Basic Consideration is a Thing to Aspire to

I just realized the other day, that I had been incorrectly reading the phrase "business ethics" for most of my life.  I believe it's intended to be defined as "the subset of ethics relating to business."  I have always  taken it to mean how it's actually practiced as "a shittier set of ethics that enables businesses to rationalizing unethical behavior in the pursuit of profit."  I as getting it wrong, but I still think, as practiced today, it's the more accurate definition.  It is, of course, bullshit.

I had a brief dust-up with a friend today on twitter about reasons to be moral in a business environment, about a post I had misread.  Because I misread it, there's less to get into than I thought, but I do want to say a couple things.  The article frames a reputation for ethical/honest behavior as a "exploiting societal weakness."  To which my objection was, "Why not just be timely, reliable and present because that's the kind of person you want to be, in corporate or private life?"  It's pedantic, I know, but I think it's important to pick good core motivations for our ethical frameworks and to consciously understand why we choose to behave the way we do.  If we choose to be honest, reliable and timely only because that gets us more money, it implies we'd happily abandon being honest, timely and reliable if we thought it would make us more money to do so.  Which, in my view, is incredibly problematic.  I don't want to know or do business with individuals whose core philosophy is "make money at any cost," because I wouldn't trust them not to throw me under a bus if there was some money in it.  And if someone else got a whiff of the idea that your core motivation was worship of money, they would likely think twice as well.

 Don't be timely, reliable and present because you think it will make you more money, or because you think it "grows your personal brand," because those are poor moral foundations for good behavior.  Those motivations are inherently selfish.  They neglect the possibility that you are open to behaving in a way that works for everyone, not just yourself.  Be timely, reliable and present because that's the kind of person you want to be, and you understand it leads to better results, not just for what you get, but for how you feel about yourself, and how you affect the people around you.  When you have that framework, it doesn't matter if you get MORE, MORE, MORE, because that takes care of itself.  It IS generally true that trustworthy people get better results.  But that's not the point of being trustworthy, it's just one of the many perks.  The point, is to behave in a manner that conforms to your values, because that's the only way you'll be happy with yourself.  If all you value is money, pushing your brand and exploiting the weaknesses of those around you?  Well, good luck with that.  I hear they need a new James Bond villain every couple of years.

Worrying about what your behavior gets you, will get you a ways.  Worrying about what your behavior gets you and the people around you, will get you farther.  In my view, it's as simple as that.  And in this day and age, I don't take it as a given that everyone in the corporate world understands that.