Being in business over the past three years for myself has been one of the biggest learning lessons I have ever had. I’ve discovered that this experience teaches you more about who you are and what type of people are in this world than any other life experience could teach. Over the past three years, I have had both good and bad experiences with people (more good of course!) and it never ceases to amaze me… some people just don’t know how to have, and cherish, an identity of their own.

Being a virtual assistant, I encounter a lot of these identity issues. There are virtual assistants in business who are not interested in growing partnerships and relationships. A lot of them just don’t know the best way to grow an identity of their own and separate themselves from the crowd. This is one of the reasons I started The VA Coach – I want to coach people not only to launch a successful virtual assistance business but also how to find their inner identity and run their businesses morally and ethically.

I have found that when someone in business does not have an identity, a strong base to stand on, they then break some of the most basic ethical codes. They take business from the people they know and work with, they copy what someone else is doing in their business, they speak unprofessionally about their colleagues and they go to great lengths to stand out of integrity. These people aren’t necessarily doing this out of maliciousness, I truly believe it’s because they haven’t figured out their own magic formula for success yet.

When you are a confident business person who is very sure of your identity, you tend to get clear and focused on what it is you want and then you go after that – in a very true and positive manner. You form friendships, relationships and bonds with people who have similar goals in mind and you form mutually beneficial partnerships. You are then able to bring things to your clients and your colleagues that you weren’t able to before. You start thinking of others before you think of yourself.

When you aren’t a confident business person and perhaps you may be a bit envious of someone else’s success, you can then find yourself acting in a way that isn’t true to who you are – isn’t true to your identity. When this happens, you aren’t able to feel good about yourself inside and therefore, that projects onto your business and how you interact with your clients and colleagues.

The best way to find out who you are and locate your identity is to start a gratitude journal. I have one and I write in it each day. Instead of focusing on the negative things that may come in and out of my business, I focus on the positive and I then generate more positive feelings for both myself and my clients. By looking at what you are grateful for, you’ll start to feel good about who you are which will then translate into you making others feel good.

Always remember, who you are today is a reflection of your past attitudes and behaviors. You can decide today, right now, to make a change and stand on your own Be true to yourself and success and the things you want in life will come easily to you.

– About the Author –

Erin Blaskie is the owner of Business Services, ETC (see the website). BSETC is a virtual assistance company that gives freedom to small business owners, coaches and speakers by managing the BS, etc.

– For More Information –

Erin has a blog located on the main page of her website in which she provides advice on small businesses and running a virtual assistance company. She has recently started a free bi-weekly telecall for virtual assistants where they can come together with other VAs and get support. You can find out more on this website .

– Copyright Information –

All rights reserved. This publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system or otherwise, unless this notification of copyright is retained.

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Tags: ethics, responsibility, legal issues, social , business

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Copyright © 2007 Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

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Tags: personal, ethics, code, professional, social

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read more here.

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Tags: ethics, social, responsibility, code, work

“An organisation has a direct impact on its stakeholders namely suppliers, customers, work colleagues, and consumers of its goods and services. It also has a range of indirect impacts on non-governmental organisations and an indirect, but often significant impact on the local community within which it operates, and on the national or indeed global community. It is therefore important for an organisation to recognise its responsibilities to its suppliers, customers, and staff and address the way it impacts on its social and physical environment.

Organisations need to review their current performance, determine if their current level of performance meets predetermined ethical aims and objectives and if necessary identify how the organisation could improve and communicate this to their stakeholders. The management team need to define these aims and objectives so that they can drive internal improvements, potentially decrease the cost of production and also build the confidence of customers and potential customers in the organisation. To be a preferred supplier they must inspire trust and confidence by consistently meeting the quality standards of their customers, ensuring reliability in meeting product and service requirements, and seeking to continuously measure and improve performance. They must also be able to demonstrate their understanding of the ways that their activities affect the local community.

A Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategy can deliver brand value and increase brand equity by acting as a management tool to:

• manage and where possible reduce costs,

• manage, mitigate or minimise risk,

• and identify new organisational opportunities.

Therefore, a CSR strategy describes an organisation’s vision – its key aims objectives and measurable indicators of success. It also defines an organisation’s governance structure and the management systems that are in place. Many organisations produce an annual report to inform their stakeholders of their CSR performance and report is increasingly being utilised as a marketing tool as well as an organisational driver.

So, how do you define your organisation’s key environmental, social and economic priorities? How do you measure business success?

Visit this site to read more.

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Tags: corporate, social, responsibility, business, jobs

- Indira Gandhi

The most significant gesture in business and in life is a handshake. In many cultures it is the unspoken message that accompanies our words. A handshake often takes place when you meet someone new, when you are greeting someone you haven’t seen in a while, when you leave a party or meeting, when you offer congratulations or when you agree on a contract or working arrangement.

Historians agree that the handshake was most likely developed several hundred years ago in England as a method to communicate that you were empty-handed and unarmed during a meeting. Weapons were often concealed in the left sleeve so shaking was done with the left hand. As more people began to travel without weapons it became common to shake with the right hand. Certain historical figures took liberty with shaking hands and created their own custom. George Washington decided that shaking hands was for the common people so he bowed when greeting people in public.

The intent in shaking hands is to make contact “”web-to-web”" with the other person’s hand. The web of your hand is that part between your thumb and forefinger. Extend your hand with your fingers together, in a vertical position, with the thumb up and slightly to the side. Once you make contact with the web of the other person’s hand, close your thumb over the back of the hand and give a slight squeeze with your fingertips. Here’s where so many people go wrong. Some move in for the kill and give a bone-crushing handshake that brings tears to the eyes of the other person. Then there are those who stop at the first hint of contact and never add the little squeeze that indicates there is life and energy in the body. The result is the “”wimpy”" or “”limp”" handshake, sometimes referred to as the “”dead fish.”"

Every country in the world has its own customs for meeting and greeting. Most cultures encourage handshaking more often than the United States. As always, you need to do your research on meeting and greeting before you embark on an overseas trip. If you are a woman, this is critically important since certain cultures do not allow women to touch a man who is not related to them.

Here are some of the most common handshaking rituals around the world:

* In Japan it is normal to shake hands frequently. Sometimes a bow is included or substituted.

* In Europe you shake hands whenever you meet someone even if you know them well.

* Russians tend to shake hands frequently but never while wearing gloves.

* A strong handshake and good grip are appreciated in South Africa.

* A vigorous, pumping handshake is normal for the Chinese.

* Men in Arabian cultures encourage a long and limp handshake along with a specific verbal greeting.

