Crazy things happening in the news lately, are we getting numb to all this noise? I find it perplexing to think when we hear of someone, or some business really doing well, and doing the right thing we think…
Yea good news now, but there probably won’t be in a few months?
We hear stories like the one about Jackie Robinson West of Chicago little league team being striped of its 2014 Little League championship. It had to do with players on the team that lived outside the teams boundaries, stacking players from the suburbs. Apparently the team used “fake” boundary maps when it met with league officials.
Or Brain Williams who yesterday was given a six month suspension without pay from NBC. This was due to false statements that Williams made about a helicopter flight during the Iraq War. He was never in the helicopter and wasn’t fired upon by an RPG missile.
Did the ends justify the means?
What was to gain, in the case of the little league team a few months of fame? But now all these kids on both teams will feel empty. Handing the victory over to the Las Vegas team won’t mean nearly as much as winning the game themselves. These kids (the Chicago team) will hear for years to come “Oh, your the guys that cheated” what a shame.
And Williams, not even sure what he would have gained, he really didn’t need to “gain” anything as his brand was very strong prior to this event. Will he return to NBC in six months, won’t he feel uncomfortable after the punishment? I’m sure in his case the ends did not justify the means.
How to stay clean and protect your brand.
The Rotary Clubs recite the four way test at everyone of their meetings.
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?”
This is the code of ethics that they strive to live by. Not bad, I think that if the little league team administrators and Brian were to have read that prior to making the decisions they made it might have gone the other way. The straight an narrow.
As for you and your personal or company brand it is important that you have a very simplified code of ethics in which to follow. Or a set of questions at least, that you might ask yourself from time to time.
Your code of ethics.
Maybe something like this:
- Is what I’m doing cheating or lying?
- Is it legal and ethical?
- Is it gaming the system?
Now I should emphasize I’m not a boyscout, in fact I’m very competitive person. I’ll look for the advantage in any situation that I’m involved in especially when it comes to business. But I can also say I want to win fairly, based on the quality of my work, or the advantage that I give a client for using my services.
In the end we all should ask ourselves, do I have to cheat to beat the system or my competition. If so maybe we’re in the wrong business.
Hope you enjoyed reading this, and cheers to your success!
Mark Medeiros