Ethical Lapses Will Haunt You


About ten years ago, a man we will call Philip served on the board of directors of a major American company. At a board meeting, Philip learned that a company internal investigation had discovered that one of its employees in South America had probably paid off government officials of five countries in an attempt to get the company preference for government contracts. If true, this was a clear violation of United States laws. The employee had allegedly paid these officials over fifty thousand dollars. Upon learning of the bribery, the board voted to fire the employee, as well as seven others who reportedly knew about the practice but did not report it. However, company counsel concluded—correctly under the particular circumstances of the case—that there was no legal requirement that the company make any affirmative disclosure of the bribery—either to the public or to law enforcement officials in the United States. In fact, it did not appear that the alleged bribery had even gotten the company the contracts in question.

Philip thought that the company should "come clean" as a matter of pure ethics and make a disclosure to federal officials anyway. However, Philip could not convince the other board members to do so. His proposed resolution to issue a press release and turn the evidence over to the government failed by a twelve-to-three vote. Philip resigned from the board but felt he could not make a uni-lateral disclosure in violation of the board vote, especially since the board's position was legally defensible.

"So now," Philip said, "I just sit here waiting for the day that a witness or one of the disgruntled fired employees goes public, and the world finds out that I knew about it and said nothing. I'll be living with this every day. Today could be the day my reputation is ruined. Or maybe tomorrow. Or maybe the next day ..."

That is what happens when you have to live with an unethical act—or even a failure to act, as occurred in Philip's case. It haunts you every day.




Staying Power. 30 Secrets Invincible Executives Use for Getting to the Top - and Staying There
Staying Power : 30 Secrets Invincible Executives Use for Getting to the Top - and Staying There
ISBN: 0071395172
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 174

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