* People in Panama greet each other with eye contact combined with shaking hands.

* The French always shake hands in business meetings but all other greetings involve kissing the cheeks.

* In Kuwait shaking hands is only used for male strangers who meet the first time. Shaking hands with an unrelated female is considered inappropriate.

* Residents of Indian and Pakistan shake hands by grasping your hand in both of their hands and holding your hand briefly.

It is considered impolite to refuse to shake hands but be prepared in case you meet someone who says “”No”" to handshakes because of arthritis, joint problems or a communicable illness such as a cold. The person who is unable to shake hands should always offer an apology and a brief explanation so that the other person does not feel shunned.

You may occasionally encounter someone who does not respond in any way to your outstretched hand. When that happens, simply withdraw your hand and ignore the snub. It’s the other person’s problem, not yours.

Knowing when and how to shake hands is an important business skill whether you are working in your own office or if you are traveling to a meeting 5,000 miles away. Always give the impression of someone who is polite and confident by cultivating a firm, but not crushing, grip and always offer your hand when appropriate.

(c) 2007, Lydia Ramsey, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprint rights granted so long as article and by-line are published intact and with all links made live.

Lydia Ramsey is a business etiquette expert, professional speaker, corporate trainer and author. Learn from Lydia by using her four LIVE business etiquette broadcasts on DVD or by reading her newest book “”Lydia Ramsey’s Little Book of Table Manners”". You can purchase these business etiquette tools here.

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Tags: ethical, decisions, social, work, behaviour

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

God says stealing is wrong.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sandy Shaw

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

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

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

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Tags: personal, ethics, code, professional, social

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Visit his website, and he can be seen here.

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Tags: personal, professional, ethics, code, social

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Visit his website, and he can be seen here.

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Tags: personal, professional, ethics, code, social

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Tags: ethics, social, responsibility, code, work

“I just returned home from my 7th company event, two of those events I hosted myself. Since I joined my company as an independent distributor back in January of 2005, I have been told by countless people that attending these functions is necessary for the success of my own business and that I should “”Do whatever I have to do to get there”". In turn I have also (in the past) told my own team members to do what they had to do to get to the company event.

Attending this last event for me was not so much about learning new techniques or being educated on how to market my products or my business instead, it was more about confirming several things that I’d been pushing to the back of my mind for quite some time.

Two of the things I needed confirmation on were that I would not learn new techniques or be educated on how to market my products.

I have to question the ethics of telling people who are unfamiliar with network marking or multi level marketing that attending a company function is what they need to do to grow their business. These events can rack up a rather large bill once you factor in your traveling expenses, the fees for the event, hotel costs and the other expenses that are associated with attending a company function.

Because I have made a major shift in how I educate and train my team of distributors, I now have to question whether attending a company function is really beneficial not only for myself, but for my team members.

With 7 events under my belt I can honestly say that with two exceptions attending these events really hasn’t help me build my business or grow my retail base. For the most part, what I have seen are recycled topics and a speaker list dominated by the popular group. And then there are the endless testimonials that are better used on a personal website or opportunity call. Remember we are already a part of the organization and if we need to hear a testimonial to validate our decision to be there, it may be time to re-evaluate why we chose the particular business we are in.

Company conventions and events do have a place in todays world, but each individual must evaluate what they want to achieve from these events and decide on their own if attending the event will truly benefit their business or if it will take away from their business. Company functions are a great source for getting first hand information on the history of the company and its founders. They are also great for getting people pumped up about their business and product line. But keep in mind that attending these functions will probably not result in increased sales or a larger organization for yourself.

Keeping the company event in perspective, it’s more like a pep rally than a business building seminar. If you need a pep rally experience then attend the events but if you are looking for details on how to build your business or downline, chances are you won’t find it at the company event.

The types of people that we recruit are generally people who are looking for an opportunity to bring income into their household. Sending them to an event simply is not the way to help them achieve that. Telling them that they need to do whatever then can to get to these events when we know they still don’t have their business in profit in my opinion is irresponsible. Our primary focus needs to be helping these people in our downline to get their business into profit and until their business can afford the additional expense of attending an event, we really should not put pressure on them to attend to boost our own numbers.

It is far more responsible for us as leaders to encourage our downline to use their resources to run an ad for their own business building efforts or put that money toward increasing their customer base.

Once their business is in profit and the revenues from their business can support attending the company convention or function that is when we should be talking about going to the company event.

Here’s my bottom line on attending company events. Unless my business is in profit and generating enough income to cover the expense of attending one of these functions, I have no business putting my business or my family finances second in order to attend. Nor is it my place to encourage my downline to attend such an event when they are not in a financial position to support the expense.

I realize that my opinion is not within the accepted norm of my industry, however I believe this is a common sense approach that better serves my downline. I personally would be horrified if one of my team members did what they had to in order to attend an event only to have them drop the next month because they had to dip into their family budget to afford attending the event.

As responsible sponsors our first concern for our downline should be to help them to achieve profit in their business, not to rack up business debt in order to satisfy our ego by having the most distributors at a company function.

With a background in Human Resources and Retail, Cherrie Fishlowitz uses a common sense approach to internet marking and training that comes from her personal experiences both online and offline.

Visit Cherrie with your comments or questions at her website.

Picture back to when you were in elementary school. It is a warm summer day, everyone is outside playing on the playground. Some children are playing on the swings, some on the monkey bars, while others decide they want to play kickball. After choosing captains, they start to pick who is going to be on their winning team. The captains quickly pick their friends, which goes by quick and then there are the few geeks or nerds left to pick from. Being not so popular growing up, I was one of the last few kids to be picked. It wasn’t that I didn’t know how to play kickball but I wasn’t an outgoing person in my childhood.

But how does personal, organizational, and cultural values come into play with my position as a manager and recruiter for a banking call center? How can past experiences help or hinder future events?

Personal Values

As the years went by I started to open up and began making friends in high school. I tried to be with the “”in crowd”" at the same time trying to be nice to the other not so popular students. Often times I felt a “”gut”" feeling about doing the right thing, other times I went with the popular decision; right or wrong. But as I was growing up, I started to realize that the right decision was always the best for me. It helped me become ethical not only in my personal life, but also in my professional life. It started to define my personal values and has guided me through tough decisions, popular or not, for which I haven’t regretted.

