Ethics Matter
Read the newspaper any day this week. Chances are you will find an article describing the fall of a respected business or political leader who thought they were immune to the rules and laws abided by most of us. What a disappointing commentary on today's society.
Sometimes you can see why they do it. Not that you agree with it, but you can understand what drives them to disregard a rule or policy now and then. There is a tremendous pressure on today's workforce to perform at incredibly and oftentimes unrealistically high levels. In a tight economy, the fear of failure can lead to the temptation of cutting corners or of bypassing procedures - temporarily creating a feeling of success and fulfillment.
However, there's a catch. As Norman Vincent Peale and Ken Blanchard stated in their book, The Power of Ethical Management, "There is no right way to do a wrong thing." Even if you feel better temporarily by making your boss happy, or filling your shipping quota, or getting the report submitted (with inaccurate figures), the weight of this unethical behavior will stay with you regardless of whether you are found out or not. These ethical breaches stay with you, causing guilt, low self-esteem, loss of overall productivity, and negative behaviors toward other successful employees. In other words, more internal chaos.
Ethical behavior, actions that are congruent with your values, reduces your chaos in the long run even if it causes more chaos in the short term. Peale and Blanchard state it perfectly when they say: "There's no pillow as soft as a clear conscience."
Gotta run time to rest my head on my pillow!
Tracy
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Tracy Knofla
High Impact Training
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