Why do ethics matter? | Shefali Roy | TEDxOxbridge

Summary

The speaker addresses the importance of ethics and compliance in the workplace, using personal anecdotes and real-world examples to illustrate the challenges of maintaining ethical standards in various industries. They discuss the impact of unethical behavior on individuals and organizations, the role of personal values in decision-making, and the necessity of integrating ethics into corporate culture. The talk concludes with a call to action for individuals to bring their own ethics to their workplaces and to be agents of change within their organizations.

Takeaways

• 🗣️ The speaker emphasizes the importance of ethics and compliance in professional settings, highlighting the need for individuals to maintain their moral values even when faced with organizational pressures.
• 🚶‍♂️ The 'dot' analogy is used to illustrate the constraints speakers face, symbolizing the limitations in movement and expression that can also apply to ethical decision-making in certain corporate cultures.
• 🏢 The talk touches on the challenges of working for unethical organizations, prompting the audience to consider their personal values and how they align with the ethics of the companies they work for.
• 💼 The speaker's experience in compliance is shared to provide real-world examples of the dilemmas faced in maintaining ethical standards within various industries.
• 📈 The script mentions several high-profile scandals (Panama Papers, Fox News, FIFA, Wells Fargo, Uber, Tesco) to underscore the consequences of unethical behavior at the organizational level.
• 🌍 The global impact of unethical business practices is discussed, with examples ranging from money laundering to the Bangladesh factory collapse, showing how such actions can have far-reaching effects.
• 💡 The necessity of personal ethics in the workplace is stressed, with the speaker urging the audience to consider how they would handle situations where their values conflict with organizational demands.
• 🏛️ The concept of 'tone at the top' is introduced, suggesting that leadership plays a critical role in setting the ethical standards for an organization.
• 🤔 The audience is encouraged to reflect on their own ethical decision-making, pondering how they would respond to ethical challenges in their professional lives.
• 🌟 The speaker concludes by advocating for personal integrity and the importance of being the change one wishes to see in the world, particularly within the context of business ethics.

Q & A

What was the speaker's initial restriction when they started speaking?

The speaker was initially restricted to stand in a designated 'dot' and was not allowed to move around as they usually do during public speaking.

Why did the speaker decide to comply with the 'stand in the dot' rule despite their usual speaking style?

The speaker decided to comply because they were discussing ethics and compliance, and they felt it was hypocritical to not follow the rules in a setting where they were advocating for adherence to standards.

What is the main topic the speaker is addressing in their talk?

The main topic the speaker is addressing is the importance of ethics in personal and professional life, particularly in the context of working for organizations that may engage in unethical practices.

What challenges does the speaker face in their role in compliance?

The speaker faces challenges such as being disliked within organizations, being called a 'handbrake' or 'stop sign', and having to enforce rules that others may not like, which can lead to a lonely role.

What was the unusual job offer the speaker received in Geneva and why did they refuse it?

The speaker was offered a job to help clients launder money in Geneva, which was attractive due to the high pay. They refused it because it was against their ethical values and could lead to legal consequences.

What are some real-life examples of ethical breaches mentioned in the script?

Some real-life examples mentioned include the Panama Papers, sexual harassment scandals at Fox News, bribery scandals in FIFA, Wells Fargo creating fake accounts, and Tesco overstatement of accounts.

Why does the speaker emphasize the importance of ethics in business?

The speaker emphasizes the importance of ethics because unethical behavior can lead to severe consequences, such as the Bangladesh factory collapse that resulted in over 1,100 deaths due to corruption and unethical practices.

What is the speaker's view on the teaching of ethics in business schools?

The speaker believes that ethics are not sufficiently taught in business schools, as they experienced a lack of ethics sessions in their Executive MBA program, suggesting that individuals must discern their ethics from their personal backgrounds.

How does the speaker suggest integrating ethics into an organization?

The speaker suggests that individuals should bring their own ethical standards to the organization and be the change they want to see, especially if the leadership does not demonstrate a strong ethical tone.