Personal values are something I believe is learned. It goes back to the continual debate over nature versus nurture. I believe my values came from both. I grew up in a two-parent home with an older sibling. Both of my parents worked for a living and I learned most of my values from them. They brought me up to be respectful, hard working, and honest and most of all treat everyone the way you want to be treated. I learned not to take money for granted because we didn’t have much. I wore hand-me-down clothing from friends and relatives. It taught me that money isn’t what makes you happy but you need to like yourself for who you are and not what you own.
Now as a hiring manager for Compass Bank, I look for similar values in the potential employees. I ask them questions about their childhood, past experiences that changed their values and what are they looking for in their career. I also like to share my values of who I am and how I advanced my career. Finally I ask them what are some of the values they are looking for in an organization?

Organizational Values

Every organization, big or small has a set of organizational values. Some of these values are in line with our own values and clearly defined, other are vague.

In the paper Finding Talent: A Study of Contacts and Careers (Hines, 2003) shows four different methods used on hiring employees from entry-level to executive positions. Each of the individuals interviewed stated they don’t follow their organizational values when interviewing and hiring employees. For entry-level positions, 80% use job postings in the newspaper or the Internet, career fairs and employee referrals. For middle to upper management, more then 50% say the hire based on word of mouth and not so much of past experience. And even others stated they try to hire previous employees they worked with before at other corporations. Are these personal values of these individuals? Does the organization stand behind these types of values? Or does cultural values come into play?

Cultural Values

Cultural values are a part of what makes up the world. The United States is called the “”melting pot”" since it became independent from the British in the 1700′s. Many individuals came to America looking for a new beginning at the same time they brought their cultures or traditions with them. As we become more of a multi-cultural society some of the traditions that were predominate during the early periods of American history are not so clear today. In early years, Italians only married other Italians, Germans only married other Germans, so on and so forth. Now, cultural or traditions are not a factor.

I view cultural values as a great way to understand someone’s values. It brings into light some of their personal values and the potential employees up bringing. I was raised in two different parts of the country. I was born in Western Pennsylvania and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida. Both parts of the country have different cultural values. In Pennsylvania, cultural values were placed on tradition. My grandfather on my dad’s side of the family was a skilled craftsman. He was very handy in his trade for which he used to provide for his family. He built his own homes. He worked very hard everyday in manual labor. On the other hand, being raised in Florida, the cultural values were different in the respect of not keeping traditions. They wanted to be different and on the leading edge of new things. These were not the same values I was use to being exposed to in Pennsylvania.

As an adult, I enjoy learning about different cultures and the values they place on individuals. It gives me an insight to what type of person they were in the past and hopefully what type of employee they will be in the future. But is cultural values a good tool to use when hiring?
Based on reading of The Role of Literacy in Individuals and Nations (Berryman, 1994), some cultures view experience and education in different ways. Emphasis on continuing education or continual heritage depends on your cultural. It could also depend on whom you know in the company that could help you get hired or promoted. For example, in the former USSR, only gifted students were given the opportunity to continue their education passed the eighth grade. Those whom didn’t display exceptional intelligence either went into the military academy or continued a trade or skill needed in the economy. This is opposite of our own culture and the opportunities provided to everyone.

Ethical Dilemmas

As I stated in the beginning of the paper, I still have a difficult time trying to hire candidates for open positions at Compass Bank. We try to hold regular job fairs each month with the Maricopa Department of Economic Security. During these job fairs, I have the opportunity to speak to individuals from all walks of life. Most of them are middle to late age workers who lost their job because they couldn’t keep up with changing technology. I spend about fifteen minutes with these individuals to see if their personal values and past work experience will be a fit for our organization. It is a very difficult ethical dilemma trying to look past maybe the way they are dressed or how many jobs they had in the past. But my personal values help guide me in those decisions. I usually will get a gut feeling that someone isn’t telling me the truth or they won’t fit into our organizational culture. It is hard to see these individuals sitting in front of me knowing they need a job to support their families. It tugs on my emotions but knowing I had the opportunity to let them know not to give up and share the same experiences I had when I was out of work helps them to continue their pursuit to work.

Conclusion

In conclusion, our personal, organizational and cultural values play a big part in our everyday lives. By trying to align your personal values with your organization values and not so much the cultural values, it provides a road map to help guide you with ethical decisions. Until someone writes a book that is 100% accurate on hiring the right person for the job, we will have to depend on our values.

References

Sue E. Berryman The World Bank, Washington DC (1994, September) The Role of Literacy in the Wealth of Individuals and Nations. Retrieved February 13, 2006 from website

Hines, Michael J.W., (2003 May) Finding Talent: A Study of Contacts and Careers.

Retrieved February 13, 2006 from website

Steven Brown, MBA is a loving husband and father of two boys. He enjoys his time with his family by providing a strong family foundation of Christian Faith. After completing his Bachelors degree, Steven wanted to further his ability to teach and share to others his mindset that they can do anything if they would believe in themselves.

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Tags: personal, ethics, code, professional, social

In a world where crime is a constant and fraud is done everyday, we long to find people that we can trust and opportunities to work together where we do not feel threatened or scared of the outcome possibilities. As a business owner, we want to put our best foot forward and ensure that our clients see us as being “different from the others” in one way or another. Having integrity in your business can set you apart from the pack very quickly.

There are many ways to show your customers that you have integrity. Here are just a few of them:

1. Be passionate about your business. It is important that we are in a business or career that we love in the first place, if you are, it makes it easier to show your passion. So, do a heart check before going into any given business opportunity and make sure that you can be truly passionate about it, so that the passion you have will shine through to the customers.

2. Be upfront. Share information with your customers or clients from day one. Do not withhold information from them because you are afraid you’ll loose a sale, or not make as much money in the end. You need to want more than anything, to do what is right, not only for you but for your client as well. Withholding the truth will only serve you poorly in the end.

3. Appreciate your clients. Showing appreciation can go a long way in helping your customer to see that you are genuine, and can be trusted. Give your customers extra to show your appreciation, not to bribe them into doing more for you, or spending more money with you. Just give back to them to show that you are grateful for their business and loyalty.

4. Be personable and available. You might be the boss, the head honcho, or the CEO, but that does not mean that you should hide away in your office never to be seen by anyone but your employees after all the clients and customers are gone. You want to be seen by everyone as someone who truly cares, you want to be available to help meet the needs of your clients. Availability to others also shows your integrity.

5. Take responsibility for your mistakes. Let’s face it we all mess up. We are not perfect and we will make mistakes. When you do take responsibility and try to make things right. Your clients will appreciate you for it and will be more likely to forgive your mistake than if you tried to cover it up and not tend to it.

These are just a few of the ways that you can show integrity in your business on a daily basis, helping others to trust you with their time and their money.

