Playing with integrity

As you would expect ethics are vitally important to how you play the knowledge game in business. The chances for a manager to be unethical or unlawful when it comes to collecting, storing and acting on knowledge and intellectual property are enormous . In many situations people may be unaware that what they are doing could be deemed unlawful or unethical. For example, eavesdropping into a conversation between people from a competing business at an airport lounge. Would you call that unethical? Some people would say it is fair while others would not agree. Such enquiry is central to how we play the knowledge game.

For many executives and managers winning the knowledge game is like fighting a war. That is winning at any cost! They feel any action or business practice is acceptable, as long as you defeat the enemy. When I was discussing possible titles for this book, one publisher suggested Winning the Knowledge War . I felt for many reasons, one being how the world has changed since September 11th, that the war title was an untimely and bad taste choice. In war the rules are dramatically different. Espionage, misrepresentation, piracy, theft, bribery and covert surveillance are seen as fair game. I would argue this should not be the case in business, but I know many people would disagree with me.

It is my view that winning in business can and should be undertaken in a more enlightened and transparent way. Sure you may need to deploy counterintelligence measures but this can be done in a spirit of fair play and the utmost integrity. We can create a business model that sees the game of knowledge as an exciting opportunity to achieve excellence and improve performance without resorting to unethical tricks or foulplay. Most likely you will need a risk management strategy that helps protect your rights and know-how and that may mean taking direct legal action, safeguarding trade secrets or protecting intellectual property.

To help you build your own strategy for winning the knowledge game you may find the code of conduct of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) at http://www.scip.org a useful starting point.

SCIP suggests that you should consider the following:

• Continually strive to increase the ethical use of competitive intelligence.

• Comply with all applicable laws, domestic and international.

• Accurately disclose all relevant information including one s identity and organization, prior to all interviews.

• Fully respect all requests for confidentiality of information.

• Avoid conflicts of interest in fulfilling one s duties .

• Provide honest and realistic recommendations and conclusions in the execution of one s duties.

• Promote this code of ethics within one s company, with third-party contractors and within the entire profession.

• Faithfully adhere to and abide by one s company policies, objectives, and guidelines.

Without doubt integrity when it is displayed is a quality that is priceless. Particularly when excessive greed, golden handshakes and backroom deals are now getting more and more media attention and community backlash . The truth is that we may not be able to control the behaviour of others, but you can still be a leader of integrity and transparency. One simple way of testing your behaviour and choices is to consider the following scenario.

How would you feel if what you are proposing to do, is reported on a national current affairs programme? If you feel uncomfortable about how your intentions or dealings may be reported it is most likely that your actions may be considered either unlawful and/or unethical. This simple ˜gut test is a useful guide to help you travel in the murky ground of competitive intelligence and ethical behaviour.