I’m not a constitutional lawyer and I don’t play one on TV.

But the argument that a former president cannot be impeached for acts committed while he was in office seems flawed to me.

Imagine the harm a president could attempt to cause in his last day or two in office if this were true. He would either enjoy presidential immunity or be protected from impeachment.

No president has tried to pardon himself because no one should be a judge in his own case. This fundamental rule of law is based on sound public policy. Similarly, a sound public policy of accountability demands that former presidents be held accountable for their acts, including the ones committed in the 11th hour.

Ethical leaders seek to do no harm. If they make a mistake, they admit to it. If they cause damage, they seek to repair it. If they deserve punishment, they accept the consequences.

The first time I heard about the concept of a “mobile-first” website, I had just completed a two-year project building a “responsive” website. Darn! I felt like a dinosaur for a few minutes, and then resolved that I’d make the site mobile-first a few years down the road when time for a refresh.

Today, the pandemic is forcing us to consider a new type of “first” approach. Not in how we will build websites but in how we will build workplace cultures when people are allowed to return to the office.

According to a recent study, 72% of us have no desire to return to the office full-time when it is safe to do so. How should we modify all these processes that build a culture (how we hire, recognize, promote, discipline, celebrate, etc.)?

Should we stick to the pre-pandemic, office-centric approach? With more than half the employees working remotely on any given day, this approach seems doomed to fail.

Should we have a “responsive” approach, building processes that sort of work fine for both the people in the office and those working remotely? Maybe. But just like my responsive website was mediocre because it ignored the rising trend of people accessing the internet via mobile devices, a “responsive” approach is likely to create a mediocre culture.

Should we, then, build a remote-first culture? One where processes assume that people work from home most of the time? This, to me, sounds like the right approach. In such a culture, the onboarding process would call for the laptop to be mailed to the employee’s home (unless they chose to pick it up). Every conference room would have videoconferencing equipment, allowing employees to decide how they want to attend a meeting. Leadership messages would be recorded for asynchronous listening. You get the gist.

We knew that a pandemic would hit the world at some point and we didn’t prepare for it. Let’s not fail to prepare for the post-pandemic workplace culture.

It’s only a few months away.

“Move fast and break things” is a Facebook motto that I never really liked as an ethics and compliance officer (or as a person).

But Facebook has another motto that I like: “Done is better than perfect.”

Here is what it looks like:

• Have an agenda for every meeting and stick with it. If additional topics of discussion pop up, schedule them for the next meeting. Don’t get off course or extend the current meeting (see yesterday’s rant).
• Have a scope for every project and determine at the outset what “done” looks like. Don’t make room for scope creep. If new ideas or features are identified, assign them to phase 2 of the project.
• Related to the previous bullet, the initial scope of any project should follow the concept of “minimal viable product” (MVP). Don’t try to please every desire of every user. You can’t.

I find it fascinating when I see White House staffers use a ruler while setting the table for a State dinner to ensure that every utensil is precisely at a certain distance from the edge of the table. I also can’t imagine what harm would be caused by a misaligned spoon.

Unlike State dinners, the work we do is in service of other people’s needs. They don’t need our work in the future, they need it now (and possibly yesterday).

So let’s scope an MVP and get it done!

Starting and ending meetings on time is a sign of respect.

If you start or end a meeting late, apologize to the others and provide an explanation. Apologize like you mean it. If you find yourself constantly apologizing for being late, you don’t mean it. You simply think that your time and activities are more important than other people’s.

Realize that there is nothing magical about a 30-minute or a 60-minute meeting. While it might be convenient to start meetings at the top or the bottom of the hour, they don’t need to end there as well. Schedule 20-minute and 45-minute meetings, stick to the timing, and give everyone a few minutes before their next meeting – so that they can be on time.

We all do something every day that is meaningful enough to share with our spouse and kids at night.

We all do something every week that is meaningful enough to share with our boss at work.

We all do something every month that is meaningful enough to share with the entire department.

We all do something every year that is meaningful enough to share with the entire company.

And whatever that last thing is, it’s meaningful enough to share it with the world.

So pay attention to what you do. Share it with others. It’s a way for you to improve your teaching skills and an opportunity for everyone else to learn from your experience. Every time you share, you release an idea that might bump against another idea, leading to something magical. That’s how all great ideas emerge.

We could all use great ideas right now.

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HT to Steven Johnson.

If you work with 10 people, you can celebrate 10 birthdays this year.

Perhaps one of them will have a new baby, and that’s something to celebrate too.

One of them might need surgery. Why not send a care basket at home?

You were out for surgery and others kept your projects on track. Send a thank you note.

One might lose a parent. Show up at the service, even if only on Zoom.

A colleague is struggling with a major project? Lend a hand.

You are invited to speak at big meeting but someone else on your team could use the exposure. Offer them up instead.

So many ways we can make a difference every day. Each small, each adding up. If you were to write one action on a line of college ruled paper for each workday, you would fill 8 pages by the end of this year.

That would make for some nice reading.

When a supervisor speaks about the code of conduct, she is effectively inviting her employees to ask questions when facing an ethical dilemma.

When she discusses a policy, it makes her employees wonder what other policies might exist.

When she shares what she’s learned from a recent online training module, she’s gently reminding her troops that they need to complete their training as well.

When she explains the necessity of a new control, she is prompting everyone to look for other compliance gaps.

When she praises an employee for speaking up, she is showing everyone else what behavior is expected of them.

Simple acts. Day in, day out. Each building an ethical culture, almost effortlessly.

Order, the verb, can be a command or a request.

Order, the noun, can represent clarity, harmony and stability.

An ethical leader’s order should create order, not chaos.

A few decades ago, there were too few sources of information.

Now, there are too many sources of misinformation.

To be an ethical leader today means that you are committed to providing accurate and complete information. You back your statements with primary sources. You refuse to repeat rumors.

Those you lead are anxious amidst all this misinformation. It is detrimental to their health, both physical and mental, and to their performance.

Be a source of certainty that is based on others’ ability to verify what you say.