Alyssa Avant is a Christian speaker, writer and business owner. Her Writer for Hire business provides articles and content to online entrepreneurs and business owners. Contact Alyssa for your writing needs here

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Tags: article, ethics, social, work, workplace

Talk to any business owner to C-Level executive and somewhere in the conversation there will be either a direct or indirect reference to work ethics. For the result of poor business work ethics is continually affecting the business from productivity to customer loyalty to profitability.

Yet, when I ask the following question:

Do you believe that your employees come to work to directly mess up your day, tick off your customers or negatively affect your business?

I always receive the same answer from business owners to C-Level executives to department managers, No! So, my simple little brain begins to think then what is the real problem here? Is it poor work ethics or poor leadership. This thought process has allowed me to look at poor work ethics from an entirely different lens.

The other day I listened to a CEO of a mid size company share with me in great detail about an employee who for over one year failed to turn in his expense report. This performance failure affected everybody down stream specifically the financial department who could not accurately report all costs and where necessary bill those expense costs to the clients.

Bottom line this refusal to comply was creating affecting customer loyalty both externally and internally. External customers were not getting billed and loyal internal customers knew that this person was not being held accountable because the behavior continued for over a year.

Then I was asked what did I think about this situation? My response was “To whom did this individual report? This is a leadership and management problem first.” Upon seeing the look in the CEO’s face, I realized the non-complying individual directly reported to this CEO. Unfortunately, the CEO believed the problem to be one of poor ethics on part of the employee and truly did not want to take ownership of the problem.

This story was not the first time that I have heard or observed poor work ethics as a symptom of poor leadership within management. When employees are not held accountable for the results of their actions even though they do not directly intend to mess things up, the overall performance of the organization dramatically suffers.

When management fails to take action, they begin to establish a habit of thought, an attitude and more important an underlying belief that this behavior is acceptable. Years ago I wrote an article about work ethics really being attitude of performance. Today this is even more true than ever before.

If management truly wants a high performance culture, where consistent positive work ethics are demonstrated each and every day, then these individuals must become leaders first and managers second by the following:

* Communicating the statement of core values clearly
* Explaining completely as to what the core values mean in daily behaviors
* Securing agreement to adhering at all levels to those core values
* Accepting the responsibility to address the failure to adhere to those core values (accountability)

By taking such action, then management can truly look at work ethics from an individual perspective because organizationally there is alignment between the core foundational statement and the desired results.

Is your leadership contributing to poor work ethics? Take this FREE leadership audit to help you identify your leadership skills.

Are you building a high performance culture? Take this FREE customer loyalty audit.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, chief customer officer, with offices in Chicago & Indianapolis, helps organizations through business coaching training services to return to the purpose of business that being building ravings fans while increasing productivity and profitability. She can help you double your business results and establish your competitive advantage.

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Tags: article, ethics, social, work, workplace

“Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It’s off to work we go!” Like the words in the Disney cartoon melody, every day people merrily trek to a job they apparently enjoy. Are these people misguided social dwarfs out of synch with the rest of the workforce? Well, these people are for real – another “Urban Legend” bites the dust! Even though we often give lip-service to the “work ethic,” it really does exist and it is stronger than one might expect. Frank Lloyd Wright, the famous 20th Century architect, stated, “I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.”

The “work ethic” is personified by those who have found work that provides both a service to society and personal satisfaction. It is their passion – their life “calling.” One’s calling can follow any career path – writer, accountant, missionary, teacher, auto mechanic, carpenter, cook, social worker, attorney, or brain surgeon. It takes commitment and hard work, but you enjoy it and it feels like the right fit for you. You may actually become so intensively involved and committed that your “calling” becomes “one” with the company or organization’s mission.

Encompassing centuries, this commitment and dedication to hard work has been exemplified in such societies as the Amish, Mennonites, Hutterites and the Shakers. The Shaker phrase attributed to Mother Ann Lee, the founder of the Shaker sect: “Put you hands to work, and your hearts to God,” encourages a simple life of hard work and spirituality. We might also identify with Ben Franklin as another example who espoused his philosophy of avarice and strong work ethic.

How could this concept of a work ethic develop and endure in a society where the concept of “entitlement” now seems to be so prevalent? The roots begin with Max Weber (V ber), one of the leading founders of modern sociology, and his renowned work on modern social science, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. In the 1930s, after the book was translated into English, the U.S. workforce began its on-going love affair with the “Work Ethic” – a social trait that would become the backbone of American enterprise and world leadership.

The arduous work of capitalism, according to Weber, is closely associated with intrinsic Protestant religious beliefs and behavior. Only in the West has rationalization in science, law, and culture developed to the extent where political, technical, and economic conditions depend on highly trained government officials. He further states, “However, all the peculiarities of Western capitalism have derived their significance in the last analysis only from their association with the capitalistic organization of labor.”

Historically, certain Protestant denominations had a strong influence on the members’ development of business acumen and the ethic of hard work. These Protestants developed a sense of economic rationalism that emphasized diligent and dedicated work. Each and every Sunday, Methodist and Presbyterian ministers extolled the virtues of the “Work Ethic” to their congregations through lengthy and tedious sermons.

According to Weber, the following traits characterize a strong work ethic:

ª FOCUS ON WORK – We know how precious our time is and that it is limited. We must have a passion and strive for excellence in our work. Work time should be used efficiently and wisely with a desire to make money as a fruit of our labor and not spend it irresponsibly.

ª UNPRETENTIOUS AND MODEST – We should act and dress appropriately – dress should not be flashy to attract attention or cause distraction to others.

ª HONEST AND ETHICAL: One should possess and exhibit strong ethical beliefs, and a moral code of behavior, i.e. The Ten Commandments. To do the “right thing” when no one is watching.

The power of a free labor force has made capitalism a very powerful force in our society. Riding high on the wave of post WWII patriotism and intense business competition, we became rightfully proud of our fast-growing economy and the image of hard working Americans. We take pride in who we were and what we produce as a nation. The greatest and most successful nation on earth! Although the original religious aspects eventually faded, the “Work Ethic” is firmly entrenched as a powerful and valued American social trait.

Unquestionably, we do not desire a workforce dominated by mindless “robots” even with a good work ethic. We need innovative thinkers and committed leaders that can guide us through the 21st Century and beyond. It is essential that we continue to build a strong labor force committed to an indomitable “Work Ethic” – workers that are honest, ethical, and rational.

We also need leaders that will not be afraid to work and who will take the responsibly to guide new projects and develop employee potentials to exceed projected goals. We need people passionate about a mission. A good “Work Ethic” is essential to a strong economy, and a strong vibrant society.

