by Adam Balfour
Even as adults, we are always watching and taking cues from influential people in the workplace such as leaders, managers and supervisors. The behavior of others is much more influential on our thinking and future actions than what is written in a policy. Obi-Wan Kenobi might have had good intentions in lying, but what was the impact of his actions?
The often quoted line by Obi-Wan Kenobi from Episode IV: A New Hope was a lie (Spoiler Alert – They were the droids the Stormtroopers were looking for).
Obi-Wan knew it was a lie (which raises the question of are Jedi mind tricks ethical?), but likely lied because he saw the utility in being dishonest and using his influence for what he saw as the greater good.
What lesson did that teach the young Luke Skywalker? Should Obi-Wan have later explained himself to Luke and said that it is wrong to lie in other situations?
How many times are people of influence in your organization acting in a certain way in some situations and justifying their actions based on the utility of doing so? Are they saying it is never acceptable to do certain things and yet rationalizing their acts when they do what they said was never acceptable?
While some organizations bar conflicts of interest in all cases, many opt for allowing COIs to exist where appropriate. But how should appropriate be defined for these purposes?
Attending SCCE conferences is always a source of insights and new information. In these conferences I have seen quite a bit of focus on data analytics, and deservedly so.
The first time I saw Kristy Grant-Hart she put on a show about magic compliance dust and then brought the audience to reality by breaking the news that there is
In our years of assessing compliance and ethics (C&E) programs, my partner Jeff Kaplan and I have pinpointed several key attributes that we consider essential to an effective program, including