What is the speaker's advice for individuals working in organizations with ethical issues?

The speaker advises individuals to reconcile their personal values with the organization's practices, consider the impact of unethical behavior, and if necessary, be the catalyst for change within the company.

Outlines

00:00

🗣️ The Challenge of Speaking Within Boundaries

The speaker humorously recounts their initial encounter with the event's rules, which restricted their natural tendency to move around while speaking. They were told to stand within a designated 'dot' and not deviate from it, a metaphor for the constraints they often face in discussing ethics and compliance. The speaker sets the stage for a talk that promises to be both engaging and challenging, touching on personal ethics, morality, and the complexities of working within or against unethical organizational practices. They acknowledge the audience's potential fatigue with the topic after a long day but assure them of an attempt to make the discussion lighter.

05:02

🔍 Ethics in the Corporate World

The speaker delves into the practical aspects of ethics and compliance in the workplace. They discuss the importance of ethics in guiding personal behavior and how it translates into corporate settings through codes of conduct and policies. The speaker uses real-world examples such as the Panama Papers, Fox News scandals, FIFA's corruption issues, Wells Fargo's fraudulent accounts, and Tesco's accounting irregularities to illustrate the consequences of ethical breaches. They emphasize the significance of ethics in daily business operations and the impact of leadership's ethical stance on organizational culture.

10:04

🏭 The Ripple Effects of Ethical Lapses

This section of the talk focuses on the broader implications of unethical decisions within organizations, particularly in global supply chains. The speaker references the Bangladesh factory collapse, which resulted in over 1,100 deaths due to corruption and disregard for safety standards. They challenge the audience to consider the personal and organizational ethical responsibilities when such tragedies occur and how to reconcile individual values with the actions of the companies they work for or with.

15:04

🚨 Navigating Ethical Dilemmas in High-Stakes Situations

The speaker explores the complexities of ethical decision-making in high-pressure scenarios, such as the hypothetical situation where an executive must decide whether to pay a bribe to prevent a kidnapping. They discuss the gray areas of ethics, where actions that may be considered illegal or unethical in one context might be necessary for safety in another. The speaker encourages the audience to reflect on their personal ethical spectrum and how they would integrate their values into their professional lives, especially when faced with systemic issues within an organization.

20:05

🌟 Be the Change: Ethics as a Personal Responsibility

In the concluding part of the talk, the speaker emphasizes the importance of personal ethics and the role of individuals in shaping the ethical landscape of their organizations. They challenge the audience to consider how they can be agents of change, advocating for ethical practices from within. The speaker also reflects on the lack of formal ethics education in business schools and the need for individuals to develop their ethical frameworks independently. They end with a call to action, encouraging the audience to not only adhere to their own ethical standards but also to influence the ethical culture of their workplaces.

Keywords

💡Ethics

Ethics refers to the moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting rules of a particular group or professionals. In the video, ethics is a central theme discussed in the context of personal conduct and professional responsibility. The speaker reflects on how ethics plays a crucial role in decision-making, especially when working within organizations that may engage in unethical practices.

💡Compliance

Compliance involves adhering to laws, regulations, guidelines, or company policies. The video script mentions compliance in relation to the speaker's role in ensuring that organizations follow ethical standards and legal requirements. It is highlighted as a challenging job that often puts the compliance officer in uncomfortable positions within a company.

💡Nefarious

Nefarious means causing harm or intending to do wrong. The term is used in the script to describe actions or practices that are unethical or illegal. The speaker asks the audience to consider how they would handle working for an organization that engages in nefarious activities, thus prompting a reflection on personal ethics versus organizational conduct.

💡Policies and Procedures

Policies and procedures are the established guidelines and rules that dictate how individuals or organizations should act in various circumstances. In the video, the speaker discusses the importance of these within a company, despite their often perceived dullness, as they form the backbone of ethical governance and compliance.