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Tags: article, ethics, social, work, workplace

Indulgences are an ancient form of church-granted amnesty from certain forms of punishment, in this life or hereafter, for sin. The selling of indulgences, a practice that became generally accepted with the first Crusade and grew considerably during the later Middle Ages, allowed the popes and professional pardoners to sell the forgiveness of sins and during that time actually fund some of the Crusades. In Catholic theology, buyers of such indulgences eliminated or reduced the time necessary for their souls to be cleansed in purgatory before entry into heaven. Popes and especially professional pardoners loved serial sinners as they could become a reliable source of sales and relatively easy money.

Today’s more ecumenical indulgences are bought and sold by those who think that the emissions of high levels of greenhouse gases or a lifestyle based on a big carbon footprint can be simply atoned for by paying into some sort of a fund that will look to reduce the high emissions from some other source. As in the church version, the presumption that buyers of these carbon credits operate under is that by simply paying into a fund they will have absolved themselves from responsibility and guilt resulting from their corporate and lifestyle choices.

Rather than biting the proverbial bullet and eliminating their sinning ways, these high emitters continue to harm the environment, exacerbate climate change and set bad examples for the rest of us. Instead of personal carbon credits and corporate carbon credit markets, we need leaders that understand that making the personal and corporate changes necessary to reduce long-term greenhouse gases and emissions is not only the right thing to do but it is also better and cheaper in the long run.

Tania Sole – Ms. Sole has been an environmentalist and travel enthusiast since she was a young girl growing up in Europe, the Middle East and Central America. For over ten years, she has worked at Greenslip Inc. Visit our website and get more information about what you can do to reduce your transportation carbon footprint.

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Tags: social, responsibility, ethics, corporate, business

Employers face a dilemma, each year, on which holidays to give off to their employees. Many employers do not give Martin Luther King Jr. birthday as a holiday. They do not want to be seen as racist or close minded, but employers are concerned about making enough revenue in order to pay for their overhead. For many employers its occurrence just two weeks after the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, when many businesses are closed for part of or sometimes all of the week, is troublesome. However, employers have a lot of options in solving this dilemma without cutting into their revenue. Recognizing the role that Martin Luther King, Jr. played in promoting peace, social justice and racial and class equality is the primary purpose of the holiday which can be celebrated by the employees in ways other than giving a paid holiday.

On January 17, 2000, for the first time, Martin Luther King Day was officially observed in all 50 U.S. states. On November 2, 1983, President Reagan signed a bill creating a federal holiday to honor King. Opposition to the bill was led by Senator Jesse Helms, who questioned whether King was important enough to receive such an honor. He was also critical of King’s opposition to the Vietnam War and accused King of having Communist connections. On January 16, 2006 Greenville County, South Carolina was the last county in the U.S. to officially adopt Martin Luther King Day as a paid holiday. Many individuals do not celebrate the birthday of Dr. King, because as Jesse Helms opined, he was not important enough in United States History. However, Americans lose sight of the importance of the Holiday and fail to cherish their civil rights. The celebration of Martin Luther King’s birthday must be substantive as well as symbolic. It must be more than a day of celebration. The holiday should be a day of reflection, a day of teaching non-violent philosophy and strategy, a day of getting involved in non-violent action for social and economic progress and racial and ethnic equality. It is a day that is marked by demonstrations for peace, social justice and racial and class equality, as well as a national day of volunteer community service. In Utah, Martin Luther King Day is also known as Human Rights Day; similarly, in Arizona and New Hampshire, Martin Luther King Day is also known as Civil Rights Day.

Overall, in 2006, 31% of employers were giving employees the day off, with 35% of large employers over 1,000 giving time off and 29% of smaller employers giving time off. The observance is most popular amongst nonprofit organizations and least popular among factories and manufacturers, because most factories have been shut down for one week at the end of the year. Additionally, some schools and places of higher education are closed for classes; others remain open but may hold seminars or celebrations of Dr. King’s message.

How can employers celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday to give it meaning to their employees, other than another paid holiday?

1. Provide a lunch for your employees and have a seminar regarding elimination of bias and highlight Dr. King’s teachings. Read his speech “I have a Dream” he delivered during the March on Washington.

2. A Floating Civil Rights Holiday. Celebrate the diversity of your workforce by granting a day off for a Civil Rights leader that an individual employee’s race or ethnic group honours. There are ten annual Federal holidays in the United States: New Years Day, Martin Luther King’s Birthday, President’s Day, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day. Of these, Martin Luther King’s Birthday and Columbus Day celebrate not only the accomplishment of the individual but recognize that person’s race. There are large celebrations in the African-American and Italian communities on each of these respective holidays. In some locales, holidays are granted to recognize local leaders, such as Caesar Chavez day for the Latino community.

3. Community Service Activity. Have your employees participate in a community service activity. This could be from helping out at a Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration, to collecting food or other items to help a particular community service project. Employees could be given time during their work day on Martin Luther King’s Holiday to engage in the activity.

4. Sponsor an event. Let your employees know that you recognize the accomplishments of Dr. King and you will observe the day by supporting a local event.

5. Allow employees a few hours off to attend morning events on Martin Luther King’s Birthday holiday.

6. Have a moment of silence and distribute Dr. King’s speech I have a dream.

7. Speak up for an injustice in your community.

8 Pass on the legacy. Have your employees give a talk to children about him. It only takes a moment to recognize his contributions.

For an employer to be socially conscious does not have to be costly It requires an employer to open its mind and be inclusive for all.

By Elizabeth A. Moreno, Esq. a Los Angeles employment attorney and mediatior, who guides employers through treacherous rivers of employment compliance and litigation that threaten to sink their business.

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Tags: ethical, business, training, social, responsibility

A common complaint bill collectors hear from debtors is that no one cares about us, or our finances or our situation. Just like someone with a negative attitude, many times debtors place the blame on everyone else but themselves, this includes the bill collector that is trying to collect the debt they owe their creditor. The bill collector, even if they are as nice as they can be, is immediately considered the evil enemy, just because they are what they are, a bill collector.

Not all bill collectors are evil and break the law but with the stories that have been in the news lately that is the continued perception our media is portraying. I have not seen one story yet that states not all bill collectors are violating federal and state laws, being unethical or helping a debtor. You only hear recordings of debt collectors that are breaking the law, swearing at debtors, calling at unusual hours that are not allowed and ex-debt collectors stating that they did break the law; they did try to ruin people’s day or do whatever it took to collect the money.

