it at: My recomMANNdations

Inventors Click Here

I invested almost $200.00 before getting on the right track. I Hope I have helped you to at least understand better, the

Invention Company’s game.

In his late 50′s, Avery Mann considers himself to be a Jack of all trades and master of quite a few things. He spent most of his adult life as a struggling actor. Because of that he has acquired an abundance of knowledge, he now would like to share with the rest of the world. You can always find new and inspirational ideas at My RecomMANNdations : Inventors Click Here

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Tags: ethics, business, behaviour, professional, value

When tough becomes tougher and tougher becomes toughest, come and find the solution of cutting cost in real time. What it needs is just to implement the best IT solution that escalates your communication within your organization with insight business performance graph that helps you in forecasting and the area lagging into your business. This BI solution helps you in gaining best of their IT performance either it is for CTO, CFO or CEO of the company.

Implementing of IT in different department not only enhance your productivity and provides you certain measures that would help you in making great decisions in real time. The total theme of the story is what you give to your executives in return what you will get from their output. If you want to leverage your total cost on IT and its implementation, to streamline your business by providing state of the art business intelligence technological solution?

Business is something what comes in and something goes out- this is the real fundamental of gaining good margin out of it. Don’t be agonizing about your coming hurdle but face it intelligently and make your path smooth while running your business in real time. Come and grab the opportunity and become the best among your competitors. Feel with agility and determination and have the BI tolls for best suits in the industry. Go and grab the opportunity and see the difference. You can help you in business object acquisition in real time. Whatever the situation and fundamental may you have but the thing is that you should be familiar about the theme and present scenario. So hire a best Business Intelligence solution that will implement in real time.

Outsourcing business done in India has a potential to grab the entire globe. Author (Mukesh Pandey ) is associated with euthenics IT solution and have a keen interest in Drawing and craft and holds the certificate from state level competition for email: Euthenics IT solution.

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Tags: ethics, business, behaviour, professional, value

With the economy in shambles and investors as weary as ever, one might start to wonder if the Sarbanes-Oxley act has really done anything to prevent fraud. While we have not seen any fraud quite as ugly as the kind that brought down Enron and WorldCom, it is still plentiful. Fraud, it seems, has been slightly deterred at the corporate level, but still runs rampant throughout the financial industry. These ponzi schemes seem to be happening more and more, with former chairman of NASDAQ Bernie Madeoff being involved in one worth around fifty billion dollars recently.

In the early 2000s, investors and employees of the companies involved were devastated when huge corporate fraud cases emerged. This fraud, administered from the highest offices in the corporations, left investors with worthless shares and employees with no job, and depleted retirement funds. It was time for reform, and the federal government stepped in. The Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002, or Sarbanes-Oxley, was their answer to corporate fraud. SOX was intended to make these high ranking officials responsible for the legitimacy of all financial statements released to the public. It also put measures in place to prevent public accounting firms from getting too involved in the corporations in which they prepared financial statements for.

While Sarbanes-Oxley was no doubt a good idea, but it turned out to be very costly for companies trying to implement these new processes in order to comply. Now there is a situation where the companies that were responsible for the start of this fraud panic have folded, and the ones that were honest are paying a stiff penalty. Now these honest companies are struggling to survive between the poor economy and massive costs to keep their financials fraud-free.

Even with Sarbanes-Oxley in effect, there are news reports regularly describing the newest ponzi scheme unearthed in the financial world. These are not your average crooks either, these are brilliant minds of the financial world detecting an exploit and taking advantage of it. We only hear about the ones who get caught, but there are no doubt many who skim constantly and get away with it. With the economy on the fritz, it only increases the motive for fraud. Fund managers and financial advisors are on the chopping block. They are the ones getting the blame for poor performing stocks, and the ones with their jobs on the line. With all this added pressure it is obvious why fraud can look like an easy solution.

