article thumbnail

Sometimes Doing the Right Thing Involves Risk

Harmonious Workplaces

Despite putting my own psychological safety at risk over Teams and physical safety at risk later meeting in person with an executive who refers to himself as “the devil” and a “scary dude” and who wields a pistol in the office, I feel I did the ethical thing: It prevented harm to others. It sought to make things better. References Holiday, R.

Ethics 98
article thumbnail

Corporate Ethics Can’t Be Reduced to Compliance

Harvard Business

However, one of the more unsettling and unintended consequences of a singular focus on ethics-as-compliance is a checkbox mentality that gives the illusion of reducing risk without really doing so. So what can a company do to excel ethically? Plato emphasized a virtue-based system of ethics 2,400 years ago in his Academy.

Ethics 28
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

How Companies Can Take a Stand Against Bribery

Harvard Business

External standards can also be a powerful tool in support of those efforts, helping companies strengthen ethics and compliance practices by offering a clear framework for action. And consumers are placing a higher and higher value on whether a company has ethical practices, too.

Company 28
article thumbnail

Leadership Takes Self-Control. Here’s What We Know About It

Harvard Business

For example, our own research has found that service employees in leadership positions who have to force a smile in customer interactions (thereby exercising self-control to suppress their true feelings) are later less able to regulate their interactions with their subordinates – they lie and are more rude to them. billion annually.

article thumbnail

Like It or Not, “Smart Drugs” Are Coming to the Office

Harvard Business

Because these drugs are — for the most part — safe, effective, and easy to get, they pose several ethical challenges for both workers and organizations. With the help of wearable technologies and health screenings, companies can now analyze the relation between bodily activities — exercise, sleep, nutrition, etc.

Ethics 51
article thumbnail

Foundations of Consulting ? Part 1 - Free Management Library

Consulting and Organizational Management

The highly collaborative and facilitative internal consultant or leader does not always exercise direct control and often is quite successful in guiding change. Business Ethics, Culture and Performance. Thus, a successful leader during change is acting much more like Block’s definition of consultant than you might realize.

article thumbnail

The Swedish CEO Who Runs His Company Like a CrossFit Gym

Harvard Business

This hasn’t gone unnoticed by some leaders, and a new generation of CEOs taking a cue from this last bastion of the Protestant work ethic. ” “We have so much to learn from sports culture”, Bunge continued. His biceps were visible under his t-shirt and his short hair was still wet from exercise.

Sports 28