“There’s more to life than just making money and creating results. Life is really about connecting. Life is about developing a network. Life is about reaching out and assisting other people to achieve their dreams. When you’re able to do that, your dreams will come true more quickly than you ever imagined.

Back in 1997, I had a breakthrough year. Many hundreds of thousands of dollars flowed into my bank account and even though it was overwhelming at times, I look back and say, “”Wow, my breakthrough year.”" What most people don’t understand is that I was in that process for about eight years. It all showed up in that one year and it all showed up not because I was a great salesman, but because I had evolved into a position where I had finally learned the difference between selling to people and developing the right people.

This I call the law of attraction. I looked up one day and had all these great people in my organization and realized that it was a by-product of my own charisma, my own energy. I had evolved to a position that people wanted to follow. People believed in me because I had started to believe in myself. I’d crossed that invisible barrier, developed that sense of certainty, and moved into the space occupied by people who really understand the game of life.

They start to understand that life is about service and value, and giving back, not just taking, and that everything operates off a yin and a yang, a give and a take, and you’ll get exactly what you expect. When you expect to struggle, the Universe will reward you with exactly what you expect. When you expect to flow, to reside, be hands-free, evolve and start to become the person you’ve always deserved to be, the Universe will also reward you with its own sense of abundance.

Most people never get to that phase because they never really start. Most people think they’re doing something, but they’re using their heads instead of operating from their hearts. When you’re in your heart, you are passionate, you are feeling. There’s a zest for the game. You can’t wait to play. Life is nothing more than a game and you don’t work for a living. You don’t trade time for dollars.

You are creating a palette in your design of your life. You’re moving people. You’re part of it. You’re all of it. You’re moving and shaking. You can’t wait to get up. You wake up before the alarm goes off and you say, “”Wow, five-thirty. I get to work out right now. I get to work out and then I get to connect with people.”"

People ask me all the time, “”Aren’t you a workaholic? Don’t you ever have fun?”" They don’t understand that every breathing moment that I am on this Earth plane I am having fun because I don’t do anything that isn’t fun anymore. I will not operate from guilt. When someone tells me to do something, I’m only going to do it because I feel it will be fun, not because I have to. Operating from fun means you come from your heart. But when you have to make yourself do something, you’re operating from your head. That’s a job. That’s trading time for dollars. But when life is fun, you’re in your heart. People sense it.

They want to be a part of it. They want to be around you. They want to touch you. They want to connect with you. They want to flow with you. They want you to lead them to the land of Paradise, the Promised Land. When you can radiate and resonate and feel and operate like this, people want to be around you.

When you operate like this, greatness starts to show up in your life because it’s showing up in your heart. The more it’s in your heart, the more you exude it.

It’s an internal experience that starts to radiate out of you externally. That’s when you operate from a telepathic position that says, “”I am the leader you are looking for.”" You’re consciously sending this message telepathically through thought waves, and in synchronicity, people who are supposed to hear your message become magnetized to these moments.

I call these, ‘Ah-ha’ moments. It’s radiating from your heart, not your head because if you’re in your head, you’re over-analyzing rather than being in the present moment. People don’t understand the value of time.

Time is your most valuable commodity. There are 86,400 seconds in every single day, 1,440 minutes, one hour, one day, one week, one month, one year, and one lifetime. What are you doing right now to create value in yourself? Obviously, if you are reading this, you are gaining a deeper perspective because, at least in the moment, you are in the process of changing just by taking the effort to gain the empowering perspectives of this information.

When it comes to change, sometimes change is gradual. Sometimes change is big, and sometimes change is small, and sometimes you’re changing and you don’t even know you’ve changed and you wake up one day and you realize, “”Wow, this is the life I’m leading. This is the life I deserve. I am the person that people are looking for. I am becoming the artist who’s designing my life.”"

When you operate this way, people want to be a part of you. They want to be in your energy, and instead of people being repelled by you; they are magnetized to you. People are touching you. They’re feeling you, and I’m talking about your energy, and when this happens, you have crossed an emotional bridge.

Jeffery Combs is an internationally recognized speaker, trainer, and author committed to assisting people with personal growth and development. He can be contacted online here. Jeffery & Erica Combs host The More Heart Than Talent Mindset Conference each and every January to assist you to create quantum leaps to success in your enterprise by bringing world-class speakers and personal development experts together in an inspiring and empowering 3 day forum EVERYONE can afford to attend!

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Tags: ethical, theories, training, moral, philosophy

You all know I’m pretty much posting about my skin care products to get men/women more familiar with them and how they can change your skin. However, today I’d like to talk about ethics or professional respect.

I had an unfortunate encounter with another consultant that I found really disturbing which made me wonder how often this kind of thing happens. In my situation, I was communicating with a potential recruit, answering her questions, sending her information and product samples, etc. Before I knew it, another consultant (from the same company) reached out to this person offering all sorts of free stuff if she’d sign up with her!

What I found annoying was that I had already put time, effort and expense (catalogs, opportunity brochure, samples, postage, etc.) to introduce the Series Opportunity to this person now someone else comes along offering her the world to get her sign up under instead of me? I don’t know about anyone else reading this but I think that’s just wrong. Not to mention unprofessional and disrespectful. I could not imagine doing that to another consultant. In the end, it worked out OK – she signed up with me & is one of the best consultants on my team.

Later, I’ve heard similar stories from other people, some of which made me cringe, and I never realized how much this is happening out there. Why can’t we all just get along? How is it OK in someone’s mind to go ahead and butt in on a fellow consultant’s potential recruit? Why can’t a consultant do their own work, get their own leads and work their own business? If anyone out there can shed some light on this, I’d really appreciate it. If you have a horror story you’d like to share, tell us about it. What can be done to stop people from doing this? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Click here to read more about this topic

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Tags: ethics, business, corporate, training, professional

Ethics in business is a behavior in which a business is attached to its daily connections with the world. Business ethics at workplace not only applies to the interaction of the business to the world but also to one-on-one dealing with every single customer.

Different businesses have different code of ethics, although for every business it is imperative and necessary to have good ethics in business. Business ethics will examine the ethical principles and moral or ethical problems which will arise from time to time in a business environment.

Business ethics are of both discipline, normative and a descriptive discipline. Normative discipline is for corporate practice and for career specialization and descriptive approaches are taken for academia. One of the aims of business ethics in workplace is to determine the fundamental purposes of a company.

The code of business ethics is necessary to define acceptable behaviors, to promote high standard of practice, to provide a scale for members to use self evaluation, to establish a structure for professional behavior and responsibilities, as a medium for occupational identity and occupational maturity. A wide range of business practices and procedures are covered by the code of business ethics. Those who violate the business code ethics are subjected to disciplinary action which also includes termination of the employment.

Business code ethics are in compliance with laws, rules and regulations and the employees should respect the code of business ethics. Most of the companies have formulated internal policies with respect to the ethical conduct of the employees and these policies can be simple catchphrases in a wide and highly generalized language. Sometimes these policies can be more detailed to contain specific requirements and these are also meant to identify the company’s or business expectations of the employees and to provide guidance to handle more common ethical problems that may arise in the course of doing a business.

