Ethics: Yes, Even When Nobody is Watching | Dawne Ware | TEDxFairfieldUniversity
Summary
TLDRThe speaker reflects on personal ethics, sharing stories about finding a wallet, raising children with integrity, and her professional experiences as a CPA and CEO. She emphasizes the importance of following the 'golden rule,' teaching honesty to her children, and leading by example in the business world. Ethical behavior, she argues, is not just about following rules, but doing the right thing, even when no one is watching. The speaker also touches on corporate ethics, the evolving responsibilities of companies, and the role of leadership in setting a positive ethical tone.
Takeaways
- đ The speaker found a wallet and chose to turn it into the police, reflecting their ethical decision-making process.
- đšâđ©âđŠâđŠ The speaker emphasized teaching their children honesty by paying the correct ski ticket prices, even when no one was watching.
- âïž Personal ethics are rooted in upbringing and experiences, with parents playing a crucial role in shaping moral compasses.
- đ§ The speaker emphasized the importance of following the 'Golden Rule'âtreating others as you would want to be treatedâin both personal and professional situations.
- đ As a CPA, the speaker follows a strict code of ethics and highlighted the role of professional ethics in maintaining accountability and integrity.
- đŒ The speaker believes that ethical behavior, transparency, and integrity are critical to leadership, especially in positions of authority like being a CEO.
- đ Ethical companies and leaders set the tone for their organizations by fostering transparency, fairness, and accountability.
- đ§âđ« The speaker highlighted the role of mentors in shaping both personal and professional ethics, sharing examples of influential figures from their career.
- đ€ Ethical decision-making in business involves treating employees, customers, and stakeholders with dignity, even in tough situations like layoffs.
- đ Ethical considerations in modern business extend to emerging challenges like technology, AI, and data privacy, where companies must maintain integrity and transparency.
Q & A
What decision did the speaker make when they found a wallet in a parking lot?
-The speaker decided to call the local police to report the found wallet and have officers retrieve it, rather than leaving it in a 'safe spot' or taking any other action.
How does the speaker's ethical decision-making extend to their role as a parent?
-The speaker emphasizes that they and their spouse made honest choices in front of their children, such as paying the correct price for ski tickets based on their kidsâ actual ages, to set an example of honesty and ethical behavior.
How does the speaker define personal ethics, and how do they influence day-to-day decisions?
-The speaker defines personal ethics as a moral compass guiding actions and decisions in situations where no rules or laws apply. They highlight treating people fairly and doing what they would want others to do if roles were reversed.
What preconceived notion did someone express about the speaker's ethics after they were promoted to CEO?
-Someone remarked that 'you donât get to be where you are by following the rules,' implying that to be a CEO, one must have bent or broken rules. The speaker, however, disagrees and believes that their ethical nature contributed to their promotion.
How did the speakerâs parents influence their personal ethics?
-The speaker's parents, particularly through their example of love, kindness, and integrity, instilled a strong moral foundation. Their fatherâs care for their mother during her struggle with Alzheimerâs exemplified deep personal ethics.
What does the speaker think is important when faced with a tough decision in business?
-The speaker believes that tough decisions should be guided by fairness, transparency, and accountability. They often ask themselves if the way they're handling a situation is something they could defend to their family.
How does the speaker describe ethical leadership in a business context?
-Ethical leadership involves being honest, fair, and open in dealing with others. It also requires setting a good example, taking accountability for decisions, and maintaining personal integrity, even in difficult situations.
What influence did Al, the speakerâs former CFO, have on them?
-Al was a mentor who demonstrated trustworthiness, professionalism, and ethical behavior, all while managing volatile situations with grace. The speaker admired Alâs ability to maintain integrity and wanted to emulate those traits.
How does the speaker believe companies should respond to tough financial realities?
-The speaker acknowledges that hard decisions, like cutting expenses or staff, sometimes need to be made. However, they emphasize the importance of treating people with dignity and being transparent in reasoning to maintain ethical standards.
What role do personal ethics play in navigating technological challenges in business, according to the speaker?
-The speaker believes that with advancing technologies, companies must be led by individuals with strong personal ethics to govern how data is used, protect personal information, and handle the complexities of automation ethically.
Outlines
đ§ Finding a Wallet and Ethical Decision-Making
The narrator describes finding a wallet while walking through a condo complex and facing an ethical dilemma on what to do. Rather than leaving it or placing it in a more visible spot, they called the local police to ensure its return. This incident leads them to reflect on the golden rule of doing what they'd want others to do in their place. They expand this ethical consideration by discussing how they and their husband, as parents, chose not to lie about their children's age at a ski resort, reinforcing values of honesty for their children.
