Flavour of the past week has undoubtedly be the question of ethics. Editorial comments have abounded and most, if not all, the newsletters I have received have been on the subject. Of course this follows all the news about FIFA and “Septic Blatter,” as one newspaper cleverly identified its infamous head.
These events seem to have evoked universal concern about a decline in moral standards and ethics, with many commentators evoking the fines being levied on the banks and financial services industry to support the argument. Yet you have to wonder how deep this concern really flows. After all, reports about corruption in FIFA have been circulating for years and been corroborated by journalistic investigations and exposés going back several years.
You could argue that this lack of action has encouraged greater blatancy. Anyone with more than half a brain would have questioned the legitimacy of awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. Even as the crisis unfolded, Blatter’s position in standing – and winning – re-election suggests that he still felt he could get away with it. While he may have subsequently been compelled to resign, it is that intransigent arrogance that is the most galling. (The newspaper could equally have named him, 'Sepp Blatant.')
Whether you go along with identifying these events as a symptom of moral decline or not, there is one aspect that is – or should be – of major concern: a growing tendency of senior leaders to avoid accountability. Blatter is by no means alone in claiming ignorance of events when things go wrong. Yet, isn’t that why executives earn their large rewards? They are quick to take credit for organisational success and often use that to justify their remuneration. Yet when the barometer swings the other way, they plead ignorance, unforeseen circumstances or outside circumstances.
Unfortunately it is more than just a case of their wanting their cake and to eat it. It is double standards in extremis, with excuses that they would never tolerate from an employee!
Yet no-one seems to pick up on this hypocrisy. Or on the moral imperative to speak up against it. How can you expect to have loyal and engaged employees if you don’t? Of course you have to set the example first in your own organisation but you also have to express your concerns and do more.
Failing to do so is when wider standards start falling. Indeed this is the inevitable outcome of what John Stuart Mills alluded to when he said “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends than that good men should look on and do nothing.” These rotten apples end up spoiling life for everyone. Thus every business leader should remember the adage that “A fish rots from the head” and so to:-
- Maintain a high-level of personal integrity and ensure their actions are always ethical.
- Identify and clamp down on any unethical behaviour in their organisation.
- Speak up and denounce any public examples of unethical behaviour.
Bay is the founder and director of Zealise, a company created to help larger small to large business organisations to properly value their people and thereby inspire them to optimise their self-worth and so engage them that they transform organisational performance and bottom-line results. Bay is also the author of several books, including “Lean Organisations Need FAT People” and “The 7 Deadly Toxins of Employee Engagement.”