Samreen Soomro is an SEO expert and a search engine marketing strategist based in Karachi, Pakistan. She provides SEO Services and Internet Marketing Consultancy for companies looking to maximize their return on investment by having their websites optimized. She can also manage all aspects of PPC campaigns.

Samreen holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science and is currently pursuing an MBA degree with concentrations in Management Information Systems and Marketing.

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Tag: introduction, ethics, business, professional, training

In the realm of ethical decision-making, familiarity breeds a kind of ethical stability. In other words, as long as the people, cultural setting, values and issues are relatively known to those involved, then the kinds of ethical decisions those people are required to make will be sufficiently familiar for them to do so in relatively manageable ways. Being ethical will be neither too challenging nor too difficult for them to understand. Thus, ethical familiarity breeds ethical stability.

Newness and change, however, can breed a kind of ethical instability. When new people enter the setting bringing a very different culture and a somewhat different set of values, and having different customs and practices, then it is likely that new problems will arise among and between both groups. The meeting and interchange between and among the principles and processes familiar to these groups is where the difficulties arise. To use a different vocabulary, this is a conflict between their principles and processes.

Ethical Principles are the values and preferences of a group as imagined, articulated and understood. They expect that all the ordinary activities of life revolve around them. They actually see and perceive the reality of the world from the perspective of those values and preferences. For example, a group will articulate just how much and what kinds of assertive behaviors are allowed (e.g., organized sports) and which ones are outlawed (e.g., gladiatorial combat & dueling to the death).

Ethical Processes are the ways in which ethical decisions are made. This includes how the ethical principles and issues are perceived, how they are analyzed, how the principles are applied and how competing principles are seen in relationship to each other. For example the ancient Oath of Hippocrates “”not to administer a poison nor to recommend such a course”" seems clear, and yet, in modern medical practice “”chemo-therapy”" is precisely that, the administration of poison, but in a controlled and prudent manner for the good health of the patient. Indeed, the Hippocratic Oath has changed with time. Clearly competent health care professionals had to actively engage a moral dilemma, analyze the facts, and with great information and imagination, devise and risk a new course of action. Hence, big changes can come about, but ideally of course, only with careful, responsible, competent and reasonable engagement by all concerned.

The Reality of Ethical Evolution and Revolution: The process of applying principles can be anything from simple and easy to most complex and difficult. Circumstances and situations demand a nuanced appreciation for many ethical issues. That is why civilizations have developed classes or professions of judges of all sorts (e.g., the judiciary, boards of review, and umpires in athletic contests) who spend their time studying, practicing, reviewing, assessing, weighing and deciding within the contexts of real-life issues. It is from just such considerations as these that principles and processes are sometimes found to meet their limits because of changes in circumstances, situations, knowledge and popular moral insight and acceptance. Some ethical principles and processes formerly considered ethical become unethical (e.g., those allowing for slavery and polygamy, and vigilante law enforcement and dueling, respectively). Some principles and processes formerly considered unethical become ethical (e.g., charging interest on loans, and economic capitalism and chemo-therapy, respectively). And to make things even more complicated, there often develops a rationale for exceptions to the ordinary ethical norm.

For the various ethics systems of principles and processes to be healthy, meaningful and manageable, both principles and processes must be in constant states of development, evolution and revolution. Thus, we must avoid taking refuge in a few preferred principles in order to avoid healthy growth or genuinely new issues. We must also beware of becoming so shallow and unhealthy as to have simplistic or silly principles. Likewise, we must reform and revise ethical processes (even some ancient ones) some of whose effectiveness have diminished and even become destructive (e.g., tribal prejudices, cultural hatreds and superstitious beliefs) in the various 21st Century, cosmopolitan, multicultural ethical frames of reference. (Yes, there are numerous healthy ethical systems in the world.) And, we must avoid having ethical processes which are far too complicated for ordinary society members to grasp, understand and find effective in ordinary daily life. All ethics is personal. The ultimate ethical question is how both the collective society and society’s individual members are helped by the ethical principles and ethical processes we embrace and use.

Healthy ethical dynamics between and among ethical principles and ethical processes are crucial to making good sense a way of life.

For more information and for the opportunity to arrange for a seminar on personal Ethics relative to membership in organizations, groups, businesses, etc., go to this site and click on the Organization Ethics web page. Author & presenter: Nathan Mamo.

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Tags: code, ethics, business, management, training

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

You as the new owner

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

Background check

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

Finding the right business

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

Planning

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

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

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Tags: ethics, ethical, business, training, course

Perhaps we’ve all had the experience of being in an unpleasant, distasteful and messy situation which demanded that we make an ethical choice among undesirable options. In the midst of the anguish, we yearned for the problem to be a clear-cut, “black or white” no-brainer. But, it didn’t happen! Reality has a way of not going away whether we deny it or wish it away!

But, happily, we got through those trying times. And, here we are, to live another day, and to engage in more of those very messy life situations. In fact, every life has them. We can avoid them sometimes, but not completely. In fact, such challenges can bring out the best from within us. But, what were we doing? And how did we do it?

WHAT were we doing? We were engaging life fully, as thoughtfully and intuitively as we could, with our abilities. We were actually working hard at “active ethical thinking,” i.e., grappling with the messiness of life using the various values, hopes and realities of which life is made. Among the first principles of engaging reality is the acknowledgment that life is messy. One’s willingness to engage that complexity in noble and virtuous ways is what makes life a thoughtfully ethical endeavor.

But, HOW did we do it? There were a number of dynamic tools we used even if we were not aware of them.

The Accurate Perception of Reality: Whether the situation developed slowly or suddenly, whether we liked it or not, we had to figure out what was going on with sufficient truth so as to be able to engage realistically and appreciate what was happening. Naming the problem truthfully is the first step in coping with reality. Inaccurate labeling is always destructive.

Thoughtful Consideration: One must have thought about what was happening and what might be the possible ways of responding. We had to be realistic, intelligent and wise all at the same time. Some of this effort was intellectual (i.e., reasoned out) and some was intuitive (i.e., more instinctively felt). This might have happened very fast because some issues are nearly instantaneous in their demands and require quick response.

Engagement with Reality: Dealing with the truth and applying genuine abilities to the situation is the real business of life. This might have included everything from philosophical insights to the survival instinct. But, all our human intelligence and intuition worked together to allow us to engage the situation well enough to be effective.

An Ethical Frame of Reference: In other words, the contexts and perspectives from which we worked — our background experiences and memories, the information we possessed and our abilities to process all that information applying the ethical principles and lessons we have learned – determined much of how we approached the issue. From such a frame of reference we engaged the problem applying wisdom and taking risks all at the same time.

Once I had to compose a definition of “”being moral”" in order to teach a class of gifted high school students. It is quite challenging to put a huge concept into a few words, but here is the definition I crafted: To be moral means to freely do the truth in justice and in love.

By elaborating on those four components (freedom, truth, justice and love) I was able to describe and nuance the messiness of life from the perspective of active ethical thinking. Active ethical thinking is not merely about avoiding the wrong and embracing the right. (Believe it or not, one can arguably avoid breaking any of the famous 10 Commandments by merely doing nothing at all!) Active ethical thinking is about engaging life as fully, intelligently and wisely as possible so as to be good and do well all at the same time. Active ethical thinking is possibly the most effective approach to making good sense a way of life!