đ€ Ethics Beyond Rules and Regulations
The narrator, a CPA and CEO, reflects on how their professional ethics align with their personal morals. They acknowledge that ethics often go beyond formal rules or guidelines, involving personal values and integrity. They cite examples of adhering to professional conduct codes in accounting but stress that ethics also shape everyday decision-making. Even in the business world, where rules may not always apply, personal ethics guide actions, ensuring that choices are made with fairness, honesty, and respect. They note that being a 'rule-follower' contributed to their rise to CEO, despite stereotypes about corporate leaders.
đ Personal Ethics and Influences from Early Life
The narrator credits their parents and upbringing for shaping their personal ethics. Their parents modeled ethical behaviorâhumility, kindness, and responsibilityâwhich later became their moral compass. They also reflect on the broader influence of mentors and role models throughout their life, from teachers and coaches to professional colleagues. They emphasize the importance of integrity, transparency, and authenticity in business, and how they strive to emulate the ethical leadership qualities they admired in others.
đŒ Ethics in the Business World and Tough Decisions
In the business world, the narrator discusses how personal ethics are essential in decision-making, especially during tough situations. They emphasize the importance of treating people with dignity, even when making hard business decisions such as layoffs or budget cuts. Transparency and fairness are key in building trust, and ethical executives must balance difficult choices with respect for those affected. The narrator shares their experience as a CEO, navigating a companyâs challenging transitions while trying to prioritize ethical actions and accountability.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄPersonal Ethics
đĄGolden Rule
đĄIntegrity
đĄRole Models
đĄEthical Leadership
đĄProfessional Ethics
đĄAccountability
đĄEthical Companies
đĄCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
đĄMoral Compass
Highlights
The speaker debates whether to move a wallet they found to a safe spot or call the police.
The speaker ultimately decides to call the local police, hoping the wallet would be returned to its owner.
The speaker reflects on how personal ethics guide their daily decisions, including situations with no clear rules.
A moral dilemma arises when considering whether to lie about their children's age for ski ticket discounts, but the speaker chooses to set a positive example.
The speaker emphasizes that it's the parents' responsibility to teach their children honesty and integrity through actions.
They acknowledge past mistakes, but overall aim to follow the rules and do the right thing based on personal ethics.
The speaker shares that they are a CPA and highlights how rules in accounting, such as debits equaling credits, appeal to them.
The importance of personal ethics, beyond just professional codes of conduct, is highlighted as a key guiding principle.
The speaker recalls how their upbringing, especially their parents' strong moral compass, shaped their personal ethics.
The speaker references their fatherâs care for their mother during her battle with Alzheimerâs as an example of personal ethics in action.
They describe how mentors, like their former CFO, had a lasting impact on their personal and professional ethics.
The speaker advocates for ethical leadership, noting that treating people with dignity during tough business decisions is crucial.
The speaker discusses the importance of a company culture where ethics are practiced from the top down.
They reflect on the notion that people will leave companies if their values don't align with the companyâs practices.
The speaker highlights that corporate responsibility now includes delivering value to customers, investing in the workforce, and supporting communities, beyond just generating shareholder value.
