Here are my questions about all this, particularly in the wake if this past week’s Bank of America’s recent fine of $17 billion:
1. Where does the fine money go? Who/what gets it? How is it used? Whose accountable?
2. Why do these banks fight their wrongdoing in court?
3. I wonder how much money was spent on compliance training programs in these banks for the seeming failure of ROI? What must the compliance professionals think?
4. What do fines like this “say” to the employees of these banks about their training, career path,
5. How much of the blame here, should fall on the Compliance department?
6. Why is it that in recent scandals as these, no one person is charged, arrested and prosecuted for these illegal activities, i.e. who was charged for the $7 billion Citigroup just had to pay? Is the fact that paying these fines, are just ”the cost of doing business?”
7. Why aren’t shareholders up in arms about these activities?
My point here is that it seems that the public is getting “numb” to these types of activities and fines. Numb meaning: “don’t care anymore”; “nothing will change” attitude; “they play by different rules” attitude; etc.
So what’s the answer and who’s accountable?
fbucaro
Like you, business ethics and ethical leadership expert, Frank Bucaro has seen the challenges and problems of corporate leadership, particularly over the past few years in regards to poor decision-making, SEC violations, and record breaking financial settlements in a number of different industries.
With over two decades of executive training, speaking, writing and with real life experiences, his view and approach to ethics in the workplace is uniquely different. He emphasizes that ethics is a moment-to-moment choice and has little to do with position, titles, personalities or education. Ethics is everybody’s responsibility from the top down.
His goal is to help organizations to:
a. Strengthen their ethics training initiatives in order to significantly decrease the odds of an ethical/compliance violation.
b. Energize, train and motivate employees to understand the value of consistent “high road” behavior as a business advantage.
c. Support individuals and thereby the organization by contributing to its success by quality, ongoing values based leadership development.
Frank is known for his very practical, slightly irreverent, yet somewhat humorous approach to ethics and leadership development. His conversational style and real life stories connect with his audience in a personal, intense and practical level.
Companies such as Bayer Healthcare, BP, ReMax International, EnMax Energy, Danone, etc. have partnered with Frank when they want to proactively stress the message, tools, insights and practical applications that good ethics IS good for business!