For more information and for the opportunity to arrange for a seminar on Personal Ethics especially in the context of membership in an organization (business, club, neighborhood, group) go to this site and click on the Organization Ethics web page. Author & presenter: Nathan Mamo.

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Tags: ethics, training, business, corporate, code

“You have probably been raised with the idea that to win, you always have to compete with others. For example, to be the winner in a running race, you have to beat the rest. However, there is a better and healthier way to win: winning without competing.

Let me demonstrate this better and healthier way of winning for you. Image we have a chocolate cake, shared by four people. The fairest way for these four people to eat the cake is to cut the cake into four equal pieces. Now, you happen to like this cake and you want to have some more. In other words, you want to WIN some more cake. Now, if you go with the traditional method of winning, you will have to take another piece from another person. This is winning by competing. However, there is a better way to win if you want to have more cake. You just need to bake a bigger cake, so everyone can have bigger pieces. Everyone is a winner. You do not need to compete with anyone. Nor do you have to take away anything from anyone. This is winning without competing.

Apply this method to a business. If you operate a business in America and you feel that the market is saturated. The only way for you to win a bigger market share seems to be competing with your competitors in America. Now, think about winning without competing! Why don’t you take your business global and attract all the customers on this planet to your American business world. In this way, every business has a bigger market share.

Even in the example of a running race mentioned above, you can win without competing. For all the racers to win, all they have to do is to set a target for themselves to achieve before the race. Even if they do not become the fastest runner in the race, they still can be winners if they have achieved their own target.
So whenever you feel competition is too tough to win, remember You Can Win Anything Without Competing.

Vinh Nguyen is a free spirit writer. He is passionate about what motivates people. He believes that everyone has only one goal in life – TO BE HAPPY and everyone deserves to be happy. The challenge for you is to decide what makes you happy.

Visit his is favourite Website.

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Tags: ethical, ethics, business, training, competing

Survival skills.

Make a list of what it takes to succeed in business, and you might not think of ethics. As corporations merge and jobs are purged, a sense of values sounds like a luxury these days. But ethics can be plenty practical. Consider the case of Packard Brown.

Brown, 47, was a human resource manager at Pace Warehouse, until September when he resigned over a matter of principle. Brown left the company just two weeks before it was sold to Wal-Mart and 700 jobs, including his, were eliminated. By leaving at his own pace, Brown doubled the size of his severance package. Here’s his story.

Brown directed an employee assessment program for Pace: a deep-discount merchandiser with 120 outlets around the country. Founded in 1983, the company expanded rapidly – but just as rapidly went into debt. In 1989, Pace was sold to Kmart.

In 1992, as the red ink flowed faster, Kmart brought in a new team of top managers. That’s when Brown first noticed a change in the climate of the organization.

“The new execs held a series of ‘mini-conferences’ with the managers of each region,” he recalls. “They wanted to communicate their philosophy to as many employees as possible. But when they visited corporate headquarters, less than a third of the employees were invited to the conference and most managers seemed reluctant to share what they’d learned with their subordinates.

“You could see people pull in their horns. There was a huge drop off in trust and communication.” Still, Brown enjoyed his job. Pace had embarked on a training program to upgrade employees’ skills and identify potential managers. Employees were offered courses in interpersonal relations, marketing, computer literacy, and financial management.

Managers were to be selected through tests of their behavior, not just on the basis of their job titles. Brown and his staff used role-playing exercises as well as paper-and-pencil tests to determine whether prospective managers had leadership skills for the job.

As the employees were tested, Brown’s assessment team would meet to compare notes and come up with a joint recommendation on each person. That’s where the system went sour.

Last summer, Brown’s team was asked to evaluate three employees as possible managers for two new stores. They agreed that one person was an outstanding candidate for the job. “But as soon as the meeting broke up, my boss cornered the person who was to write up the minutes and told him to change the recommendation,” Brown says. “It may have been because she had a long history of conflict with this individual. Some people thought it was because her husband wanted the job.

“Then, later that week, she tried to doctor the results again: this time to improve a candidate’s position. That ‘s when I knew I had to take a stand. I wrote a letter to the CEO, pitting myself against my boss. I told him I knew I was risking my job – and I was right!. But this was becoming an environment I didn’t want to work in.”

The story has a happy ending. Less than two months after leaving Pace, Brown found a good job with an employee leasing company. Now he’s in one of the nation’s fastest-growing industries.
The moral of the story? Perhaps It’s just that good guys don’t always finish last. But maybe there’s another lesson: that unethical behavior is often a sign of stress in an organization. It’s what people do when trust and loyalty break down. That’s the time to take a stand, or stay in a rotting environment. Brown stood up and made a solid career decision.

William Charland is the author of “Soundings,” (Wheatmark) a novel set in the mid-1990s telecommunications boom in Denver, Colorado. This article originally appeared in his column, “Skills Update,” in the Rocky Mountain News and Scripps Howard News Service.

In a review of “Soundings,” the Rocky Mountain News notes: “Charland excels at depicting the competitive frenzy in the corporate world, where everyone is seeking a new person, trend or idea to exploit before the inevitable crash. One such idea is the video phone targeted at executives too busy to attend meetings and at the phone-sex industry.”

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Tags: ethics, business, corporate, training, moral

In almost every working environment we are faced with office politics. It seems to find a way of involving us and usually not by choice. The key to coping with these circumstances without crossing any ethical boundaries is to first and foremost decide what is of importance to you- the short term chance of promotion or the long term value of your professional development, which can take a life time to build but can serve as inspiration for life times to come.

Some people think that they should avoid office politics all together, but statistics have shown that those who understand and use these politics are more likely to succeed than those who dismiss it all together.

As Andrew DuBrin once said “to ignore office politics is to ignore those underlining forces that account for the differences in success between equally talented people”.

There are two different types of office politics, good and bad. Which ever one you choose to participate in is solely up to you. First you must distinguish between the two.

Bad politics can consist of:

* Withholding or delaying information that may be needed
* Deliberately holding meetings or making decisions without all parties necessary
* Arranging scenarios that make others look bad or set them up for failure
* Discrediting the efforts of others or taking credit when it is not deserved
* Not delivering on promises made or denying the legitimate requests of others for your benefit
* Giving false support or advice in order to serve your own agenda
* Complaining, criticizing, wasting time on gossiping or harassing others

Good politics can consist of:

* Going out of your way to insure the success of others even when it serves no purpose or benefit to you
* Building trust, the key to building trust is through consistency and understanding
* Your peers feeling comfortable to come to you with their questions and or issues
* Creating a lighter environment in times of stress
* Seeing things through to the end, not abandoning people mid way

To show leadership you must first of all understand office politics as well as the times to participate in it. In the CMC

1. Pinpoint what you want and why
2. Identify who controls what you need
3. Find out who can get you what you need
4. Figure out what you need to do what you want
5. Go for it with determination and resolve
6. Watch out for the harmful politics of others as you go (ethical)
7. Protect yourself along the way

Circumstances we face in life can take away everything we have worked hard to acquire; everything except our name, for it is the essence of who we are. The only way we can lose this is if we make the conscious decision and are willing to give it up.

