The Ethical Optimist

NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman had a terrific article recently about the financial mess we’re in and some of the ethics behind it.

Friedman cites a book titled, “How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything in Business (and in Life).” Its author, Dov Seidman, is the C.E.O. of LRN, which helps companies build ethical corporate cultures.

Seidman basically argues that in our hyperconnected and transparent world, how you do things matters more than ever, because so many more people can now see how you do things, be affected by how you do things and tell others how you do things on the Internet anytime, for no cost and without restraint.

We’ve all been hearing this more and more…some call it the “naked” corporation. Anyone can leak information from a board room or a lunch room. A disgruntled airline passenger can quickly send video from a cell phone to local media showing the angst caused by a plane that has been sitting on a hot runway for hours. Anyone can go online and dig deep enough to learn not only about your organization, but everything connected to your organization. We live in a transparent world.

As such, public relations professionals need to be looking at their own organizations from the outside in, to see what others can see. Often, we’re so focused on directing messages outside of our organizations, we don’t take time to look at what’s coming in. I’m always amazed when I come across a website or blog that bashes a client and the client is unaware of it. These usually turn up in the simplest of searches…reminding me of the children’s story of the Emperor who had no clothes. Everyone but the client realizes their naked!

Friedman notes:

“In a connected world,” Seidman said to me, “countries, governments and companies also have character, and their character — how they do what they do, how they keep promises, how they make decisions, how things really happen inside, how they connect and collaborate, how they engender trust, how they relate to their customers, to the environment and to the communities in which they operate — is now their fate.”

Friedman argues that we’ve gotten away from the “how.” To a large extent many financial institutions stopped asking how they were making money, as long as they continued to make more money. How often do we see this manifested in the organizations we work for and represent? We’re so intent on a goal that we lose sight of how we’re going to accomplish that goal and the potential destruction we leave in the wake of getting there.

One of the things I often discuss in my ethics lectures is the importance of slowing down to think and raise the difficult questions. Often, when I consult on ethical issues and the crises that arise from them, clients will say, “You know, I had a bad feeling about that, but everyone else seemed to think it was a good idea.”

Friedman notes how difficult it is for individuals to speak up. After all, it is human nature to operate within a herd mentality. Many fear speaking up in the rush to meet a deadline, appease a client or attain a specific goal, all of which can start the slide into the slippery slope of ethical decision making.

Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.”

So, what can we learn from Mr. Friedman and the current mess we’re in? Like Margaret Mead said, never underestimate the power of one. Public relations practitioners are in a unique position to scan the horizon and keep management teams tuned into the importance of “how” when it comes to decision making. We need to be the ones who speak up and become the conscience of the organization. We need to be the ones to ask the tough questions. As Friedman concluded:

And so it must be with us. We need to get back to collaborating the old-fashioned way. That is, people making decisions based on business judgment, experience, prudence, clarity of communications and thinking about how — not just how much.

Once again, my Mom summed it up when I faced the herd mentality in my youth with a simple question.  “So tell me, if all your friends decided to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you join them?”

Gee whiz…it’s a good thing I decided to start my own company. As chief cook and bottle washer, I can cut myself a break now and then if I don’t deliver stellar results in less than 18 months. There’s something to be said about being privately held.

What brought on this particular rant, you ask?

It was an article in the February 12 edition of Business Week, titled “Hello, You Must be Going.” The article’s focus is on the decreasing window of opportunity given to newly hired senior managers to perform or perish.

According to the article, “Last year there were 28,058 executive turnovers, including board members and executives from CEO down to vice-president, a 68% percent increase over 2005.”

The article goes on to say that “while the typical CEO today has a five-year tenure, search firm Spencer Stuart has found the chief marketing officer has only 23 months on the job.”

When did realistic business expectations become subverted to instant gratification and profitability? Moreover, what does it mean for the business climate?

Hasn’t anyone noticed that this deplorable trend parallels the rise in ethical scandals? Does anyone really question what motivated the senior management team at Enron, Worldcom and Cendant to chase profits at the risk of all else?

How can Wall Street condemn the actions of these management teams when market pressures for a continuing stream of dividends caused the fallout in the first place?

Why aren’t analysts promoting the idea of growing companies for the long haul? Gee, could it be because it’s not as glamorous or profitable as playing the part of Simon Cowell to the financial media?

The increasing pressure and unrealistic performance expectations brought to bear on a revolving door of management teams at leading public companies is a recipe for ethical disasters.

These widespread, shortsighted business practices, motivated by greed and supported by a generation weaned on instant gratification, will continue to foster corporate scandals that Sarbanes-Oxley and its ilk will never curb.