You don’t hear about the associations that have been trying to change this negative perception of bill collectors or the agencies and collectors that follow the law, help people and do things ethically. Yes, they do exist!

Based on this, expect consumer complaints about collection agencies to rise to extreme proportions. Obviously some agencies operate unlawfully and unethically, this has been going on for many years. In the last 10 years I know for a fact that there are more associations, more education, more books, magazines and networking going on in the debt collection industry to help educate not only debt collectors but consumers who become delinquent with their bills.

If the media would tell the “whole story” or at least “both sides” of the story, not meaning the bill collector and the debtor, but the bill collector and the bill collector. For every debt collection agency that has collectors that break the law there is an agency that follows the law and collects debts successfully while acting ethically, morally and in accordance to the FDCPA.

Another very important point to remember that has not been mentioned is that these collection agencies, whether they are breaking the law or not, are hired by someone to collect a debt. In my opinion when a creditor or business owner hires a debt collection agency to collect on any past due debts for them, the agency they choose is a reflection of that company. So if you are being harassed and called at work when you ask not to be, or getting calls at 3am, this is the agency your creditor chose and wants to represent them. Who is your creditor? Are they aware that their agency is breaking the law and thus giving them a negative representation?

If you have a bill collector calling you and breaking the law to try and collect on your past due phone bill, car loan or a credit card debt, look at the creditor. What kind of business hires someone like that? What kind of business wants to be associated with an agency that treats its customers that way?

Should any of us do business with that type of company? I think not. Let creditors also take responsibility for their actions and the agencies they hire to represent them, their company and their ethics.

Michelle Dunn, author of an award winning book has spent the last 18 years stepping into dangerous debt collection potholes. She shares her hard-won expertise on debt collection with the titles in her “Collecting Money Series.” She is the founder and president of Never Dunn Publishing, LLC and her 10 year old Credit & Collections Association with over 1025 members. She is a writer, teacher, and consultant that has a contagious passion for her work. Michelle started and ran M.A.D. Collection Agency for 8 years.

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Tags: ethical, decisions, social, work, behaviour

Seasons change and the weather goes along for the ride. Sometimes the heat is so oppressive you can literally fry an egg on your driveway. At other times, there is not enough warm blankets and quilts to keep the chill out. This is all a natural process, but the cold wind can blow in many ways, in your life and in mine.

People talk about a “”cold shoulder”" or a “”cold heart”" and everyone seems to know what this means. What if a cold wind blows through your life at any given point
and you may or may not be expecting it, or even be prepared for it? What does a erson do to fend off the ill effects of such a cold spell?

Whether in private life or in corporate life, the cold wind will blow and it will ustle up some emotions, not to mention paperwork and even ideas and concepts. If you look at such a squall as a “”natural”" part of the seasons of everyday life, then you don’t need to be prepared or even lay in a supply of warm snuggly underwear. What you do need is to open your mind and spirit and let the wind do what it will and you stand tall and hold your ground. If it strikes at your heartstrings, then this should bring you to examine the circumstances and maybe, just maybe, the illusion you were under was starting to unravel and you would have really been destroyed later on down the road. If it strikes a worthwhile project you had onceived that would have meant a promotion or at least a pat on the back, the papers strewn bout just may reveal a flaw in your fine plan and it may be able to be remedied and be better than it was orginally.

The point is that even the cold winds of life should not cause the roof to cave in. What it hould do is shake you up a bit so that steps can be restructured, facts re-examined, and relationships given a once over. In the long run, the sun will come out and the heat of the moment will take your breath away. You won’t even remember the cold
icy fingers that caused a commotion way back – when was that? Just hang on tight, button up your defenses, and stand tall. You will survive, and the learning
experience is worth the single digit temperatures for the opportunities it opens and the blast of “”new”" that was just what was needed.
ENJOY!

©Arleen M. Kaptur
January, 2007

Arleen has written numerous articles on living life to its fullest and enjoying every minute of it. She is the owner of A & J Northwoods, a gourmet food, gift, and book shop.

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Review website are popping up all over the Internet giving their reviews “more like an opinion” on every topic imaginable. These review sites are not here to give you their honest opinion but rather use their website to gain commissions from those websites that they are in fact reviewing.

Who really cares what their opinion is, when their opinion is based upon weather or not they are going to get a big fat commission check for their opinion in the first place.

These sites are mere feeding off of others hard work by running comparisons between one another for the sole purpose to get you to come to their review site in the first place. The reviews that are posted are based upon which company owner will pay the biggest commission, and not on the facts or reputation of the reviewed company itself.

ScamReviewSites.com is based in the USA to bring these varmints out in the open and tell the general public why and what they are up to. Their agenda is to trick us into believing that they really have done some research on the companies they claim they have reviewed when the facts show these review sites are merely cut, copy and paste the information from a different review site and changing the company’s name to suit their agenda.

ScamReviewSites.com has nothing to gain, they are independent of others, they do not accept ANY affiliate links or any type of commissions on their reviews. They point out the Good, the Bad and the Ugly for any and all sites without accepting a dime for their time and hard work.

You will NOT find a better source and a more genuine Review Site on the Net today. The information is straight to the point and written without any money agenda, go visit, it’s free for all.

Samuel Portier

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Tags: social, ethics, business, issues, responsibility

Corporate social responsibility is an important-sounding phrase, but what exactly is it? Well, increasingly nowadays corporations have to be seen to act in a social, ethical and responsible manner. This arose because of the changing perception of the environment, the developing world and all the other issues of our time. Corporations have a huge influence over all these things – often a negative influence, for example in cutting down rainforests and employing children to make shoes for westerners. Social responsibility is the effort to give something back and improve, not exploit, conditions in poorer areas of the world.

Social responsibility isn’t just an ethical concern – it makes good business sense too. Every time a consumer doesn’t buy a brand of clothing because they’ve heard it’s made by children it hurts the business they’ve shunned. Consumers vote with their wallets and it’s important to present a good company image, otherwise you risk people choosing someone else.

So how can corporations embrace social responsibility? After all, there’s probably some kind of outlay involved and no-one likes spending money where they don’t have to. Well, cultural change within the institution is normally the first port of call. It’s imperative to change the attitudes of management so that they understand being socially responsible can actually benefit the business further down the line. The perception of your company within the target market can make or break your business in the long-term.