So now what do we do? More legislation? Legislation is not the answer here. Sarbanes-Oxley proved that legislation could only take us so far. The answer is ethics. Ethics must be emphasized by businesses instead of profits. If we start leaning towards ethics training and taking a little pressure of performance it will slowly turn our financial ship back in the right direction. Honesty should be the number one priority, and profits should be number two. If you only emphasize profits and performance, eventually fraud will rear its ugly head and the entire company could be at stake. If you emphasize ethics and honesty, the profits may not be as substantial but at least you know them to be true. This sets the groundwork for a company to prosper for many years as an ethical honest corporation rather than burn out quickly like a profit driven supernova.

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Tags: business, ethics, workplace, code, professional

“Collect $200, Do Not Go to Jail: Enlightened CEOs and Your Portfolio

By Noel Brinkerhoff

If you didn’t know better, you’d think today’s business world was one big Monopoly game.

Lots of corporate leaders – those inclined to be the battleship or cannon when they sit down in front of the big board – run their businesses with a cutthroat attitude and play with the company’s earnings like it’s, well, Monopoly money. This take-every-Chance-Card approach can sometimes produce short-term success, but it doesn’t guarantee against having to mortgage your Park Place and Boardwalk properties. Or going directly to jail, for that matter.

In recent years, there’ve been more than a few high profile business leaders trading in their pinstripe suits for pinstripe prison uniforms, leaving the corporate landscape littered with bankrupt companies. Enron, Tyco, Adelphia, Worldcom—the list of fiscally-irresponsible meltdowns goes on and on, recounted ad nauseum in news stories and films such as Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and The Corporation.

But the terrain isn’t entirely filled with the busted and broke. There’s still plenty of green out there—the kind that demonstrates that money, growth and social responsibility can all flourish together. Take John Mackey, for example.

Mackey runs the moolah-rich Whole Foods Market. WFM is a nation-wide chain of grocery stores that sells healthy, organic products, everything from pesticide-free lettuce to steroid-free steak. And it makes bank doing it. WFM is a $3.7 billion corporation. That’s right, billion. Whole Foods is doing so well, in fact, that it made $188 million in profits over the last two years, according to the business magazine Fast Company. By comparison, Safeway lost $1 billion in the same year.

WFM even measures up against retail giants like Wal-Mart. Over a recent four-year period, Whole Foods beat out Wal-Mart in both overall and comparable-store sales growth, according to Fast Company. It manages to do so without buying from sweatshops or low-balling its employees on salaries or benefits.

At WFM, both full-time and part-time employees are eligible for stock options. Employees can also compare salaries as part of Mackey’s “no secrets” management style, which requires each store to carry salary books open to all employees.

In Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work,” Whole Foods ranked 15th, thanks to its skyrocketing stock price, which has tripled in the last three years. WFM also has been listed on the “100 Best Corporate Citizens” by Business Ethics magazine.

And if that isn’t enough, Whole Foods is now the biggest corporate user of wind power in the country, thanks to a newly announced plan to buy 458,000 megawatt-hours of wind energy credits from Renewable Choice Energy Inc.

WFM’s success is attributed to Mackey, a CEO who flies commercial and prefers to go economy when he ponies up at the car rental counter. He is also a CEO who loves Star Trek and the egalitarian ideas set forth by the United Federation of Planets. What’s not to love?

Mackey isn’t alone as an enlightened CEO. Take Bob Kierlin, founder of Fastenal, an industrial supplier of tools and fasteners. Kierlin was legendary for paying himself less than most CEOs, and for preferring budget motels—and sharing rooms when traveling on business. Though now retired, the legacy of Kierlin’s modest corporate lifestyle continues on at Fastenal under CEO Willard Oberton.

Enlightened management styles are fast catching on in the business world. Since the bottom line does not in fact seem to be adversely affected by generosity of spirit and cash. Anita Roddick of The Body Shop champions human rights around the world, Paul Hawken, of Smith & Hawken, champions environmental causes. These business icons, as well as others, see public service as an indispensable part of their business model.