💡Tone at the Top

Tone at the top refers to the ethical behavior and commitment to compliance set by the leaders of an organization. The script uses this term to emphasize how leadership's attitude and actions significantly influence the ethical culture of a company. The speaker suggests that if the top leadership does not demonstrate strong ethical values, it trickles down to affect the entire organization.

💡Unconscious Bias

Unconscious bias refers to the implicit attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions without our conscious knowledge. The video script touches on unconscious bias in the context of decision-making, particularly in hiring practices and funding for startups, where personal biases can lead to unfair treatment or discrimination.

💡Whistleblowing

Whistleblowing is the act of reporting misconduct, typically illegal or unethical activities, within an organization to external authorities or the public. The script implies the importance of addressing unethical practices through whistleblowing, though it does not explicitly mention the term. The speaker's anecdotes suggest the dilemma faced by individuals who encounter wrongdoing within their organizations.

💡Regulation

Regulation refers to the rules or directives made and maintained by an authority to control certain behaviors or practices within an industry or society. The script mentions various regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Accounting Standards, which are meant to ensure transparency and prevent fraudulent activities like those that occurred with Tesco and Wells Fargo, as discussed in the video.

💡Crisis Management

Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a significant threat to its operations, reputation, or survival. The speaker recounts a personal anecdote involving crisis management in the context of potential kidnappings, illustrating how ethical dilemmas can arise in handling crises, especially when faced with the need to make quick decisions under extreme pressure.

💡Bribery

Bribery is the act of giving or accepting money or gifts to illicitly influence the behavior of an individual, usually in their capacity as a public official. The script discusses bribery as a complex ethical issue, where it may be treated as an acceptable business expense in certain extreme situations, yet remains illegal and unethical.

Highlights

The speaker humorously describes the restriction of movement within a 'dot' during a speaking engagement, setting a light-hearted tone for a serious topic.

Ethics is defined as moral behaviors and principles governing a person's actions, with implications for personal and organizational conduct.

The speaker discusses the challenges of working for unethical organizations and the personal dilemmas it presents.

Compliance is portrayed as a tough job that often involves being the bearer of bad news within an organization.

Anecdotes from the speaker's experience in compliance, including being labeled as a 'handbrake' or 'stop sign', illustrate the role's challenges.

The importance of ethics and compliance in daily life and business is emphasized, with a call to consider their role in decision-making.

The speaker recounts a job offer involving money laundering, highlighting the ethical conflicts that can arise in professional settings.

The Panama Papers are mentioned as an example of legal but ethically questionable activities, sparking a discussion on morality in business.

The speaker critiques the handling of sexual harassment scandals at Fox News, pointing out the financial settlements involved.

FIFA's ethics issues are discussed, including the sacking of their entire ethics office, raising questions about the organization's commitment to reform.

Wells Fargo's creation of fake accounts for profit is cited as an example of unethical practices within a major bank.

The speaker reflects on the 2007 financial crisis, questioning the ethics of banking practices and the resulting bonuses.

Uber's ethical challenges, including harassment allegations and data privacy issues, are highlighted as current examples in the tech industry.

Tesco's accounting scandal, where they overstated profits, is mentioned to illustrate the impact of unethical corporate behavior.

The speaker argues for the integration of personal ethics into organizational culture, suggesting that individuals can influence change.

The tragic collapse of a factory in Bangladesh is used to illustrate the real-world consequences of unethical business practices.

The speaker concludes by encouraging the audience to bring their own ethical standards to their workplaces and to be agents of change.

