Excellence, Euphoria of Success, Exactitude and Endless Energy literally have an ‘E’ in common. But what this ‘E’ actually means stretches far beyond the literal stance. However, you don’t have to indulge yourself into imagination to identify it. It’s as simple as taking the first step towards where one wants to be!
Consider all the goodies with which this blogpost opens and think of these as the end goals. So, what’re the means to these ends? Like with every goal, to get there, to achieve these goals one has to begin with the right ingredients and resources. And in order to maintain that winning posture, those resources need to be augmented, emphasized upon and refined. Because, yes that’s right, one cannot augment and refine something one doesn’t have!
Indeed, those ingredients are everything because they mean everything. And in this case, there’s one such ingredient that holds the key to flawless and real accomplishment of these end goals every business entity strives for. It’s deep rooted and thus not obvious, but one can look at almost all corporate failures and arrive at the conclusion of this ingredient being absent.
It’s something most potent and yet most basic; sort of framework. In fact, it’s meant to be groundwork to get things going. Be it the nascent concepts, the corporate world is gradually catching up opening a new world of opportunities for interested professionals with fancy glossaries to gloat about like, ESG, Sustainability, SDGs, Risk Management etc. or the pretty old corporate governance concepts from the late industrial era to the ever-present being in business typically for wealth generation, the groundwork remains as is.
In fact, one cannot miss the strides the corporate world has taken to come to the point of advocating and even enforcing responsible corporate behavior through development of concepts like sustainability and ESG! The path taken is unmistakably clear; business as a responsible corporate citizen; moving on from having wealth only / profit maximizing objective to a well-governed business to being considerate to all stakeholders’ expectations.
This clearly means that over the years the business entities were not behaving responsibly in their endeavors and pursuits. And this also means that even now with all standards, best practices, regulations over the corporate entities, instead of using these as opportunities for improving business conduct, the corporates still act as opportunists grabbing every single opportunity to choose growth and profitability over responsible conduct.
Either it’s a profitable venture vs environmental damage or protection of reputation vs health and safety reporting, cost cutting vs regulatory compliance requirement, evasions vs tax payments, etc. corporates cut corners all the time and all this while ensuring that they do report compliances (on paper) with the standards, requirements and best practices so that laurels attached to a responsible brand are not missed!
Do not be mistaken. It’s not just about corporates, but also about bent assessors, validators and auditors who for the sake of their own business interests would gladly certify their corporate client’s conformance in their ‘independent’ reports. Yes, one can find opportunists on both sides of the table! Standards and regulations increases the demand for all professionals, be it bent or not. It’s what one is really interested in, compliance on paper or compliance on the ground and on paper!
The ‘E’ for everything reveal
The ‘E’ that matters the most and defines the groundwork or foundation to be laid for an entity to launch, grow and sustain is Ethics. Everything is rooted in ethics. And it’s not Business Ethics, mind you! Because Business Ethics is an aggregation of consideration towards values individuals making up a business entity bring to the table, significance of belief that’s attached to it and practical experience in navigating ethics.
So be it the Governance, the Tone at the Top, Leadership, Responsible Corporate Citizenship, ESG, Sustainability, CSR, it all stems from the spot Ethics enjoy on the decision-making forums and deliberation meetings. If ethics is not on the agenda, everything else is a hogwash, since for instance cheating your way to success might be possible, but such success is neither reliable nor sustainable!
Let’s now take a closer look at why Ethics is the means to most ambitious and tempting end goals:
|
End Goals |
Examples of achieving through |
Resulting in |
|
Excellence |
Copying available analysis for drawing inferences and making a report for action. Analyzing data and information that’s incomplete and / or inaccurate. Superficial rather than in-depth review of the data available to make an excellent report. |
Without accrediting other’s work, the actions taken would ultimately turn out to be theft of intellectual property. The report might not be relevant for the purpose since the data on which it is based has not been indigenously analyzed. The report might not be valid since it doesn’t reflect an in-depth review. |
|
Euphoria of Success |
Celebrating the success of a premium product launch the manufacturing process for which degrades environment. Celebrating safety compliant behavior by underreporting accidents. Celebrating recognition after paying for it. Paying for reporting distinctive compliant behavior. |
Could result in penalties, lawsuits, criminal legal action and tainted reputation, when effects of the product launches, underreporting incidents and payments for reporting compliance come to the fore in the medium to long term. |
|
Exactitude |
Falsified perfection reporting. Fraudulent / fudging of data to record perfection. Tampering of processes / systems to report perfection. |
False sense of accomplishment, lack of reliable and credible reporting leading to loss of market share, revenue and profitability. |
|
Endless Energy |
Pressures for targets accomplishment fulfilled by misstating sales, costs, profits and / or falsifying data. |
Catastrophic failure rendering the corporate out of business! |
Of course, these are the minimum examples meant for triggering the thought process. An ethical framework for reviewing and monitoring performance, fixing responsibility and ensuring accountability acts as the core and only safeguard against flawed and fabricated accomplishments of end goals.
It’s imperative that proponents and advocates of ESG and Sustainability, the two modern era buzzwords incorporate ethics in their theoretical frameworks if they intend these to not remain mere buzzwords. Misreporting regulatory compliances, getting (rather than earning) certified distinctions for adherence to best practices and standards and paying for laurels do not count as sustainable practices.
ESG and Sustainability requirements are not fulfilled by tick in the box approaches or filling checklists. These need leadership and leadership is about walking the talk on ethics. It’s about the practical situation on the ground and the difference it makes. And ethics is one of the key features of leadership that distinguishes it from management.
Only ethics-oriented leadership ensures alignment of reporting with on the ground changes be it in Governance, ESG, Sustainability or Performance Targets domain! If there’s a career up for making in ESG and Sustainability, it better not be based on a lie, because the consequences of practical failure or rather inaction are out in the open for everyone to experience.
Absence of ethics equals general malaise, which if not treated timely ultimately leads to untimely death!
I recently got my very own opportunity to return the personal versus professional argument (I covered here) to my client on ethical behavior and exhibiting lack of integrity. In response to the deliberations on holding accountability, I opined something eerie similar to what clients say when they get in the way of ethical decision making.
I said I meant, accountability needs to be for the position and the responsibilities, not the person fulfilling or not fulfilling those responsibilities!