The question, as most of them see it, is a sense of leadership, and achieving the right moral tone for the company. In the words of Harman International founder Sidney Harman, “The senior executive has no higher responsibility than the setting of the example and the regular exercise of his convictions.”

In becoming an enlightened CEO, you can be sure you won’t land in jail, or if you do, you’re just visiting. And your bottom line won’t be hurting, either.

Copyright 2006 Find Your Prosperity.com

For more stories, visit this site
Noel Brinkerhoff is founder of FindYourProsperity.com He has been a professional writer for over 10 years, specializing in journalism and screenwriting.

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Every large design company whether it’s a multi-national branding corporation or a regular down at heel tatty magazine publisher needs to fill holes in the workforce. If the canny freelance designer plays his or her cards right, he can earn a tidy sum while essentially loafing at home. Here’s how…

Have a handy repotoire of excuses lined up

Everyone has heard of the line ‘the dog ate it…’ or ‘I left it in my jeans when it went into the wash’ to avoid handing in an assignment but how often do we actually use them? Some of these old well worn excuses are due for a renaissance period. A boss is far more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt when you use one of these old dogs as they will question your sanity for attempting to use such an audacious excuse. Reverse psychology. Use it to your advantage

Backstabbing – Is it so wrong?

A favourite trick to pull on another member of staff is to sow the seeds of doubt in the rest of the full-timers minds about your chosen fall guy. Office politics can play a huge role in screwing with their heads. Why not try surreptiously planting somebody elses scissors or staplers in the victims drawer and asking to borrow them. When they can’t find them say you saw so and so using them earlier. Sit back and watch the tension build.

An apple a day…

Being a teachers pet can sometimes work wonders when you haven’t bothered to layout those pages that were given to you 3 weeks ago. Coming into the office armed with a nice rich chocolate gateau for everyone will smooth over any resentment for your tarde lackadaisacal attitude to work. Another good idea is to be the coffee gopher at regular half hour intervals. When you’re gone they’ll really miss you and because of the caffeine withdrawal will be snapping at one another.

Outsource and reap the rewards

Everybodies doing it so why not you? If you’ve landed a hefty long term design job that is a regular payer, why not bump your rates up and get somebody in India or China to knock out the work for you. Unethical? Perhaps but since when did you consider the plight of individuals in far flung places? You can explain away the discrepances in language and grammar by claiming you’ve been working all hours

Getting away with murder

There comes a time and place when despite your best efforts to cover your ass and blame others for your laziness and ineptitude, you are going to be found out. At this stage with disgruntled colleagues lining up to put in a bad word about you, there may be no other option left but to use the failsafe rear guard action of killing someone. This will have the effect of distracting attention from your less than honest approach to handing in graphic designs on time. It’s probably best to avoid murdering the boss as questions are likely to be raised and you may find the new apointed editor will not see you as part of the new team format. No, go for one of the more replacable members of staff such as Ian the sub-editor, the resulting fracas will buy you enough time to work on some new scams at another organisation

So there you go, use these tricks as and when you feel they may benefit you. But be careful the cops are sometimes pretty keen to clamp down on office genocide – only use this last option under extreme duress.

Mindtap Graphic Design Resources is your single point entry into the UK creative industries. We are looking to create a unique site where you can access information on UK graphic design, UK logo design, graphic design tutorials, graphic designer careers, graphics software, graphics tutorials, graphic designers, logo creation, freelancer resources, graphic designer jobs, employment, web page design, free graphics, website designers, artworkers, graphic clipart and any other associated graphic design resource.

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Tags:professional, ethics, code, conduct, work

Is it business ethics or just the golden rule? The golden rule holds a universal theme. Treat others the way you would want to be treated. Do it at work, at home, in life and in Hong Kong. It is a bedrock principle of any good company. Keep focus on transparency and emphasis on doing the right thing. This will become your primary reason for superior performance and success.

Every reputable profession needs to hold a special position of trust within society. That is to recognize that continued public trust is based on the commitment to high ethical standards within the company and that speaks to the equally high standards of the individuals within the company. This all begins at the top. If integrity is not there it will not exist long at the lower levels. It is the responsibility of the person at the top to make it known by example and character that nothing less will be tolerated.