Transcripts

I was told I have to stand in the dot

when I came in here earlier they said

you have to come down these stairs and

you do your thing and then you should go

up those stairs

and I tend as a speaker when I train or

when I do public speaking to walk around

a bit and move my hands a lot and so I

said I can't move out of the dot I was

like no you can't and then I got a look

which was you're talking about ethics

and compliance so I can't you just

comply and just you know just stand in

the dots so I'm going to stand in the

dot thank you very much for inviting me

to speak I know you've had a long day

and ethics I think is the last thing

perhaps that you want to talk about at

this really sort of a lovely day of

interesting talks variation of

conversation and I'm going to ask you

things about what is your personal

ethics how do you value morality how do

you think about your value system when

you work for work for an organization

that's unethical when you work for an

organization that does things in a

nefarious way and so it's a bit heavy

for a Sunday night so we're going to try

and make it a bit lighter so that you

you enjoy it a bit but I am are going to

ask you some questions and I want you to

think about certain things in a certain

way as I was introduced I've worked

across the world and I've worked in

various sectors and industries and I've

had a lot of fun doing it and I've been

in compliance for a very long time for

those of you who are looking for jobs in

a couple of weeks and months for those

of you are in business school I think

our friends from Judge are here as well

and various academics and students and

sort of audience members around around

town it is something that affects you

every day actually in your life in your

work in how you interact with your

colleagues with your friends and and as

a job it's a very tough job I wouldn't

say it's easy I wouldn't say it's

something that I would encourage you all

to do because it questions you a loss it

sometimes puts you in a corner no one

likes you in an organization I've been

called a handbrake I've been called a

stop sign I wouldn't put that on your CV

I put that once on my CV and they didn't

like it very much but I thought but

that's what I've been called that's my

job title it wasn't a pleasant day but

that was what it was so it's a sort of

feel that not every

like sand not every thinks about but it

happens all the time in business and so

what we're going to do is relate ethics

and relate compliance and governance to

your lives and to your business lives

as it happened the next couple of years

in months and and however long you have

your career I once went for a job and I

thought I'll tell you this as an

anecdote many many moons ago after I

worked at Goldman's I was asked

interview for a job in Geneva and I was

flown over there and it was fantastic

and it was a really lovely small little

Swiss bank and they said to me listen we

would love for you to come here and show

our clients how to loan the money and I

said I think you mean anti-money

rangering and he said no I would love

for you to show our clients how to loan

the money because they have a ton of it

and they don't appear tax and no one

wants to know about it and so I'm going

to ask you to help them launder it and

you know I'll tell you I'll tell you

very honestly I was going to be paid a

lot of money a lot of money to do this

job and I thought at the time if I did

it if I took it I would never have to

work again after I turned 13 and so it

was an incredibly attractive offer

and I never of course I never took it

but I taught at the time there's a huge

pot of money right here and then this

jail and you know it's tough to top gig

but I I don't look good in orange

and as I said these days orange is not

the new black but it was at a time and I

thought it can't be that this is how

it's done

it can't be that this is how we think

about business and ethics so easily and

so effortlessly as breaching ethics or

breaching laws and making people loan

the money it can't be this easy but you

know what it is and so a handful of the

stories I tell you today are things that

either happened to me or some of my

friends who are in industry similar to

mine or in rules or rule a jobs that are

similar to mine but it happens all the

time and so when you go out in the world

and you think about your jobs if you

guys start your own companies if you are

working for people if you're cofounders

if you're going to employ people think

about that think about how does ethics

factor into your decision making into

your organizations into how you build

your teams into how you recruit when you

hear of incredible start-up thinking

well she might not get any money because

she's brown she's Indian you know she's

a techie she's a data scientist and no

VC on the planet is going to give you

money if you've got to fill in 148

applications and no one's giving you any

money for those things

how does ethics and morality and

unconscious bias work in that situation

what happens to you as an individual

your development your culture how do you

integrate that into your organization's

and ethics actually is all part of that

so we'll talk a little bit about that

and I thought the first thing you'll do

is say what is ethics it's a very simple

definition it's the moral behaviors that

governed it's the moral principles that

