Beautegrity

At Mekong Capital, this made-up word embodies a value and its outcome. The word elevates an over-used value by depicting a desirable future.

In the coming years, companies will furiously create or beef-up their ethics and compliance programs. They will rush to adopt what others have done or sign big checks to newly-minted consultants cashing in on the new gold rush. Despite all the DOJ warnings (that they haven’t read), they will create paper programs.

You can’t get the right ethical culture without expressing it in terms of what makes your organization unique. You can’t just download a code of ethics template from the internet. You need to know who you are and who you want to be. You need a story – your story. And having your own jargon can help.

So go ahead, create new words to express your culture. But don’t use beautegrity.