So in the end you must ask yourself, is a promotion worth your name?

In addition to his numerous speaking, management consulting, and international engagements, Fred remains highly active in providing individuals with ongoing one-on-one Coaching for professional development in areas from goal setting to execution. Visit this site to read more about this topic.

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Tags: political, ethics, public, business, training

Roy Disney

Ethics are worth working on. Would you want to do business with McNeil-PPC, Inc., the manufacturer of Tylenol? The company took immediate responsibility when several customers died after using Tylenol that had been tampered with. The company acted to ensure that tampering wouldn’t happen again. Remember six years ago when the combination of separating Firestone tire treads and Ford Explorer rollovers onto weak roofs caused more than 60 deaths? Firestone took total responsibility and replaced all tires pretty quickly at a tremendous financial drain. Ford, on the other hand, initially took no responsibility. Instead, Ford blamed Firestone and repeatedly tried to cover up known manufacturing problems. As a result, Firestone cut off its 100-year long relationship with Ford. There was a conflict of values.

Though these are simplified accounts of complex events, they demonstrate how businesses deal with ethical issues differently.

Here are ways you can provide ongoing ethical best practices for your businesses:

* Identify and communicate values. Let everyone know inside and outside your organization what the standards and values are for operating your company. Then be sure to live by them.
* Play by the rules. Shortcuts are the fast route leading to dishonesty. Respect, live and work by the rules you make. Doing otherwise communicates that you believe you are more important than others.
* Insist that people take responsibility for actions. First lead by example. Implement consequences for inappropriate actions. If you make mistakes, own up to what you did, others will be more likely to do the same. Covering up mistakes or wrongdoing destroys trust. Once that happens, it is difficult to repair.
* Lead with a moral compass. Expect and deliver integrity in all your interactions. People who act the same when no one is looking as when being watched demonstrate strong character. Actions should not be based on individual situations, but rather on core values.
* Take action against unethical behavior . Change vendors if they don’t meet your standards. Renounce companies that use child labor to make their products, pollute the environment, mistreat people. Don’t just talk about it; take action, show commitment. An international boycott of companies that invested in South Africa during apartheid is just one example of people and companies standing up for their beliefs. Hitting a target financially can be the impetus that changes the behavior of businesses and even a society.

Keep your eye on the ball. As a business owner, you are responsible for the actions of everyone connected with your business. Make sure they know your values. Your business will be more successful if it works with partners, employees and customers with shared values. If you and your business live by your values, you will feel good about what you do and it will affect the bottom line.

As a businessowner and leader, you can make a difference. Ellen Kaplan, president of Possibilities@Work, is a business advisor who works with owners of privately held companies who want to grow their business but are stuck in some way. She specializes in working with family run businesses and partnerships. She helps clients deal with where the interpersonal issues intersect with the business issues and get in the way of moving the company forward. Sign up for Growing Possibilities, a monthly newsletter here

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Tags: code, conduct, ethics, practices, training

Much is written about business ethics especially with the fall of Enron to the compensation for CEOs. With the presidential campaign in full swing, we as citizens and business leaders have the opportunity to see ethics being or not being consistently display by those in leadership roles.

The recent misspeaks by Senator Clinton and Senator Obama are such examples. These incidents really show that ethics should be consistent and should not be given the standard wink and a nod.

When those in positions of authority fail to be ethical, then this undermines how people perceive them and their ability to lead or manage change. This failure to be ethical can be viewed by these individuals much like a wink and a nod. Well, you know that I know this is not true (wink), but let’s agree to let this one pass (nod).

Senator Clinton’s recent remarks about the sniper fire truly demonstrate that those in authority, leadership roles, whether government or business believe that they have the right to misspeak, not get caught and not be held accountable. She is not alone in this belief and joins the ranks of all the other executives who have been caught and have, in many cases, paid for the consequences of their actions.

Some are surprised that even though Senator Clinton’s mis-speak was actually her third time recounting this particular event in error (documented by film footage) that she had not been taken to task publicly when she mis-spoke the first time. Whether she was given a pass because of her positive relationship with the broadcast media or because of other factors remains unclear. What is clear is that the truth did eventually surface. How she handled this is what requires our focus. The truth always wins out, sometimes it just takes years instead of minutes.

The old adage “Of what tangled webs we weave, when we plan to deceive” is clearly reflected in these most recent incidents of poor business ethics. One lie turned into another lie and eventually the truth won.

Why people fear telling the truth, I do not know. Alfred Adler once said:

“A lie would have not sense unless the truth were felt as dangerous.”

When we are ethical and consistently tell the truth, we do not have to fear lies because we do not have to remember what we did or did not say.

Being ethical is not about what you do whether it is running a company or running for an elected office or running your own personal life. Ethics is about who you are, your core values and those non-negotiable behaviors that you demonstrate day in and day out. For in today’s society especially with the technology available such as camera phones, not being ethical will eventually be displayed to the entire world.

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

Are you looking for some additional business coaching training services to develop a high performance organization and culture? Why not visit business coaching training gym that is designed to help you build a better business.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith with locations near 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.

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Tags: business, corporate, ethical, issues, training

“If you build that foundation, both the moral and the ethical foundation, as well as the business foundation, and the experience foundation, then the building won’t crumble.” Henry Kravis

In light of the devastating impact of Enron and Tyco, the disappointing baseball steroid scandal, NE Patriots’ Spygate as well as a plethora of political missteps, we are exposed to many negative models of ethical behavior. Is it doing whatever you need to without breaking the law? Is it about getting away with what you can? If everyone else does it, does that make it right for you? Do businesses generally strive to be ethical? Is ethical behavior so gray today that it has become difficult to define and implement?

Often, greed takes precedence over best practices. In the long run, a business or individual is exposed, as in the examples previously mentioned. Business owners need to articulate the standards they want to adhere to in running their companies.

In part one of this discussion, let’s explore why a business should want to develop ethical standards:

• Ethics results in trustworthiness. All relationships, business and personal, are built on trust. The more honest and upfront you are, the higher the level of trust.

• Owners must demonstrate honesty. Don’t expect ethical employees if you don’t serve as a model yourself. Create policies that require specific behavior from employees, vendors and partners. Include consequences for violators: then enforce them. Make sure you keep an even higher standard for yourself.

• Referrals come from satisfied customers. Make sure problems are resolved quickly and without too much effort for the customer. It is important that you keep promises and fix problems to the customer’s satisfaction, even if there is a cost to you. That will ensure they will say positive things about your business to others.

• Reputation is an important contributor to a business’s longevity. A great reputation comes from providing consistently positive experiences over time. Treating customers, vendors and employees well and with respect will result in added loyalty. Loyalty is scarce, do what you can to preserve it.

• Socially conscious businesses are in vogue. Walk the talk by being involved in socially important issues. Conserve energy, use recyclable products and help preserve the earth for the next generation. Donate time and money to causes important to you. Such behavior will speak volumes about your personal and business values.

Instead of complaining about how hard it is to trust individuals and businesses, make your business one that can be trusted. One by one we can start to shift the culture of greed and one-upmanship to one of ethical standards and meaningful relationships. In the next issue, I discuss best practices.

