Joan Eisenstodt, in her 1/14/1024 article titled: It’s legal, you’re honest, but are you ethical?, asks two questions to start the thinking and conversation on ethics.
1. What does it mean to you to be ethical?
There can be “pat” answers, i.e. The Golden rule, Treat people fairly, Be open, etc
2. What guides you ethically?
There can be “pat” answers here as well, i.e. Intent, My upbringing, perception, etc.
For three years I was on the ethics committee of a national association and one year as its Chair. We dealt with with issues like; People claimed, in their P.R. that they had degrees when in reality, they hadn’t earned them; unethical business practices of members, making false claims or at least questionable, unverifiable evidence of their claims, and on and on.
I personally, knew a number of them and was deeply disappointed when they were reported for unethical behavior to be investigated. I’m sure they believe in the Golden Rule, how they were raised, treat all fairly, etc., and for the most part , I believed this to be true about them. When the accusations proved to be true and the ethics committee had to mete out severe consequences that did damage to their reputations and their careers, I asked myself, Why? They didn’t need to do unethical actions for their careers. What happen to the Golden Rule, their upbringing, etc why didn’t those beliefs have a role to play in their decision making?
So now, what does it mean to be ethical? What really guides you ethically?

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!