If your organization took time to build a culture of trust over the last few years, it has a solid foundation to weather the current pandemic. Employees will lean in, innovate, and allow you to outperform your competitors.
If you don’t have that culture of trust, how do you feel right now?
In times of crisis, some companies offer relief to their employees, customers and suppliers.
Other companies take advantage of the temporary vulnerability of those they depend on during normal times.
What is your company’s long-term strategy? What’s its character?
I occasionally write about Stoicism on this blog. I find the philosophy well suited for E&C professionals.
The Stoics like to do an exercise called premeditatio malorum, imagining things that could go wrong or be taken away. Stoics are not pessimists, they simply like to be prepared.
Seneca, one of the richest man of Rome and a Stoic, would regularly practice poverty. He would eat a meager fare, walk around town with ragged clothes and barefoot, and sleep on the floor. He knew he might lose all his money one day. He had seen it happen to others and didn’t foolishly believe himself immune to misfortune. He wanted to be prepared. And so each day that he was still rich, he enjoyed it.
We all do this exercise from time to time. We read the news, learn of somebody else’s misfortune resulting from an earthquake, a flood, or a tornado, and for a brief second we try to imagine ourselves in their shoes. The thought alone is often so uncomfortable that we quickly abandon it.
What did the average American or European think about when they first heard of the coronavirus outbreak in China? How many asked themselves how they would react if their own government banned gatherings, closed schools and restaurants, and locked down entire towns? More importantly for this blog, how many E&C professionals thought about the new risks that could be created by such a situation?
Premeditatio malorum is a simple exercise that gets you ready for challenges, softens the blow when they actually happen, and makes you grateful when they don’t.
LRN’s Susan Divers recently published an excellent post on the importance of holding senior executives accountable to ensure a strong ethics & compliance (E&C) program.
Her post reminded me of a negative outcome of unfairness that we rarely talk about: the demoralizing effect on the E&C team.
Imagine that a senior executive is found to have violated a policy that would typically result in termination but is instead simply provided with “coaching” by the c-suite, who is judging him too important to lose. Perhaps less than a dozen people will be aware of the investigation and of the discipline imposed, but this small group is sure to include the CECO and a couple of her lieutenants. This will be like clipping their wings. Like deflating their balloon. Insert other rainy analogies here. How are they supposed to carry on, effectively, the mission of creating and touting an ethical culture?
Imagine instead that the executive is terminated and that employees are told that it was the result of a breach of company values. How empowering for the E&C team! What an incentive for all employees to act ethically! What a powerful way to recruit good people and keep bad ones at bay!
How long until all c-suites understand this dynamic?
For Part 1 of this series, click here.
I recently joined a small group of E&C professionals who decided to complete the free online course on AI Ethics for Business, offered by Seattle University.
We agreed to complete a module or two every week and to share our insights. Here are some of my insights from Module 2:
A side-note: I find the end-of module quizzes very poor. If all you remembered of these modules was the information included in the quizzes, you would have a dismal understanding of AI ethics.
It may feel awkward
But ignore the fear and just
Pay the compliment
I recently joined a small group of E&C professionals who decided to complete the free online course on AI Ethics for Business, offered by Seattle University.
We agreed to complete a module or two every week and to share our insights. Here are some of my insights from Module 1:
To read more about this topic and about my colleagues’ insights, please visit this thread on LinkedIn.
A Houston Astros player was deliberately hit by a pitcher yesterday. It happened during the team’s first Spring training game following their cheating scandal.
Many say the player had it coming. Many still expect the team will suffer such revenge throughout the season. The anger is understandable. But with 30 teams in the league, the way to distinguish yourself as a team this season is to be the one that doesn’t pick on the Astros.
This event reminded me of a situation I faced early in my career. The company I worked for imposed “austerity measures” to weather through some difficult times. Employees were upset about the measures and vowed to strike back at management by doing nothing more than the absolute minimum. My supervisor called for a special team meeting and explained that this was our time to shine. We would be the only department that didn’t complain or strike back. In fact, we would now go beyond the call of duty. I’ll spare you the details, but it worked out really well for all of us, in both the short and long term.
The companies we work for operate in industries with competitors. Some competitors play fair, some don’t. We should not compromise our business ethics simply because a competitor cheated us.
Your organization’s code of conduct identifies and defines the core values of your organization. This is helpful, assuming people read the code.
Your organization’s leadership speaks regularly about those core values. This is very helpful, assuming they personally live those values.
Your direct supervisor exhibits behaviors, on a daily basis, in line with the core values. This is when the values come to life.
We need a code. We need the right tone at the top. But more importantly, we need supervisors that are empowered to do the right thing and held accountable.
Imagine you are the pilot of a large, long-range commercial aircraft and you need to make an emergency landing right after take-off. You must decide between dumping fuel over a populated area or landing too heavy and risking an explosion. What do you do?
It’s a difficult decision to make because both options are risky. If one option was risk-free, it would be a lot easier.
And so it goes with ethical dilemmas. Choosing between right and wrong is not difficult. The difficulty is in choosing between two rights.
The Ethical Leader 