It’s important that if your company does take a stance on a social issue, it’s an issue that your customers care about or something that you have a direct impact upon. Beware of taking on debates with already strong pressure groups as you run the risk of getting a lot of bad press. It’s even more important that whatever issue you take on, you’re thoroughly prepared. You need to understand that you’re in this for the long run so if you make any bold claims be sure to follow them through. You should also be able to counter any bad publicity, not to mention answering all the questions you receive when you talk about what you’re doing.

The best corporate social responsibility comes from within the company, when members really care about change for the better and embracing new ideas. Sometimes it’s easier to get an outside agency to help with this – pr consultants for example who have done it all before and can help you see where change is necessary. If management-level staff embrace social responsibility this trickles down to the rest of the company a lot easier than if the change is forced from the outside.

Social responsibility will cost time, effort and money to implement, but your ongoing projects can give your company a greater ability to do good. It also gives you a greater perceived ability to do good, meaning that consumers buy into you more and trust that they’re buying from an ethical supplier or doing business with an ethical partner. Social responsibility is something that no corporation can afford to overlook.

Sylvia Kittens lives in Harrogate, England

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Tags: social, responsibility, ethics, corporate, business

Poor work ethics can be heard from the boardroom to the shipping dock. Employees pointing the finger at their fellow employees who do not consistently demonstrate the same beliefs about working hard or even just working.

How to change these poor work ethics is a question that stymies the best leadership or management. What makes one employee hard working going the extra mile? Why do we have so many who are just here to earn a paycheck? And let us not forget the few who make a business work day a miserable experience for everyone around them.

Small Business Coaching Tip: Identify your explores (25%), vacationers (50%) and prisoners (25%). Then put together an action plan to convert more vacationers into explorers and terminate the prisoners.

First, there needs to be some clarity around what is a behavior and what is an ethic. A behavior is what someone does, a physical action that is observable from body language to actual performance. An ethic is a belief about what is important to that individual.

For example, an employee comes to work at clocks in at 8:50 am and is on the floor ready to begin a day’s work. Another employee comes to work clocks in at 8:59am and is still not on the floor. The behaviors of these two individuals demonstrate their work ethics.

Since an ethic is really a belief, then to change the behaviors begin by changing the beliefs. Unfortunately, most training only looks at the behaviors and fails to identify the beliefs.

Small Business Coaching Tip: Negative results are reflected through negative actions. However, negative beliefs drive negative actions.

Additionally, within the K-12 educational system, there has been several decades where hard work has not been rewarded consistently. Too many parents do not want their children to be considered failures or losers so rewarding the top two performers has been replaced. After all, it is not fair that the student who was just .5% behind number two students did not receive any recognition.

Conditioning also plays an important part in the development of work ethics. Remember being in class and how the other students treated the over-performers? Very few students wanted to be the “smart person” or the teacher’s pet. Staying unnoticed was a far better way to get recognition from your peers.

The lack of having a personal values statement can contribute to poor work ethics. In a society that now frowns on judging behavior, the wink and the nod belief takes over. What this belief suggests that “Sure I believe in honesty unless I get caught.”

Several months ago, I observed the wink and the nod behavior when I saw one business person pay for a newspaper from a vending machine and then give a second unpaid paper to his colleague. Both believed this was OK until I deposited $.50 and paid for the paper that was stolen. Then their behaviors changed because they were caught.

Businesses, as well as other organizations, also suffer from the wink and the nod belief. Executive management talks about conserving resources and then spends excessive profits on marketing junkets to the now famous golden parachutes.

To change poor work ethics requires a multidimensional approach that infuses the executive team leadership actions and beliefs identification through effective communication of current goals and strategies. When alignment of all behaviors is not present in any organization, one of the outcomes can be poor work ethics as demonstrated through poor work behaviors.

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 to discover the value added articles, e books and other tools. Call me at 219.759.5601 to schedule a free coaching or business strategy session.

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Tags: work, ethics, article, workplace, social

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

Two friends and colleagues of mine , Mark and Doug, recently retired from the active work force in the automotive sector of the economy. They were gainfully employed as field parts attendants (warehouse support staff) in a Service Parts Operation divisional warehouse setting for one of the Big Three automotive giants.

They started their careers back in the days when the market share prices for the stock were substantially higher and the future outlook of the company that employed them was not as dismal and bleak as it is today. At one time the shares had sold for over $120. A different story today as we are all painfully aware.

Mark began his career path after he graduated high school. He was 19 years old and began his work path as a janitorial staff member. Eventually he learned about an opening at the warehouse and was hired a few days after his employment interview. He knew he was a hard worker and believed at the time that his future at the company was assured. The automotive parts market in those days was booming and he faithfully invested a portion of his monthly salary into the optional employee stock saving program. He believed in supporting the company that supported him and his family.

The work was labor intensive and at times challenging but he loved the physical side of his job. Management at the time adopted an employee appreciation program. Another innovative tool the company used to foster employee suggestions was An Ideas For Excellence Program. Employees received financial rewards for their ideas if adopted by the company. The program meant to increase efficiency and address safety issues in the company. Mark frequently submitted ideas on how to improve the internal operations at the warehouse. His work was rewarding and management seemed to understand him and his needs on a personal level. He knew that he was more than just a number or lines on a graph.

Mark retired about one month ago. He received no financial incentive package to do so. He retired after 30 years of service and is almost 50 years old. Friends that know him say that his overall health has improved as well as his disposition. He has mellowed and is actively pursuing a new career.The internal political networks and the constant managerial harassment he faced daily at work have now been replaced by a gentler, more reasonable way to make a living. He was forced to sell his shares in the company at a substantial loss. He enjoyed his time at the company.

Doug , almost 60 years old, retired a few days ago and says that he is still in a state of culture shock. He reluctantly admits that yes, there is life after retiring from work. He has been with the company almost 35 years. He actively participated in the employee suggestion program and offered many valuable ideas on how to improve or enhance the company’s performance He took an active role in the well being and safety of the warehouse and its employees.

He worked in the dealership returns section of the warehouse and examined the resale potential of the parts the dealership’s returned for credit. Over the years he was able to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the dealer returns section in the warehouse. He too invested in the employee stock option and suggestion programs. He proudly labeled himself as being a company man. He believed in the company and enjoyed his time working there. He received no bonus for retiring.

He too noticed over the years the decline in the quality of employee morale and active participation in warehouse events and the increase in the amount of scrutiny the company was placing on each and every employee. Production rates and employee performance charts and flow sheets were generated daily. The creation of a production meeting place, called The Wall, attempted to indoctrinate each employee into blindly accepting corporate values and ideals. With the recent economic downturn the amount of managerial badgering and nitpicking increased as mid level managers tried to justify their jobs and salaries.