It is important that all the people in the company believe that is critical that all its employees act at all times in an honest and ethical manner in connection with their service to the company. The principles of integrity and accountability are the cornerstone of success.

Each employee should deal fairly with all counter-parties, vendors, competitors, and other employees at all times. It all goes back to the golden rule. There are no ethics that apply here sometimes but not there sometimes. There are no ‘business’ ethics. Around the world religious and cultural differences may vary but the golden rule stands solid.

As an individual in the company making these correct decisions is imperative. In raw everyday life it all comes done to the decisions made with that simple but basic golden rule, do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. By definition deception is out or any attempt to mislead.

And lastly and just as importantly pay prompt attention to and act on all complaints. This includes but is not limited to customers, suppliers and employees. They will do their part in keeping you honest!

Mary Barrett President The European Hardware Company (EHC) & Lynn Cove Foundry and Forge. The website is here.

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Tags: business, ethics, workplace, code, professional

All of your possibilities from this moment, are located in your own personal expectations. All of your expectations are located in the very personal relationship you have with yourself. The relationship you have with yourself is the relationship you will have with others.

What matters most is how you see yourself! Take very good care of the relationship you have with yourself at all times.

I was a member of Toastmaster International and in 1984 Caroline Sander RN introduced me to the National Speakers Association. I went to all the local chapter meeting and to the National Conventions. The first meeting I attended, I felt a little uneasy about being in this new setting. Billy Arcement came up to me and introduces himself from Donaldsonville Louisiana. Billy knew that I was uneasy about being at this meeting. He said, “If you have a dream in your heart long enough, you have what takes to realize that dream.
I never forgot those words.

Ginger Bondi was the president of our local chapter. Ginger was tough love. I listened and took notes of everything other speakers in the chapter said that I must do to convince people to hire my topics. I practice all of these ideas.

I called Ginger Bondi and ask if I could come and speak with her. I told her that I did not want to do anything to hurt the speaking profession. That I wanted to abide by the code of etitics of the National Speakers Association.

I shared with Ginger how I just signed a contract for a speaking engagement in Tampa Florida. This was my first really serious paying engagement. I told her I was nervous that they would find out that I was just a Bicycle Shop Owner. This audience was to executives of the steel industry. Ginger said, “Knock it Off, Mike Marino; I want you to go to Tampa and just be yourself! If you go there thinking they are better, you will not do well. If you go there thinking you are better than they are, you will definitely not do well.

You must go to Tampa and be who you are and allow them to be who they are, and you will do just fine.” I embraced Ginger’s advice. I did well and was privilege to speak with many of the other chapters in the steel industry after that.

The next best advice that I received was from Michael Lebouf PhD. I was attending a local chapter meeting of NSA and everyone was sharing what it took to be a full time professional speaker. When it was Dr. Lebouf’’s turn to share he said, “Just be good!”
If you are good, people will say she is good! He is good!”

Rick Phillips sales & staff trainer gave me this advice. “Never beat a dead horse!” All good things come to an end and then something better begins. Get on a new horse to take you the rest of the way. Forward ever, backwards never!

All of this advice applies to any profession. Keep your dream in your heart. Be yourself, and be good at what you do. Never beat a dead horse. It’s over! What are you going to do about it?

The room for improvement is still the greatest room in the world. You can improve on your dreams. You can improve on your relationship with yourself and others. You can improve on your proformance in your profession. You can get a new horse. It does not cost anything to think big. It pays to be good.

All advice translates into the same thing. Take care of yourself. If you want to do twice as much for yourself, your family, your profession, community, take care of yourself twice as much.

Mike Marino, Jr. aka “In Person,” is the co-author of two books and a Distinguished Toastmaster who helps people fall in love with learning. He speaks and writes on the love of Knowledge is the root of all good!. To book Mike for your next association meeting, conference or corporate event, contact Mike Marino, Jr. Proud member of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. All presentations are available in PowerPoint or Keynote.