Ellen Kaplan, president of Possibilities@Work, is a business advisor works with owners of privately held companies who want to grow their business but are stuck in some way. She specializes in working with family run businesses and partnerships. She helps clients deal with where the interpersonal issues intersect with the business issues and get in the way of moving the company forward. Sign up for Growing Possibilities, a monthly newsletter here.

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Tgs: code, conduct, ethics, practices, training

Ed Mirvish leaves a legacy that is the footstep of a giant. A legacy we can all be proud of because Mr. Mirvish not only achieved great success and prosperity, innovated positive change, infused Toronto with economic, social and cultural vitality; he also retained that powerful spark of humility, humanity, and a love for his fellow man that is clearly the footstep of a giant.

Maybe it is time for those of us who have achieved the prosperity that creates financial freedom, and those who have not, to ask ourselves what kind of foot print we want to leave behind.

The footprint of a giant is not measured by the size of his bank account, nor by the trophies, awards or material accoutrements of success. The footprint of a giant is measured by his or her ability to leave a legacy that continues to touch the hearts and minds of others.

A legacy that speaks of servant leadership, a legacy that reflects the ability to make a positive difference in the world in which we live, and in the lives of the people we lead, love and serve. Building the footprint of a giant is the work of a life time, it cannot be built solely upon our unprecedented access to knowledge, information, technology, or the skills and competencies we have developed. The footprint of a giant is born of the faith, hope, courage, humility and relentless moral strength and timeless values that create the passionate purpose, desire and ability to make a positive different in the lives of others.

Faith gives one the spiritual power that guides our best thoughts and actions. Hope allows us to embrace gratitude and to build resiliency. Courage gives us the ability to live in alignment with our highest values. Humility allows us to realize that life is a gift, and that minimizing the human dignity or potential of another human being does not give us power, rather it makes us powerless to realize the true purpose of our creed.

In a world of increasing chaos, discord, violence and upheaval it is the men and women from the C suite to the warehouse, from the most revered professions to the humblest of occupations who can decide that they want to make their foot print, the foot print of a giant, or to support the giants among us. Both are equally important, both are critical.

We cannot all become the change we seek, but we can be inspired and motivated by the footprints of giants like Ed Mirvish. We can be inspired to help build and sustain the footprints of the visible and less visible giants whose faith, courage, hope, humility, leadership can help us embrace an evolution of self that will take us past what is, so that we can create what can be in our lives, our communities, our workplaces, our society and our world.

Described by clients as a coach, confidant, sounding board, crisis manager and success guide, Irene Becker is the Chief Success Officer of Just Coach It, a professional coaching firm dedicated to helping smart, fast, forward thinkers build the new currency of success in their lives, their leadership and their work. visit this site.

7. You’re much more likely to build a lasting business, and build it more easily

6. When your customers trust you, they come back again and again

5. It’s much easier to build joint-venture relationships that can exponentially grow your business

4. When your customers fall in love with the way you do business, they start recruiting other people to do business with you–they actually become your unpaid sales force

3. Your business will be worth far more when it’s time to sell it

2. If you tell only the truth, you don’t worry about being caught in an embarrassing and profit-killing lie

And the number one reason…

You never have to worry about seeing your picture on the front page, in handcuffs

Action Steps:

1. Measure the impact of any action on all stakeholders: customers, employees, suppliers, neighbors

2. Always tell the truth

3. Sell only products that you can fully stand behind

4. Buy a copy of the award-winning book Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First, which tells you in 160 pages exactly how to translate your high ethical standards into bottom-line dollars. This book has been endorsed by some of the top names in marketing, including Jack Canfield, co-creator of the Chicken Soup series, won an Apex Award, and has been re-published in India and Mexico. Visit the site

5. Show your commitment to ethics by signing the Business Ethics Pledge, with signers in 30 countries, and take advantage of the resources available to you as a signer (signing also earns you a discount on the book, as a way of saying :”thank you”).

Visit this site to read more about this topic

Marketing consultant/copywriter Shel Horowitz is founder of the international Business Ethics Pledge campaign and author of seven books including the Apex Award winner Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First. This article may be reproduced without charge as long as this blurb (including the URLs) is included and that edits are approved by the author.

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Tags: business, corporate, ethics, training, workplace

Expertise is of more importance to a successful career, while ethics is of the least significance.” This was the feedback of a study group at a well-known American university. This group recently completed a nationwide survey of university graduate program directors in the field of communications. They were commenting on the importance of the four professional competencies set forth by the National Speakers Association (NSA): Expertise, Eloquence, Enterprise and Ethics.

I was interviewed and asked to comment on some of the findings of the study group. My reaction to the above statement was shock. After all, if “ethical communication” is insignificant, does that mean that we needn’t tell the truth? What would George Washington have to say about that? And where is our country headed?

As an image consultant, I teach a workshop entitled “The Expert Impact,” a term I have trademarked. In essence I tell my clients that I cannot supply expertise, because that is up to them. What I can do is make certain they are immediately perceived as a highly-credible expert in their field. Credibility implies believability. We believe the other person is an expert and that he or she is professional and, therefore, can be trusted. Trust is one of the tenets of branding, and it is one of the most important. Ethical behavior produces trustworthy decisions and actions. The two are intertwined.

My experience indicates that the image of most clients does not keep up with their résumés. I do not teach others how to be credible. If they are truly experts, they already have credibility in terms of performance; they just don’t know how to convey it non verbally. And according to social psychologists, non-verbal communication surpasses verbal communication in terms of credibility.

For the interview by the university’s study group, I was asked to comment upon several other findings from the interviews of professors. For example, the majority of university faculty reported that their curriculum was the most effective in the area of expertise and least effective in the area of enterprise. This seemed a jarring contradiction to me, since the internet and the World Wide Web literally require an enterprising nature. Furthermore, the safe corporate jobs of a lifetime are a thing of the past, and the enterprising spirit of recent generations brought it about. Students who are enterprising, it would seem, surely have an advantage in getting on the fast track to gaining expertise. Perhaps universities need to take a close look at their curriculum.

Furthermore, a college degree does not necessarily bestow expertise upon a graduate. Knowledge, yes; and it sets him/her on the way, but expertise ultimately comes from experience. Four years of university studies should, however, give graduates a great deal of knowledge in various subjects. An enterprising nature puts the student on the fast track to becoming an expert.

One of the problems with new hires is their lack of experience, and most of us don’t want our account to be handled by a greenhorn. So how is a recent grad going to get that first job. My 30 years experience suggests that the answer is to look experienced. Social psychologists have proven that if you look good, it is assumed that you are good. They have also shown that in order to be trusted or believed, you must be consistent with both

Written by Sandy Dumont

Sandy Dumont, THE Image Architect is an image consultant and professional speaker based in Norfolk/Virginia Beach, with 30 years of international and national experience helping individuals and Fortune 500 companies improve their image. She conducts customized Branding for People™ workshops on a regular basis.

For more information, click here

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Tags: business, corporate, ethics, professional, training

“This is a very old story. A man owned a fruit stand on a busy street. He was born totally blind. He loved his fruit stand and all of his customers. Every morning his son drove him to his fruit stand and every evening his son picked him up after the stand closed. The fruit stand was very successful. One day his son read in the news paper about an operation that could cure his father’s blindness. He read the article to his father and told his father that he had more than enough money for the operation. His father agreed.

