What happens when a business breaks the law? In many cases, a regulatory violation results in a fine or some additional penalties, such as increased oversight. But some cases are large enough that the company involved is brought before a federal judge and sentenced. Obviously, a business can’t go to jail. But sometimes, individual executives…

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Having spent more than 30 years as a full-time sponsored extreme sports athlete, Will Gadd now teaches his two young daughters how to navigate life and mountains. In this humorous talk he tells us why he’s happy when his five-year old classifies a situation as “Bumps and bruises only” or “Death,” and outlines a few…

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Q: Are compliance and ethics really that different? A: I would argue that compliance and ethics are unique disciplines; however, because both are designed to manage human behavior, it is easy to see why the two are so often conjoined. First, many organizations “house” their ethics departments under the larger compliance umbrella. Companies do this for…

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Even a small business can have many stakeholders — people and organizations that have an interest in what the business does. A small car mechanic shop has owners, customers, and employers, but its neighbors are interested in site management and the larger community wants to be sure that oil and other waste is disposed of…

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Dr. Kenneth Goodpaster, Ph.D., professor emeritus at the University of St. Thomas One way to think through a decision is to use the “four avenues.” Each “avenue” provides a different way to think about an issue. By working through all avenues, the final outcome is more likely to be ethically strong. The four avenues are:…

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Do you have an ethics problem in your organization? Or maybe the ethics of your workers is acceptable but you want to improve them? Perhaps your organization only has a few areas that need to be targeted. The reasons that leaders of an organization would choose to implement ethics training are varied. The best reason is that good ethics is…

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Keeping ethics top of mind when you hire helps to create a team that lives up to your company’s high ethics expectations. No matter how much you communicate with your employees about the importance of ethics, or how strong your Code of Ethics might be, it is critical to hire people who respect and uphold…

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Talking about ethics early and often is key to establishing a culture of integrity at your company. Every company has some sort of on-boarding process for new employees, whether in formalized sessions or more relaxed introductions. New employees have to learn about key colleagues, the management chain, clients, rules and regulations, new technology and systems…the…

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Businesses can take a few simple steps to create an environment where employees feel more comfortable raising critical ethics concerns. Every businessperson would like to believe that their employees would readily approach them with any ethics concerns in the workplace. But the reality is that many ethics concerns go unreported until it’s too late. To…

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The wrong vendor or business partner can harm your business and reputation. Here’s how to find the right ones. To paraphrase John Donne, no business is an island. Every enterprise, from a self-employed consultant who works from home to a company with a few hundred employees, requires the services of other third-party businesses in order…

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