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Tags: good, ethics, business, professional, work

How many times have you needed to call for a service such as carpet cleaning? Mechanic service? How about a more serious issue such as a flood service?

Corporate crime? I’m not sure that there is such a thing. If we want to reduce the crimes that are given that lable, we need to quit handing out large punitive fines to corporations. The idea isn’t as radical as it sounds.

First of all, when I say that there isn’t such a thing as corporate crime, I simply mean that it is always individual people who commit crimes. With that in mind, you can imagine what my better way to reduce this crime is: Go after the criminals!

Who Pays For Corporate Crime?

Exactly who pays when a large corporation is fined for breaking the law? To begin with, the stockholders pay. Many of these are innocent retirees who have money invested with the company and had no idea they were breaking the law. Then the employees pay with the loss of jobs, if the financial situation of the company is damaged by the fines. Who doesn’t pay? Just the criminals – the individuals who chose to break the law.

All crimes are committed by PEOPLE, not companies. When a company dumps poisons into the environment, a PERSON made the decision to do that (or several people). When a company steals from a pension fund or violates workers rights, INDIVIDUALS made those decisions. People commit corporate crime, not corporations!

If you want to stop corporate crime, start putting the individuals who are involved in the crime in PRISON. Our current system often has company officers making cost/benefit calculations as to whether the profits from certain crimes are greater than what the occasional fines add up to. Even though laws are broken, they stand little chance of being held personally responsible. Why not hold them responsible?

To fine companies for the actual costs imposed on others by a crime is appropriate. We have to clean up toxic messes, and in other cases compensate those who suffer damages. This also means that shareholders have a reason to be careful in who they elect to the board of directors. However, “punitive” fines are ridiculous unless they are levied against the individual criminals. Make the person who committed the crime pay the fine.

Is this such a radical idea? I don’t think so! By the way, which do you think is more likely to deter a corporate officer from committing a crime, a fine that is paid by the company, and doesn’t even affect his salary, or ten years in jail? The answer to that gives us the answer to corporate crime.

Steve Gillman has been exploring new ideas for decades. Visit his site for invention ideas, business ideas, story ideas, political and economic theories, deep thoughts, and more. Get a free gift too: New Ideas

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We all have ways of testing opportunities that enter our lives. Some of us just dive right in based on feeling, others walk straight into what they know is right by a gut feeling or intuition. And if it’s not gut feelings or emotions that are the tests of opportunities, it is the logical mind persuading us to ignore those feelings and emotions and test it with our reality of reason.

Most of us do not have a predetermined strategy for testing opportunities, or even more generally to test the actions we take and the choices we make in our lives.

There is an easier way to determine if our choices we make and the opportunities we receive ‘pass the test’. This simple 32 word statement of business ethics was first created in the 1930s and used to turn around a failing company. These four questions were applied by each employee to each and to every minute detail of the company’s workings. This little list of four questions from Rotary International, a humanitarian business organization, is the most widely printed, translated and reproduced piece of business ethics today:

“Of the things we say, think or do:

1. Is it the TRUTH?

2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?

3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?

4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?”

If we built businesses and our lives based on these very simple 4 questions we would be coming from a place completely the opposite of the competitive mind and the lack mentality. As you can see, these questions prompt you to choose what is true, fair, and good, making choices that can build friendships and goodwill. It helps us to see how the choices we make can be beneficial to all concerned.

Because of our societal influences, we most often are inclined to make choices and act based on a competitive mind. This comes from the perspective of lack, scarcity, and ultimately greed.

Any opportunity based on the model of competition and lack will simply not pass the test. Competition promotes strife. It embodies winning one spot, taking it away from all the other people who want it. It misleads people to believing there is only one chance for success, when in reality there is plenty for all.

The competitive model encourages people to rely on a source outside of themselves to give them what they need. This denies the power of their own ability to create what they want. This narrow focus shows they are choosing to ignore the possibility of creating this opportunity in their own lives, instead of trying to win the spot from millions of others.