After the surgery the doctor asked him what was the first thing he wanted to see when the bandages were removed. The man said, my son and my fruit stand. The doctor and his son went down to his fruit stand on the busy street. The doctor began removing the bandages slowly. The man was so excited to see his son’s face and then the fruit stand. He was so filled with joy.

After enjoying his son and the fruit stand for a while. The man noticed there was another fruit stand about fifty yards to the right and fifty yards to the left of his fruit stand. He then looked across the street and saw three more fruit stands.

Every day he kept an eye on all the other fruit stands and soon he was out of business. The moral of the story is mind your own expectations. Every minute you mind other peoples expectations, that is a minute you take off of your own expectations.

All of your possibilities are located in your own personal expectations. What matter most is how you see yourself? How you see yourself is how you will take care of yourself. How you take care of yourself is how you will mind your own expectations. Take care of how you see yourself. How may I serve humanity with humility? What can I do?

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

At one time or another, we have been warned to stay out of office politics-it can be the ruin of a promising career! It is an old warning with a lot of tradition to support it.

Company politics has seen its evil days, but the day when close-knit groups resented each other in general and all ambitious newcomers in particular is drawing to a close. Most people are recognizing that such intramural skirmishing for prestige and influence did the groups no good while greatly impairing the productivity of the company.

“Company” in this context is a generic term that applies to any working situation. It does not matter whether it is private industry, government agency, educational institution or some other kind of organized work situation.

When people get along together, production rises; when they do not, it falls. Politics-good or bad-is inescapable. If people are not talking about their work at the drinking fountain, during a coffee break, or at lunch, they just do not care, and that is bad.

Company politics is here to stay. To close your ears to it is not to remove yourself from politics but from the company. How else are you going to know what is going on? And if you do not know what is going on in the company, how are you to know where you are going?

If you follow three simple rules, playing good company politics will be easy, informative and rewarding.

(1). Say something interesting or constructive about your work.

(2). Say something good about your boss, supervisor, or company policy-with sincerity.

(3). Keep on doing a good job.

If you cannot do those three things after a month or two on the job, if your work is so dull and the company so uninteresting, you are in the wrong job. Start looking for a different one now!

Private life and work are both parts of you as a whole human being. They cannot be completely separate incarnations. You are probably spending your most productive hours in each day at work-five days a week! Friendships do count in the business world.

Bad politics is based on greed, selfishness, power-seeking, and often prejudice. More often than not, the leaders are insisting that some outside influence is the cause of all their problems. They are unwilling to admit that their own actions might be at fault.

I once worked in an office where the goal seemed to be finding something nasty to say about the boss. It was almost a “can you top this” kind of daily conversational game.

The two most vocal individuals had worked for the longest time in the department. They must have been getting some kind of emotional payback from their actions in order to justify working for such an individual. Possibly: “You have the title but I am better than you in every way!”

Actually company politics is not the name for it, for the company will suffer irreparable damage in the long run. It is personal or factional, or clique politics, played for the advancement of the few, and let the company go hang, as it frequently does. Yet it cannot be ignored.

If bad office politics is to be counteracted intelligently, it must be recognized for what it is, from the lowest man subjected to its pressures to the president of the firm. If one is in no position to combat it, then one must know what it is all about for his own protection.

Personal success is not to be found where partisanship and bias have more influence than merit. Always remember that recognizing the talents and achievements of your staff and co-workers is a valuable asset. If you fail to give credit where and when it is deserved, there should be no complaints when the same thing is done to you.

Hard work and attention to detail does not automatically bring a promotion. Your skill working with others is an essential ingredient. It is almost tragic to overlook the constructive side of office politics. If you do not know what is going on around you, no one is going to know you are around.

Sign up for a free Becoming-Your-Best Newsletter here – The newsletter features lifestyle changes for optimum health, living life in abundance, feeling and looking great, changing your mind to change your world and other resources for self improvement.

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Tags: corporate, ethics, politics, public, training

How do you deliver yourself to others? In other words, the presentation of yourself to people you meet. Is that delivery honest? Is it real? Or is it just to get them in the door?

If the presentation is not honest, once they get in the door, they will see the truth anyway, so be brutally honest with yourself when answering this question.

Take a minute to think about that, we must do an honest assessment of how people see us upon meeting them. They will see what is in our heart. You must grasp your “persona” for what it truly is, once you have honestly evaluated yourself, you can begin to work on the delivery of yourself and become stronger every day.

The health of your mind and heart will determine how you deliver yourself in this life’s journey. I should hope that you would want to deliver happiness, strength, love, and encouragement.

Everyone desires to have things delivered to them in good shape. We enjoy getting packages on our door step that have been properly prepared and shipped with care. We should have the exact same mind set when we deliver ourselves to others in this life, whether in everyday interaction, or in business. And in business, if we have been contacted in regards to the products or service we offer, people expect us to be the total package and we must be prepared and deliver with true compassion.

Are you ready to make the next delivery?

I encourage you to prepare, handle with care, and dare you to make the next delivery the best one yet.

Best regards to all and may your day be blessed!

Mike Daley
Visit him here

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Tags: business, conduct, manner, problems, training

Feb. 5 – known as the “Super Tuesday” for presidential primaries – is arriving with all the hoopla the political scene can muster.

Candidates from both sides have been squaring off to persuade voters to mark the ballot in their favor. Each candidate believes his or hers is the only way to run our country.

In some ways, the process is characteristic of what happens in our workplaces and within our families, with feuding among people who believe they have the corner on what should be truth.

Office politics can be particularly harsh, derisive and painful. Small groups gather in the breakroom or behind closed office doors to gossip about colleagues. Often the talk is based on assumptions about how their office world should operate.

They assume that CEOs don’t care for their employees, that managers don’t consider as important what employees believe need attention. And employees themselves often view each other with suspicion. As gossip grows, the workplace can become an unhealthy environment.

A friend recently related how difficult it is to work in her office. Among her colleagues is an individual who finds fault with and is suspicious of other co-workers. She takes new employees under her wing to perpetuate the gossip chain. And every time she thinks someone is not doing what she thinks they should be doing, she calls the corporate office.

“The tension when she’s in the office can be cut with a knife,” my friend told me. “She looks for any infraction she believes has been committed and is like the office tattle-tale.”

Judgments begin to fester, dispersed among everyone due to a lack of trust and belief someone is getting something they do not deserve. Soon the infection spreads.

Recently I read some wisdom written by Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, in the 18th century. He said, “We should worry about our own spiritual lacks and our neighbor’s material lacks. But usually we do it the other way around. We worry about our neighbor’s spiritual lacks and our own material lacks.”

In essence, he is saying we should look within ourselves first to see where we lack in our work ethic, morality and spirituality. Instead of trying to tear them down or put up roadblocks to their success, we need to consider what our co-workers need from us to support them in carrying out their responsibilities,

More often than not, gossip is merely a half truth because the whole story is not known by the gossip mongers.

This kind of workplace behavior is a carry-over of the herd behavior commonly seen among adolescents. Someone gossips about another, and rumor spreads to the others in the clique without regard to the parameters of the truth. Assumptions and misconceptions form the base of the gossip.