govern a person's behavior and it sounds

so simple and so when you translate it

into your corporations it things like

rights and wrongs it's things like

values it seems like codes of conduct or

standards it's the thing which I hate

calling which is policies and procedures

whenever you hear policies and

procedures it makes my skin crawl

because it's just such a boring name for

something that's so valuable to an

organization but that's what it was so

when your compliance team or when you

get and you start a new job and they say

to you can you please your compliance

training the amount of groans I hear

unbelievable I've had some people say to

me in an organization if you do my

compliance

train for me I'd really appreciate it

and I said but you know I wrote it for

you to do because you're a new employee

and you're someone who has to understand

the values of our organization so it is

something that happens all the time when

you join a new company in any facet

whether you're in pharmaceuticals or

technology or finance or or any sort of

industry you will be doing this you will

be making sure that you do ethics

training you do compliance training and

you have a governance program and so

therefore why does ethics matter why is

it important and I have heard in the

last couple of weeks and these are

things that I pulled up from slides and

and newspaper articles and I thought

I'll show you something like this the

Panama papers all of you have heard of

the Panama papers the Panama papers you

know arguably one could say well they

were perfectly legal they didn't do

anything wrong

arguably and then other people say but

you evaded tax and uilleann you know you

had all these shell accounts and all

these shell companies and so you didn't

pay a bazillion tax amounts of tax that

you were meant to pay but it's perfectly

legal of what they did they didn't do

anything wrong but morally a lot of

people have so many things to say about

it so many things to argue about it and

you have things like Fox for those of

you who are in media or keeping up in

media Fox News was having heaps of

scandals with women being sexually

harassed and they were it was perennial

so - every second week there was

something coming out and then a handful

of the men who were unfortunately

harassing these women were asked to that

girl and I read some really bizarre stat

the other day which said that about 75

million dollars was paid out to settle

all these cases and off the 75 million

20 million was paid to the women and 55

was paid to the men who harassed them

that's a bit of a weird stat I mean it

seems to be the opposite way around but

that's what happened

that's kind of weird FIFA for those of

you who are football fanatics FIFA was

in number of bribery scandals across the

world mr. Blatter was asked to leave

because he was apparently part and

parcel of it but what was most

interesting is about earlier this year

FIFA hired an independent Ethics

counselor they hire chief compliance

officer they had a board many many board

meetings and internal audit teams

looking at bribery and corruption in the

organization they had a new CEO and a

couple of weeks ago if not months ago he

sacked the entire ethics office and so

an entire office that was designed and

hired to clean up an organization has

just been sacked so one could argue I

mean are they ever going to clean up the

act are they ever going to do something

that's different then you have people

like Wells Fargo's so Wells Fargo's an

American bank and it turned out that

they've been creating multiple in

hundreds and hundreds of thousands of

fake accounts so that the sales people

could beef up their Commission's to get

more money to take home and to our

friends who bank with Wells Fargo in in

America and when all this came out the

first thing they did was run home to

find out if theirs was a fake account if

someone had stolen money from their

account and moved it to one of these

fake accounts but that's the other thing

to think about when it affects you it's

very different than if it affects

someone out over there because it's your

bank account it's your hard-earned cash

that someone's stealing

it's your hard-earned cash as someone's

actually mirroring into a different

account but that happened a lot and

here's the other interesting thing the

head of the retail bank who was in

charge of this was paid a lot of money

as a bonus and under public pressure she

was asked to return it but she was paid

it so we look at back to 2007 during the

financial crisis where bankers

I mean apologize to anybody who's in

banking I was in banking sight I can see

it I think they were paid millions and

millions of bonus for for cat for

causing the financial crisis and I'm

being very facetious but there is a

cause and effect here so that's kind of

worrying and I look at something like

uber we use it every day I love it I

love over I love using the product but

for those of you who are keeping up with

what's going on in Silicon Valley and

keeping up with technology

uber has had a horrible year this year

whether it's you know an engineer say

there's been sort of repeated harassment

and and abuse in in the company or

they've had a driver being a

used by the CEO and that's been recorded

or they have all these actually these

these technology sort of data points