This simple testing technique takes us completely out of the competitive mind of greed, scarcity and lack. It turns our thoughts and choices toward the positive, realizing there are opportunities we can take that can provide increase for all concerned.

I invite you to use these questions to test your actions and opportunities in your life. If you are seeking opportunity, these questions may help you see things in a different way. In doing this, perhaps you might find an opportunity in your life which truly allows you to benefit the world, while at the same time reaching whatever your dreams, goals, and desires are.

Carina MacInnes is an author and entrepreneur, currently offering a free in-depth e-course on wealth building secrets by her favorite mentor, She also offers a powerful opportunity to increase health, wealth and vitality in your own life. Visit her site here.

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Tags: practice, ethics, standard, professional, corporate

Maybe it was a barely perceptible inner voice that said: “I don’t trust this person!”

Do you wonder where it comes from? This judgment, that we’re in the presence of someone who is going to let us down, or perhaps has already secretly decided to take advantage?

This only happens to me rarely, but when it does, my first response is to give whatever proposal I’m considering at least a little more time. If someone is trying to con you, generally that’s one thing he’ll avoid, because he wants you to act impulsively, to overcome your natural inhibitions and self-protective instincts.

But creating a time buffer isn’t always sufficient, because some people are perpetrating “the long con.” This, by definition, is a scheme that takes place over time. It’s a big stakes game, requiring deeper and deeper trust on the part of the victim, the mark.

In fact, in a long con, the perpetrator may challenge the mark to take his time, showing what appears to be nonchalance and all of the patience in the world. The mark is induced to feel that he sets the pace. Nobody is pressuring him, no sir!

I believe there are some telltale signs that we’re dealing with someone we shouldn’t trust:

(1) Explicit Contradictions

Do they tell you one thing on a certain occasion, and then the story seems noticeably out of alignment a short time later?

For instance, a person who claims to be a fitness nut over the phone, but who steps outside for frequent smoking breaks when you meet, in person, is conning himself.

How can he be straight with you?

(2) Implicit Contradictions

A person who claims to be financially well off but who drives a car with vintage body damage is either eccentric or it’s more likely that he used the insurance proceeds from the crash to pay other pressing bills. Holes in the shoes and poor or ragged haircuts tell a similar story.

I realize that there are frugal people who are millionaires, and one famous billionaire, Warren Buffett, is known to drive modest cars and to still live in the house he occupied when he was just starting his career. Still, he may not be my definition of dapper, but he’s presentable.

(3) His Supporting Cast: Are They Supportive?

Few of us operate all by ourselves. We have cohorts around us. How do they perform? Are they at ease, attending to their own business, or are they showing signs that they’re monitoring your interaction with the guy you suspect of being untrustworthy? If they pay too much attention to how he’s doing with you, whether you’re falling under the spell, or if they seem hostile toward him, that’s a tip-off all is not well.

(4) Are You In The Presence of A Predator?

We all have a sixth sense for danger, though I believe we’ve been talked out of tuning into it. But animals still have it. Watch them, and you’ll start to get yours back.

For instance, a number of years ago I assisted an elderly relative to market a property she owned in a rough, gang occupied part of town. It wasn’t pleasant. I took Blue with me, my lumbering, but very quiet and gentle Doberman.

A realtor met us at the property with his assistant, and he started criticizing the property, referring to the gang problem, continuing vandalism, and the like. Then, he made an offer to buy it.

At that moment, Blue started growling at him!

It was a first! Never before had I heard this sound coming from my four-legged buddy.

The realtor lost it. “Is he growling at me?”

What could I say? I don’t see anybody else around here!

Anyway, Blue tipped me off, and sure enough, about a month later, I lined up a genuine buyer who offered twice as much for the place.

To this day, I’m convinced Blue knew exactly what kind of predator we were facing.

I have declined to do business on strictly financial grounds, and a few of those decisions I’ve come to regret. I admit that.

