Today is the last day of our ThinkCompliance17 challenge. The idea was to increase the number of voices discussing matters of compliance on Twitter.
Did we succeed?
Using the search bar on Twitter, I counted a total of 204 Tweets with our hashtag, or about 15 Tweets/day. When you quickly swipe up the search results, you notice that most of these Tweets were posted by a handful of users, many of which were already active on the Twittersphere. And the majority were reTweets, not links to original content.
Most people, including me, are afraid to write publicly (and no, putting a picture of your cat on FaceBook does not count as writing publicly). Writing about ethics and compliance can be even more daunting. I get it.
But let’s face it: the state of business ethics could be better. We know this because we all work for someone else or are regulated by a government. For the most part, employers and governments react to pressures. No pressure, no action.
A boss who never talks about ethics and compliance sends the message that it is not important to her. Employees send the same message to their employer.
All that is required is to pay attention, notice how things are, and write about it. Even a 140-character Tweet counts (if it’s not just a link to someone else’s thinking). It’s up to all of us to start the conversation.
Are we up for the challenge?
The Ethical Leader 