within their software to track where you

are or they've got another sort of

technology software inbuilt into the app

that masks where how to get around the

bid all their data points I mean that's

kind of crazy and that's happened

repeatedly only this year it's a sixty

billion dollar company and they're quite

a few people I know who would love to

work for them I'm pretty sure in this

room but again would you work for a

company like this would you work for a

Wells would you want to work for someone

like FIFA if this is the type of

organization in leadership they have and

finally very close to home we've got

Tesco Tesco was fined 100 whatever

twenty nine million dollars for

overstating accounts by three hundred

twenty-six million pounds I'm sorry and

you know you guys when you when you look

at when you look at regulation you hear

of this thing called sarbanes-oxley and

you hear of Accounting Standards and you

hear of non conflicts of interest and

the independence of an auditor you

haven't overstated by ten bucks three

hundred and twenty six million pounds

and that's not a decimal just flying

around somewhere that's a lot of money

so again this is all tone at the top and

ethical considerations of an

organization how do you think about it

what does it mean how do you how do you

integrate ethics and compliance into

your organization's the other thing I

learned when I was thinking about this

talk is whenever you hear scandal in the

headline that's not a good day that's a

bad day that's that's not a good thing

when you hear the words cover up that's

not a good day

but in my world in compliance it's my

job to kind of help fix these and that's

really tough I've had situations or

friends of mine have had situations

where they've been told you will need to

bury something you'll need to bury a

problem because we just don't want to

think about it why because it's going to

hit my bottom line but this is going to

cause problems going to cause problems

maybe for my staff for my suppliers for

my customers for my team well you have

to bury it because if I don't hit my

numbers this quarter it doesn't matter

about this ethics issue it doesn't

matter at all I was doing I'm at I study

a

Executive MBA side Business School and

we're in the process of finishing

actually thank goodness but one of the

things we realized is over the year and

a half that we've been there we haven't

had at all a session on ethics and so

you'd hope you're not taught that you

know you're not taught ethics in school

you're not taught it at a business

school or your universities and so you

have to sort of discern what your ethics

and what your values are from your

friends your family your parents your

siblings your culture and you integrate

that into your organization because for

sure an organization is not going to do

it and so we had to do an exercise

recently reiterated in terms of what's

important in an organization whereas

ethics fall and you'll see tons of

surveys actually about this compliance

governance ethics internal audit having

codes of conduct is almost at the bottom

and the first thing that gets cold in an

organization when times are tough is

guess what me so I don't think that's

bad

but I don't think that's great because

it says that the tone at the top really

doesn't care it's really not important

we don't want to change the organization

we don't want to change our culture so

therefore as an individual how do you

reconcile your personal values and your

ethics with an organization that doesn't

want to that's a really tough thing to

think about you could be working for you

know a Wells Fargo you could be working

for uber and this is what they're doing

if they're systemic for example

systematic and harassment of female

engineers which is not the case but if

it was would you be able to stand by and

let that be okay if you're the team that

has to clean it up how would you clean

that up that's a really tough thing to

think about so one of the things I

wanted to ask you is you know why does

ethics matter a couple of years ago you

might have heard for those of you who

work in fashion or work in in textiles a

couple of years ago there was a factory

in Bangladesh that collapsed it was a

high-rise building was about seven or

eight floors and it was full of women

and men and I think to some degree

children or well young young people so

includes and in the textile

manufacturing industry sewing gone

and for people like a Primark and

Benetton and all these sort of high

street companies and obviously you go to

its Vietnam and Bangladesh and India and

Mexico and all these other sort of

emerging market economies which are

supplying for because of as you know

cheap labor so the building collapsed

about 1,100 people died and when we look

at the investigation of what happened it

turned out that the building was built

on a pond a pond the construction

materials that were used were subpar the

time taken to construction was a lot

shorter than it should have been for a

building such as that there were three

extra floors to the building that should

not have been there and all the

structural engineering and the auditing

done to check the safety of the building

had been bypassed so you read between

the lines and you can get what I'm

saying which is people were bribed along

the way to make this happen faster so

that all these people could get into the

