Ethics Roundtable Kickoff – Newsletter 1-5

The new Ethics Roundtable launched on 9/3 at Bob’s Chocolate Cafe in Francestown, NH with 12 participants for a fun, vigorous, and all-too-short discussion about corporate values* and the operating ethics that follow. 

Please join us there weekly on Wednesdays from 8:30-9:20 as you are able!

• Values and ethics are on people’s minds!
• Corporate ethics are usually derived from corporate values
• Implementation requires ongoing investment by C-level leaders who must in turn set and follow high expectations 
• Ethics trainings are effective for long-term business advantage
• Employees invest when they see a connection between their work and corporate values; otherwise cognitive dissonance ensues
• Start-ups must often be scrappy, and ethics can seem a future luxury 
• ‘Stakeholders’ is a bigger category than the four basics:  shareholders, employees, suppliers, and customers.
• Actual stakeholders include employee dependents, downstream users, and the environment.
• Corporate ethics have become critical for businesses, and training is often rigorous 
• Integrity is profitable in the long run

• Fundamentally, no person or company is good or evil. At our best we do OK and look out for each other. At our worst… 
• It is our capacity to steer towards the good that makes the difference. And what is “good?” …TBD
• I can’t speak for humanity, but it seems like we all want to believe that we’re good at heart, that we try to mindfully do the right thing wth limited resources and information. 
• And often, gut is more reliable than reason. And in certain difficult moments, I want reliable, internalized, subconscious values, expressed as ethics, to act well before I have time to think.

• Can you articulate actionable values you know and feel to be good for you? 
• As ethics and law itself are under fire, when, how, and where do people declare actionable, humanistic values?
• What framework does the next generation need in order to cooperate amidst diminishing global resources?
• Are there such thing as absolute values? “Only the Sith…”
• Is there still a discernable social contract?
• How do youpersonally implement your values and ethics? 

• Roundtable Kickoff Agenda and Materials
• Newsletter Archive 
• Case Studies
• Government in Service to its People
• The Benefits of Good Decisions

* “Corporate” includes municipalities and non-profits and “values” are both explicit and implicit intentions. Thus, corporate values = organizational intent. There’s a huge premium on being true to your explicit values.