How do we respond to the unkindness of gossip? Now, that’s where true strength of character emerges. It comes in the form of our ability to respond without retaliation when someone does something wrong.

There is a Talmudic saying, “He who takes vengeance or bears a grudge acts like someone who, having cut one hand while handling a knife, avenges himself by stabbing the other hand.”

Consider these steps suggested by seminar speaker Sara Rigler:

1) Judge the person favorably;

2) Do not speak negative, true speech about the person;

3) Do not hate the person in your heart;

4) Do not carry a grudge and do not take revenge;

5) Only confront the person privately, but only (when) you can do it (by) making the person feel like s/he was helped rather than criticized;

6) View what happened as a message to examine your own deeds.

I suspect this is easier said than done. What it does require, however, is the ability to go within ourselves and recognize that seeing deficiencies in others often is the same deficiency we need to work on ourselves. It also requires that we consider the correct response to what we envision others are doing that we believe is inappropriate.

For example, say someone leaves work early. His or her colleagues don’t know why. The result can be a false judgement.

What is the correct response? Be careful. Your response could trigger the assumption of wrongdoing when, in fact, the person may have left to attend a meeting, or attend to a work-related crisis they are not at liberty to discuss. It could be a pre-approved absence.

I remember sitting in the waiting room of my obstetrician for almost 45 minutes. Several others had been there longer than I had been and began complaining about the wait.

I refrained from complaining, since I knew that when both of my children were born during the noon hour, the obstetrician was in the delivery room attending to their births. I never complained about how long I had to wait, knowing someone else was getting the attention they needed.

Competition, both political and in the workplace, often brings out the worst in people. Harsh words are uttered, judgments made, and half-truths are manipulated to become gossip that tears down another, serving only to make the teller feel superior.

However, as the Talmudic admonition implies, our response to such behavior must rise about vengeance, carrying a grudge, or repayment with added judgments.

Lao-tzu said, “One who understands others has knowledge; one who understands himself has wisdom. Mastering others requires force; mastering the self needs strength.”

(c) All rights reserved Maralene Strom Jan-08

Maralene Strom is a speaker and author who teaches on topics dealing with grief and recovery;Issues of living life 50 & Beyond; Caregiving in extended care facilities, home care, and special needs; Communicating with Empathy & Compassion and Business Management Issues. Her website features some of the topics she speaks on with information to connect with her for tele-classes, workshops or speaking to groups, conferences, etc.—- let her help you discover your life’s meaning as you journey now and into your future.
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Tags: corporate, ethics, politics, public, training

When we started Fathom Corporate Training, we searched high and low for a name befitting our firm. So many ideas can surface when undertaking these types of endeavors. Sometimes though, we have a hard time simply deciding what to order on the restaurant menu. Trying to make the right decision can become an obsession. We turn in circles trying to make perfect decisions, but we really don’t have all the information to do that. Recently I had a revelation. I woke up with a clear understanding and realization of how much time I have wasted in my life trying to make that “right” decision. While my life has gone pretty smoothly, I have indeed sacrificed. I have sacrificed precious time trying to make these types of perfect decisions. Time is something we can’t get back. I now remind myself every day that “right” does not exist. There will always be a “left” staring you in the face so that you inevitably will ask yourself, “I wander if I should go that way?” When the fear of the unknown and indecisiveness comes up because of a new fork in the road we must realize a couple things:

1. We don’t know the future.

2. There is no right way.

There are many different roads to getting there and because there is no way to know what roadblocks may be ahead, it may be time to simply choose. Ultimately, you’ll get where you’re going and feel more productive and efficient. Or, you may discover a new way of getting things done that you could have never planned for. Go ahead, step into the unknown. And remember, we are all whistling in the same darkness!

What about procrastination? Do you procrastinate? We all do to some degree. If getting a project started in the perfect way or at the “right” time is holding you back, your procrastinating. One key to stopping your procrastination is to first know when your doing it. We all do something different when we procrastinate. Do you find yourself running lots of errands. Sure, your getting lots done, but what? Most of us are very efficient, but not effective. What’s the difference? Doing the most in the shortest period of time is called efficient use of time. Effective use of your time means getting the right things done. Things that will lead you to accomplishing your most important life goals. It’s seems easier to go to the store or watch TV than to start on something that feels threatening, such as an important project. So simply get started. Just remember the Spartans if the project is too large and feels overwhelming. When facing the ruthless Persian army and outnumbered by thousands, the 300 brave Spartan soldiers felt completely overwhelmed. With one simple question, the Greek leader of the Spartan army broke down the massive task at hand. “Can each of you slay 3-4 more Persians today than you did yesterday?” They agreed that they could. And they did, one at a time!

John Males spent 10 years on the management team of Continental Airlines in sales and marketing, taking part in what is recognized as the largest and most significant corporate turnaround in American business history. Used in case studies worldwide for its exceptional business practices, the firm continues to rank on the Fortune 100 “Best Companies to Work for List” and as one of the most globally admired firms. John Males brings expertise to clients facing critical challenges in the areas of management, sales and branding. His customers include some of the world’s most successful firms and recognized brands. He can be reached here

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Tags: business, corporate, ethics, training, workplace

Integrity is putting your values into action. Robin Siemens

Immediately, I jotted down this incredibly powerful definition because Robin had not only defined the word, but more importantly connected the word to performance. So many words are used to define business ethics and yet the lack of actual demonstrated ethics still remains very high within business and the rest of our society. One can only read the paper or listen to the media about “”corporate greed”" how how this corruption culture has damaged our country.

The reason for this disconnect is because the definition is not connected to any measurable action. By taking the word beyond the cognitive state and making it about behaviors, Robin now is walking the talk as some would say.

So, how do you define integrity for your business? If you cannot define key words within the values statement located inside of your strategic plan, you are trying to hit a moving target. Yes, moving targets can be hit, but it takes far more effort. Also, there does exist a greater likelihood of missing the target.

After you define integrity for your business, then how are you connecting to your daily business actions? Alignment is a key when making connections between the values statement and the actual behaviors of your employees and even yourself.

A recent survey of employees indicated that many managers lacked business ethics. The old Do as I say and Not as I do appears to be still very much alive in corporate America regardless of the size of the organization.

Since another survey indicated that bad attitudes which are a definite result of bad ethics are the reason for 68% of customers not returning. Take that with the knowledge that people leave managers and not organizations should be reason enough to construct and implement a values statement right now.

Then maybe you will be able to clearly articulate what integrity to respect means within your code of business ethics. And who knows some day when you are on the radio, you can quickly share your definition just like Robin did.

Want to learn how to increase sales? Sign up to receive notification of Leanne’s forthcoming sales coaching book to help you become the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits.

Leadership of any business is responsible for demonstrating the ethics and beliefs. How do you fair as a leader? Take this leadership audit site.

You probably do not want to be uncomfortable. Who does? Yet, you want to increase sales and to stop all those sleepless nights right before sales figures are due. Now is the time to give Leanne a call at 219.759.5601 to schedule a free business coaching training or sales coaching strategy session. Experience how being uncomfortable can help you increase sales.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Tags: workplace, ethics, business, training, professional

Here we come into the season of smokescreens and manipulation, otherwise known as the presidential election year. With each passing election, the question turns increasingly away from which candidate would make the best president and which policies would be best for the nation, and toward which campaign can do a better job manipulating public opinion in order to get their person elected. It’s the season of guilt by innuendo or association, of character assassination, and of the absolute flouting of every principle of logic since Aristotle. Prepare to be snowed, buffaloed and bamboozled.