building to design and so all these

clothes for the high street so when I

think about ethics and I think about

cause and effect and responsible and and

repercussions corruption and bribery and

illegal activity and unethical behavior

caused 1,100 people to die it's not just

oh you know orange is not the new black

it's not just that it's people can die

because of it and when you are an

organization that might have to employ

people in Bangladesh to make your

clothes and you do an audit of your

labor practices and your team says well

they're cheap labor

you know India and Bangladesh have 1.2

billion people China has 2 billion

people so what if 1,100 people collapse

in a building and it's your job to clean

it up it's your job to think about well

how do you reconcile your moral values

and your ethical values with a company

or an organization that doesn't and how

do you integrate that into solving the

world's problems how does that have an

impact so ethics matters I don't have an

answer for you today as to what and how

it looks for you because your ethical

spectrum is very different to mine but

when you join an organization when you

go into the world and whether you start

or end or you're in an employee and

organization these are things that come

up and so you have to by some default

bring your own ethical standards to the

organization that you work for and you

might be surrounded by people who don't

think like you and don't have the same

moral compass that you have but you

still have to hold your own I've had

occasions when you know the Geneva

occasion is such a wonderful one for me

because I just thought if I'll never

have to work again forever but it's at

it come it is against every single value

I hold as a human being everything and

so I didn't want to do it and there's no

way I was going to do it but those are

things that I think about in my job

every day and so you know people say oh

compliance must be so lonely as a role

or governance must be so lonely on being

the person who says to someone or you

can't do this must be such an awful job

and I think for those of you who

actually work in banking I'm almost

certain that you hate your compliance

teams because they tell you what you

can't do but it's not in certain

industries we tell you what we can't do

because that's the law and then some

other ones it's something that you have

to do so I just thought I thought I'll

give you an example and just quickly

want me to think about something and you

work for an organization you've done

you've been an ethics your whole career

you good at it you love it you love what

you do you love the team's you work with

and you work with people that are great

and fine you're learning a lot and you

like the company you like the mission

that it has you like its values so far

so good so far everything is going well

and you think is great so I'm going to

ask you for a show of hands how many of

you would work for this company now

quite a few quite a few that's really

great it's the NHS not because you're

not going to pay we paid a lot of money

but this is what happened very recently

at NHS a lot of data there was a data

leak those thousands of people have been

put to

put at risk thousands of people the data

as they put at risk the person who's

responsible disappeared for 28 hours to

48 hours the minister was nowhere to be

seen and now you have to clean up and

that's a really tough gang so think

about that think about how that works

for you and then finally I want to just

ponder this bribery is a perfectly

acceptable business expense and in some

occasions it is a friend of mine many

many years ago was the crisis manager he

used to be of head of crisis and and

global threats for an oil and gas

company and he said to me we used to

train our employees on kidnapping

because when they were in sort of very

well

nefarious locations there was a threat

of kidnapping and so once they recorded

a border and I'm often say which country

in which border but they recorded a

border and someone at the border said to

them if you don't pay us a hundred

thousand dollars we're going to kidnap

this executive now in that instance you

know what you're not going to call your

compliance officer you're not going to

wait wait a minute let me just speed

dial the compliance lady or the

compliance guy who sits in New York or

London and see if I'm authorized to make

this $100 thousand or whatever bribe

that I have to pay you're going to do it

but it is a bribe it is an illegal

payment you do it and so therefore

there's this huge sliding scale of

ethics and morality and what's good and

what's bad and when is it okay and when

is it not okay but it affects you

whether you know it or not every day in

your life and so I'm leaving thought for

you is when you think about an

organization when you think about your

companies where you stop them or whether

you're part of them figure out how to

integrate it into your company bring

your own ethics and bring your own

morals to the company because that's

vitally important and most importantly

if you figure out that tone at the top

is non-existent be the change you want

to see because you don't do it no one's

going to do it and that's really really

important to think about and you're not

going to learn that in business school

by the way so be those people thank you

you

[Applause]