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Values & Ethics; Are You Walking Your Talk?

Bottom Line

By Michael Gunther

Nowadays, it’s common for a business to promote its core values and ethical practices as part of its marketing strategy.

Values and ethics may be promoted directly to employees in mission statements, in training manuals, or in employee newsletters; they may also be promoted to clients in websites, in industry publications, or in printed marketing materials.

But when the rubber hits the road and it comes time to make business decisions and set company direction, are these values and ethics reviewed and utilized? Is staff expected to uphold these values and ethics in their code of conduct even if the leaders of the company neglect them?

One example of a company neglecting its own code of conduct is Toyota. For years they built a culture around quality, safety, and service; yet when it came time to decide how to handle their issue of faulty gas pedals they seemingly didn’t review their own core values. They chose to be secretive, withhold information, and react slowly. The end result was a damaged reputation.

By contrast, Johnson & Johnson has a strong set of core values that they live and operate by and their first responsibility is to provide the highest quality products to their clients. When the Tylenol poisonings occurred back in the early 1980s, Johnson & Johnson took one look at its core values and reacted within them. With the No. 1 concern being consumer safety, J&J pulled all of its products off the shelves across the world (not just in the impacted areas) at the cost of millions of dollars.

The company’s quick response in recalling the product and its swift action in reaching out to families of the victims, were part of its core values and ethics. By doing the right thing, they saved their brand reputation and, in the long run, saved millions of dollars.

This question of values and ethics brings to mind the old adage, “The way you do anything is the way you do everything.”

This means if you are willing to cheat, lie, or take advantage of people in one area, why would anyone believe that you would do any different in another? Business leaders who are dishonest about defects in their product or service, who expect their employees to take ownership for their actions and mistakes, yet do not do likewise, or who talk negatively about customers, employees, or past employees often expect others to treat them or their customers with respect. This creates a lack of confidence in their integrity and leadership abilities.

To be a truly credible business leader, you must live by your core values or code of ethics within your business. Simply put, you must walk your talk. Your employees and clients will know when you don’t.

If you want your employees to operate within the values you put in place for your business, you need to lead by example and live by those values.

Bottom Line

Walk your talk. If you operate from a set of core values and ethics and want your employees to as well, keep yourself in check to make sure you are truly living by them. Values and ethics are not optional. “The way you do anything is the way you do everything.”

This is another article in a series on Michael Gunther’s entrepreneurial story and how being raised in a large family and his belief in creating a growth company with a work-to-live mentality has influenced his career. To read the previous articles in this series, visit his blog at: www.Collaboration-llc.com.

Michael Gunther is Founder and President of Collaboration, LLC, a team of highly-skilled business professionals who are dedicated to assisting proactive business owners to build profitable, sustainable businesses through results-oriented education and consulting services. Learn more at: www.Collaboration-llc.com. Bottom Line is a regular feature of Simply Clear Marketing & Media.

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