Transcripts
a few weeks ago I was walking the dog
through the condo complex near my home
and the parking spots were pretty empty
and I looked down and saw a wallet in
the middle of one I debated what to do
should I move the wallet to a safe spot
so that if the owner came back to get it
they could find it I might have done
that if it was a mitten or a scarf but
this was a wallet it was 10:30 in the
morning so the person probably wasn't
coming back anytime soon and what if
someone else saw the wallet and decided
to take it I picked it up I could see
there was a license inside and I didn't
recognize the name or the face and the
address was over an hour away from where
I was so I did what I'd want someone to
do if they found my wallet in a parking
spot I called the local police and they
sent two officers out to get it I don't
know what happened but I'm hoping that
the wallet got back to its owner safely
and that she was pretty relieved it
seems kind of simple but would everyone
have made that same choice do you use
that question otherwise known as the
golden rule to govern your actions what
would I want someone to do if the
situation was reversed now what about
the situation where there's not a person
on the other side my husband and I have
two kids ones in college ones in high
school they've been skiing since they
were three and where we ski kids ski
free until they're seven and then
there's a children's ticket from seven
to twelve and once you turn 13 you have
to pay the full adult price I'm sure a
lot of parents pretended that their kids
are under 7 or under 13 it's not a big
it's a big price difference but we
didn't why well what kind of example
would we have been setting for our kids
who could plainly see on their lift
ticket what age bracket we bought even
when they were under 7 they got a ticket
that said that maybe the ski resort
wasn't watching closely but our kids
were and this was a
moment be honest don't steal it's our
job as parents to teach our kids to do
the right thing now I'm not perfect I
look back on plenty of situations and
cringe maybe I didn't treat someone the
right way or didn't handle a situation
very well but on the whole I try to
follow the rules and when there are no
rules I try to do the right thing
understanding that doing the right thing
can be a matter of opinion so how many
of you are wolf followers I'm a CPA by
training good to see that and there are
a lot of rules that govern my profession
I graduated here from Fairfield and even
just the fact that debits have to equal
credits is a rule that we all embrace
and maybe why we like being accountants
we like the things balance we have a
code of professional conduct for CPAs
and in Connecticut to maintain my
license I have to take an ethics course
every three years and most professions
have some sort of codified professional
ethics to govern them and they can come
in handy but when I think of ethics I
think beyond published guidelines I
think about personal ethics what guides
us on a day-to-day basis to do the right
thing treat people the right way because
on a daily basis we're faced with
situations like the ones I just
described well there's no law there's no
regulation that's gonna tell us what we
have to do and all we have to rely on is
our own sense of personal ethics our
moral compass
a few years ago after I made a
light-hearted comment about being a rule
follower someone said to me you don't
get to be where you are by following the
rules I was kind of taken aback at the
time I was the fairly newly promoted CEO
of a private company after having been a
CFO for about nine years and in my
opinion the fact that I was a rule
follower by Nature
is exactly why I was promoted to CEO our
investors trusted me to lead the company
through a pretty difficult transitional
time but this person who had only just
met me
had a preconceived notion of my ethics
based solely on the fact that I was a
member of the c-suite Wow
I get it sort of how many headlines do
we see about executives having to step
down from their posts for bad behavior
about Rockstar CEOs that we later find
out were treating employees badly having
improper relationships spending
personally on lavishly on personal items
supported by boards who look the other
way because the CEO got financial
results or stories of outright
corruption like Enron WorldCom fairness
people who did bad things hoping no one
was watching and they wouldn't get
caught so where do personal ethics come
from in my case they came first and
foremost from my parents my dad was an
engineer my mom was a home acti Chur and
they were what you would call really
good people i had a privileged
upbringing in my family there was a lot
of love there was a lot of forgiveness
we went to church on Sundays another
place that helped for my moral compass
and we were taught to be humble and
grateful and kind my dad traveled a lot
for business which left most of the
day-to-day raising of five kids to my
mom later in life when my mom was
suffering from Alzheimer's my dad took
care of her at home as long as he safely
could and then he visited her everyday
once he had to make the decision to put
her into a care facility his personal
ethics told him that this was the least
he could do for this woman who he loved
and who had provided so much care for
him and to our family over the years
these are the people who raised me but I
think personal ethics come from a
variety of sources during our formative
years parents grandparents other family
members close friends teachers coaches
religious organizations scouting
organizations schools really almost
everyone we come in
tact with during those years has some
sort of influence on our personal ethics
either as a role model of something to
follow or maybe just as importantly
something not to be so how does this
play out in the business world when
asked what some of the hallmarks are in
my career I said I hope that people
would say that I act with integrity and
to me that means being open and honest
dealing fairly with people being
authentic and accountable for the good
and the bad and encouraging others to do
the same after working for an internet
for a public accounting firm I joined
one of my clients as their controller I
really enjoy the entrepreneurial
environment of that client and I
respected the CFO I'd be working for and
I feel like I really grew up
professionally at that company and al
the CFO had a big influence as my
personal and professional ethics
continued to develop al was smart he was
trustworthy and he was able to navigate
some pretty volatile personalities in a
professional manner people respect it
out and listened when he had something
to say al was and is a good person
whether or not anyone was watching I was
watching and I was learning and I wanted
to be like Al I've also had some other