But I’ve never regretted walking away from a deal because of a lack of trust. To me, trust is essential, and it’s simply not negotiable.

When you feel you can’t trust someone, you probably can trust yourself on that!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman © 2006

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He is headquartered in Glendale, California.

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To say that we as human beings have ethical values implies something quite profound. It literally means that we are, in a manner of speaking “hardwired” with such values. If we were not we would not have the ability to ever gauge when something was “right” or “wrong”.

You see, before you can make such an assessment you need to have an “internal measuring stick” by which to make such measurements.

So where does this internal reference or “measuring stick” live inside of us? Well many would say that it is something we learn through our lives say from our families, religion, courses on ethics, involvement with or awareness of the legal system and so on. In other words that the “ethical measuring stick” is just a set of rules we have acquired and is represented by the many beliefs we have about what is considered “good behavior”.

If this were the case then that ethical measuring stick would be quite vulnerable to being altered the next time some new rule was espoused by some “authority”. In other words the whole foundation of what is or is not ethical would be again on very shaky ground. This of course might also bring into question the reason we have ethical values at all as they would have no place from which to originally germinate.

Now if you consider for a moment a situation that you would consider transcends your ethical values notice where within you you make such an assessment. If you notice it closely I think you will ultimately agree that apart from any beliefs you may have about the matter deeper down inside you also have some feelings about it.

For a moment notice these feelings. Notice where you feel them most intensely as you consider the situation that I asked you to focus on. Now do you “think” that these feelings were generated by you or did they just happen to emerge spontaneously without you having to do anything other than hold the situation in mind?

The next time you return to “thinking” about the situation at hand do you think that these feelings will “feel” any different? Likely not because the situation is what it is and you being human will “always” feel the way you do about it and nothing can change that.

So here we’ve come to an awareness of something inside you that appears immutable i.e. your feelings about the situation at hand.

Unlike one’s beliefs these are unchanging and hence hardwired in each human being. Isn’t this what we have been calling the “internal ethical measuring stick”, that which we rely on to guide us to the ethical high ground.

So if we all have this ethical hardwiring then why is it that we have any ethical problems to deal with at all on this planet? Shouldn’t we all automatically be in alignment with them and living the good ethical life? Well if you look around it’s clear that this is not the case so something must be seriously wrong.

What do you know is this problem here? Well when you look at what we rely on to guide us in life it has very little to do with this internal wisdom. Feelings in fact have been maligned for too long and the “mind” and what we have chosen to “store” there through learning has attained predominant mastery over our lives. How does that feel to you?

The whole idea of ethics is supposed to be about what is right and what is wrong, but for whom? Well for you! In other words this inner wisdom is the repository of information and guidance about what is right for you. That is what will lead you to a happy, successful, fulfilling life. What are the consequences to you of discarding or even denying this inner wisdom?

Well it means that you will feel lost, alone, confused, vulnerable to being manipulated and exploited, and therefore unhappy and unfulfilled. In other words your life and your success will be stolen from you.

If all that education of yours has left you feeling this way and you would like to find your way back to some clarity then kindly visit the web link below where you can download a free audio from me with a special message that will permanently alter your life.

Dr. Nick Arrizza is trained in Chemical Engineering, Business Management & Leadership, Medicine and Psychiatry. He is an Energy Psychiatrist, Healer, Key Note Speaker,Editor of a New Ezine Called “Spirituality And Science” (which is requesting high quality article submissions) Author of “Esteem for the Self: A Manual for Personal Transformation” (available in ebook format on his web site), Stress Management Coach, Peak Performance Coach & Energy Medicine Researcher, Specializes in Life and Executive Performance Coaching, is the Developer of a powerful new tool called the Mind Resonance Process(TM) that helps build physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well being by helping to permanently release negative beliefs, emotions, perceptions and memories. He holds live workshops, international telephone coaching sessions and international teleconference workshops on Physical. Emotional, Mental and Spiritual Well Being.

His personal site here.

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Tags: ethics, questions, morality, professional, article