Three other employees also retired in late 2008. One was a female self appointed executive secretary and two were male shift supervisors. All had the requisite 30 years of service in the company. All received a $75 thousand retirement incentive package for their efforts. This fact stunned and angered a number of employees at the facility. They saw it as good money spent badly. The company was viewed as being penny wise but dollar foolish. Were the employees in question really worth the money spent or was this fiasco part of an old boys network attempting to cover up loose ends and by retiring these people make way for other employees eager to move up the corporate ladder?

Many of my fellow employees as well as myself are approaching the retirement year plateau. Many are awaiting for a package deal that will encourage them to retire and call it quits. The packaged incentive plans seem to be destined for upper managerial types and not the lower level grunt workers. The rumors are running rampant in the warehouse as to who will be the next person to retire. Speculation and low level hysteria and paranoia run rampant on the workplace floor.

When an employee faces a forced retirement situation what should a person do to cover his assets? Is a bird in the hand worth two in the bush? Is it better to forgo that 30 year retirement deadline and take any amount of monetary award the company offers you or should you bravely go about your job and hope that things will turn out for the best?

The going rate for forced retirements these days expressed in the press has been pegged at roughly $20 thousand dollars and a new car employee purchase allowance of $25 thousand as ballpark figures. But then again that is only for unionized employees and not the non unionized salaried staff working in the regional offices and distribution centers.

Each person facing this career decision must decide for him and herself the benefits and the rewards that accepting such an incentive package will offer. The rest of us will anxiously wait for the market and governmental forces to decide where we fit in the whole scheme of things. Only the passage of time will let each employee know if he/she made the right decision for themselves and their family and their financial futures.

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Gerry Charbonneau – EzineArticles Expert Author

Tags: ethics, responsibility, legal issues, social , business

In today’s highly competitive modern world we hear more and more about unethical behaviour, either in business, politics or even in broader social activities.

- Morals are about good and bad. People are judged more on their morals than values. A person can be described as immoral, yet there is no word for them not following values.

- Ethics are about the rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession.

Morals, values and ethics are more than just sayings, rules or laws. They imply a duty or actions that you should take. But they also imply that taking these actions is “right” or “good”. Not performing in that way is “wrong” or “bad”.

One of the problems of upholding morals and values in business is that the morals and values of one person may differ from that of another. It is therefore an obligation of business leaders to define basic business morals and values that they want their teams to adhere to. This can be done in team mission statements or when defining team goals or business policies.

One’s morals extend beyond merely knowing a policy or even knowing the law. Very often people who are sentenced admit that they knew what they did was wrong, but they did it anyway! Some people do not answer the question: “Is it right?” before they act. They simply see the act as a way of getting what they want and they simply carry out the act. Businesses need to encourage honesty and high moral standards as the actions of an individual in the team can bring down the moral ethos of the entire team or business.

Unfortunately the old adage “You can fool most of the people all of the time” often applies and it is very easy to mislead the masses with immoral business practices and mis-information campaigns. However, it only takes one or two people to realise what is going on, to expose the poor morals and bring disrepute to the business. The bigger the mis-information campaign, the bigger the final impact of the moral degradation.

Most people say their conscience bothers them when they do something wrong. This conscience is both intellectual and emotional. It involves both knowing right from wrong and having a good or guilty feeling or notion about what you are doing.

Pinochio had Jimmy Cricket to tell him what he was about to do was wrong. In business you have the business policies, plus you inner voice or conscience. This conscience may be stronger in some people then in others.

Employees with low self-esteem are more likely to act immorally as they do not care enough about themselves to consider their actions to be important. Their belief in their lack of importance, makes doing either right or wrong seem unimportant, and diminishes their conscience or guilt.

It is therefore important for business leaders to value the input of each employee and, treating them with respect to encourage high self -esteem actions.

How you feel about others also determines your moral sense. If you value others highly you will be considerate and act with compassion and moral sense. You will consider the effect your actions will have on others and will want to do what is right and good. On the other hand, if you feel that others have hurt you and are against you, you may lack empathy for their feelings. You will not recognise their value and worth and may not feel compassion for their welfare. Some personality types, especially the defunct, may be empathy challenged, and they may have no or limited capacity for empathy.

When you see others as “the enemy” you will not have compassion for them. Your conscience will not fully respond when you are acting against an enemy. In business people may incorrectly see their competitors as the enemy and engage in immoral business practices to “beat” the enemy or financially disadvantage the enemy. Stealing is stealing, and if you acquire money immorally at someone else’s expense it will eventually backfire and reflect negatively on you or the business you represent. Fortunately, human nature is basically good and most people will not try to “gain” or “win” at the expense of harming or disabling another.

It is important to remember that we are all connected and any action that you take in life or business should not hamper the success, health or welfare of another. This is because it is our obligation as people to contribute to the growth and success of us all.

I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after – Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon. Visit this site

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Tags: ethics, question, social, thing, result

If you look at Big Business as a consumer you will find some startling changes in common sense business ethics. Banks are defending themselves from class action lawsuits due to unethical practices in charging absurd fees for everything from withdrawing your money to closing your accounts. Banks are percieved as being highly ethical due to the fudiciary nature of the business, yet here they are being sued for precisely the opposite. Cell phone service providers, cable providers and a host of other huge national brand companies have slowly changed the face of business by hiding behind huge complex contracts that the consumer signs in order to obtain a simple service. In the contracts are fees that are never discussed and are simply hidden in the legalese of the contract. If a price is quoted as $40/month the end user is usually surprised to find in the bill an additional $20 to $40 in additional fees.

Over the past 20 years this creep of hidden fees has become accepted by most of the end users as the price of doing business. Only because of the lack of competition due to mergers and buyouts have these companies been able to retain their customers. There has been a remarkable lack of backlash agianst these companies and their neferious ways of doing business until only recently. Companies have increased their return on investment (ROI) because of trickery rather than true business growth. While applying fee’s is an acceptable way to increase revenue for a company the manner in which they do so is circumspect to say the least. A fee that is never discussed or clearly written is hardly good business.

If you own or plan to own a business, do the right thing and gain customer loyalty and trust by making additional charges clear and open in all discussions and contracts. If you are hiding behind large contracts to hide fees and charges as a way of doing business you may be legally in the right, but you will also be doing your customers wrong. In fact, as the banks can current attest, you may not even be legally in the right and end up in litigation for years that could possibly end your business.

Matt Fox is a successful investor in the stock market, real estate market and in private deals with individuals and businesses. See his blog

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Tags: ethical, responsibilities, ethics, social, business