great mentors over the years some with
whom I've worked and others that I just
have known for years people who will
have coffee or lunch with me and just
talk things through and these people who
are both successful and ethical are
great sounding boards and give me
something to strive for on a daily basis
so what do you do when you're faced with
a tough decision or a tough situation I
found out the hard way that everyone's
motivations aren't necessarily ethical
either in business or in life and I've
had to deal with some not-so-nice people
and keep it professional
so when I
faced with a tough situation I think to
myself is the way I'm handling this or
the decision I'm making something I
could defend first it was to my parents
and now to my husband or my kids and if
there's a person on the other side I go
back to that old standard how would I
want to be treated if the roles were
reversed I don't make the right
decisions all the time and I know I
don't please everybody all the time but
I do my best and I try to do no harm
which I'm told is the baseline of ethics
and better yet I try to do good so we're
the headlines about the people who do
the right thing day in and day out or
treat people the right way well who
wants to read the headline about the CFO
who chose the right accounting policies
or didn't manipulate the quarterly
earnings yay but I think those people
are a little bit more than Noren than
what we read about in the headlines now
being an ethical executive doesn't mean
you're always making the popular
decisions and doesn't mean you're a
pushover in negotiations you have a
responsibility to your organization and
you have to deal with financial
realities sometimes that means taking a
hard line in negotiations it might mean
cutting expenses or even staff where the
ethics comes in is how you implement
those decisions what a difference it can
make if you treat the people on the
other side with dignity I've always
found that tough conversations can go
better if the person on the other side
has a window into my reasoning or at
least knows I'm being straight with them
it doesn't mean they always go well but
hopefully better than they would
otherwise and losing a job is
devastating no matter what the
circumstances so what a company or
person does to help soften the blow and
help that employee move on goes a long
way on the morality scale when I took
over as CEO
we had just sold most of our ongoing
operations to another company and our
former president had joined that company
to lead the division we both felt a huge
responsibility to our team and worked
together to find most
people a spa at one of our corporations
so what does it take to make a company's
culture ethical there's no question that
the tone is set at the top ethical
people like to work at ethical companies
and follow ethical leaders most of the
people I've worked with over the years
really like producing a good work
product they like having good
relationships with their customers and
they like to be proud of the
organization that they're part of and
I've known people who will leave
organizations whose methods of doing
business or values don't align with
theirs I've done that I don't mean that
a company I worked for ever broke the
law or violating any regulations but
maybe I would have handled certain
situations differently or declined to
work on certain clients at the choice of
in mine alone and as my husband says you
can complain about the people you work
for for a little bit but if you stay at
some point you become them and so I
chose to leave so what companies do you
think of when you hear the words ethical
company it's easy to think of those who
donate a certain amount of their profits
to charities those who support their
communities financially and through
volunteerism those that are leading the
way in decreasing their carbon footprint
but not all companies can afford to do
these things in a material way so what
are some of the other signs of ethical
companies how do they treat their
employees and their customers are they
transparent in their communications and
operations do they take ownership when
they make mistakes what are they doing
when no one's watching or there are no
rules to follow the tide seems to be
changing and boards are no longer
supporting bad behavior executives are
having to step down for ethical reasons
not just for poor financial results
activist investors are holding public
companies responsible making sure they
have independent and diverse views on
their board and also making sure that
executive
making the right decisions companies now
have to report on their environmental
social and governance policies the
Business Roundtable which is a group of
almost 200 US companies CEOs put out a
paper a couple a couple of months ago
with a new definition of a purpose of a
corporation no longer is generating
shareholder value the only priority
higher on the list we're delivering
value to their customers investing in
their workforce dealing fairly and
ethically with their suppliers
supporting the communities in which they
work and last came generating
shareholder value now some of this is a
little bit circular because in order to
do well financially you have to deliver
value to your customers and invest in
your workforce and in order to support
the communities in which you work you
have to have the resources to do that
but the point is made all of these
should be priorities I hope it's not
just PR and I hope boards and governance
and compensation policies support all of
these priorities because in reality how
we compensate people is going to drive
behavior
today's theme is innovation and
inspiration with the evolution of
technology companies of all sizes are
waiting into uncharted waters there are
a few rules and those that exist have to
be continually updated to keep pace with
advancing technology companies have
access to an enormous amount of
information about us the stories coming
out recently about how some of those
companies have used and profited off of
our personal information are unsettling
what code of ethics were those
executives following AI and robotics
implementations compose even more
challenging ethical considerations as
the process is concurrently done by
humans are automated so in my opinion
it's more important than ever that
companies our staff from the top down of
people with strong personal ethics
people who can put in place policies to
govern how the company will implement
technology and protect personal
information and help their employees
deal with the changes that automation
will
ringg people who will act ethically and
mentor others to do the same who can put
in place controls and rules were none
currently exist people who will do the
right thing even when no one is watching
thank you
[Applause]
you
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