You’re not a citizen, you’re not even a voter, you’re a demographic: a ‘target audience’ of a set of sophisticated mass-marketing techniques. They already know your ‘buying habits’ and they know what gets you fired up or turned off. They’ve been putting together their marketing campaign for years – long before they had a ‘product’ to offer you. They already know how n% of you are going to vote. They also know that they can increase their ‘sales’ by x% by using such-and-such a tactic. Isn’t it nice to know that they can so accurately predict your behavior and, when they can’t predict it, they can re-set your buying criteria at will by re-framing each question?

‘Politics is a dirty business.’ Why should it be that way? The answer, I think, was best formulated by Robert Moses, the designer of our contemporary urban setting (he had already conceived of the interstate highway system and showcased it in the transportation pavilion of the 1939 New York World’s Fair), when he said, “If the end doesn’t justify the means, then what does?” It probably never occurred to Mr. Moses that a good means doesn’t needjustification.

Contrast, for the sake of argument, education with manipulation. Does an educated electorate need to be justified? Or, is its benefit evident in itself? Would you rather be given an accurate set of facts and have the opportunity to make your own informed judgment, or would you prefer to be kept in the dark and sold a bill of goods?

The unimaginable prevalence of conspiracy theories haunting us today – like the one that says that the issue of global warming is just an attempt by ‘them’ to subvert the American economy (for what possible reasons, I’ll never guess) – provides ample proof that people have been so manipulated that they can no longer even recognize observable facts. Illogical emotionalism reigns supreme and, as the marketing experts are fond of teaching us, people are moved not by facts but by feelings.

What I’m talking about here doesn’t only have to do with politicians and mass marketers. It applies just as much to you. Like it or not, we’re all in the business of marketing. We have something valuable to offer others, and we have a right to expect to paid an honest price for the value of our product or service. Nobody will be able to take advantage of what we have to offer if they don’t know about it. Marketing makes all the difference between an artisan and a business woman or man. With the obligation to market your products and services in order for others to gain the value you have to offer comes the responsibility to use the power of marketing ethically.

In business, as in politics, a good end (a valuable product or service) does not justify smokescreens and manipulation. There exists a fine line between persuasion and manipulation. That line is drawn between education and obfuscation. So long as you are promoting an educated consumer, you’re on the ethical side; when you cross over into hiding, twisting, or misrepresenting the facts, you’ll know that you’re on the ‘dark side’.

You can ask, “Is my potential consumer buying what I have to offer because they know all about my product or service, or because they don’t know all the facts about it?” Or, “Are they buying it because they’ve made an honest comparison between what I have to offer and my competition, or between my product or service and the caricature that I’ve created of my competition?” As long as there has been human commerce, there have been unscrupulous marketers. Ask yourself now, “Are these the people I want to be in competition with?” The answer to all these questions will tell you a lot about your future prospects, a lot about your business and, ultimately, a lot about yourself.

H. Les Brown, MA, CFCC
ProActivation® Coaching
Visit the Website here

Copyright © 2008 H. Les Brown

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H. Les Brown – EzineArticles Expert Author

Tags: ethics, business, training, corporate, problem

Most businesses have a mission statement, centered round qualities and values they swear to uphold. How many manage to observe the protocol is questionable, however. Do business ethics matter? Is it sensible to hold on to values when you can have an upper hand in business by casually ignoring them? Contrary to popular assumptions about corporate setups, many businesses today are coming around to stressing on the importance of ethical practices at work. The reasons are obvious. Take for instance the rising charges of fraud against employees by employers. Management cannot expect employees to be champions of ethics but not practice them as a firm.

There is immense value in adhering to business ethics in every undertaking. Being true to the values you preach alone can leave a lasting impression on the minds of your customers.

Fulfilling your duties: Honor every commitment to the best of your abilities. At the same time, be upfront with your customers, if something is not going according to plan – not doing so will not only show you as being less competent, but worse, it will also give you an image of not being trustworthy. If you cannot meet the obligations for some reason, make the requisite amends. But as far as possible, make it your second nature to meet commitments on time.

Concealing information: It isn’t uncommon to hear people say “read the fine print” especially when it comes to business dealings! Many a time brochures and catalogues, in an attempt to sell their products, land up misleading their customers. Remember, they are not likely to return, if faced with rude shocks like that!

Transparency: Financial discrepancies top the list of fraudulent cases in business. Maintain proper accounts and have a proper policy on the disclosure of financial statements.

Code of conduct: Make patience and dignity your key personality traits. Respecting everyone you deal with, including those you do not like too much, is reflective of the business ethics that your firm practices. Manage tricky situations with diplomacy.

Supporting a cause: Get involved with a social cause like a community project, or make contributions towards charity. Doing so will not only elevate the status of your business to that of a responsible and respected organization but also give you a greater sense of satisfaction.

Honesty: Adhering to the age old adage “honesty is the best policy” is sure to take you places. Do not evade taxes; and be fair in your dealings. While this has been reiterated time and again, many organizations still manage to be tripped up by dishonest actions.

Open mindedness: A broad minded approach towards growth oriented strategies, new ideas and continuous improvement is essential to the well being of any business environment. Take criticism in your stride without holding petty grudges, acknowledge hard work and have well defined policies for dealing with employees, vendors and customers.

Business ethics make up the moral foundation of your firm. Exercising high standards conveys a strong message about the quality of your firm and the people behind it.

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Tags: business, ethics, training, code, policy

As Solicitors we have organised a series of employment law seminars over the past few years and the normal attendance has been around 60-70 general managers and human resource managers. However, the latest course about dismissal for poor performance attracted around 140 bookings! It seems clear from the popularity of this seminar that this issue really matters to local businesses.

The main risk involved in dismissing an incompetent employees is losing a claim for unfair dismissal and having to pay an award of compensation for loss of earnings of up to £53,500. This is generally only a risk where employees have been employed for at least 12 months.

In order to justify the dismissal of an under performing employee, the business will need to show that they honestly and reasonably believed that the employee was failing to meet established standards. It is generally accepted in employment law that businesses are entitled to introduce rigorous standards of performance provided that they are not unachievable and provided that they are consistently applied. Many businesses will adopt standards in the form of sales targets or productivity requirements.

Assuming that an employee has failed to meet established standards, the business will still be required to follow a fair procedure before dismissal. This will generally include giving a formal written warning to the employee and then a final written warning. The employee needs to be given an opportunity to improve and their performance needs to be monitored. Although there is no strict duty to help the employee, businesses should act reasonably in responding to requests for help. There is a specific duty to make reasonable adjustments if the employee concerned suffers from a disability.

Assuming that there is no improvement following a final warning, then the employer can proceed with dismissal. However, it is essential that the employer holds a formal disciplinary hearing before dismissal and gives the employee an opportunity to appeal against dismissal.

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Tags: employee, ethics, training, business, rules