Posted by: Katie Roberts, Community Manager
In today’s world, we hear about ethical decisions people make every day. Just turn on the news and we are feed stories ranging from corporate executive scandals and government cover-ups to average citizens making a positive difference in their neighborhoods. The thing about ethical decisions is that we all have a choice when faced with a dilemma. We can choose to feed into greed, entitlement, and power or we can choose to stand up for what is right and create positive change within our profession and communities.
A pacesetter among people making a difference in the professional world is Cynthia Cooper, whistleblower in the 2002 WorldCom accounting scandal. By sticking to her values, Cooper was able to find the strength to stand up to corporate executives and in the process, uncovered a $3.8 billion accounting fraud. She now consults various companies on ethical dilemmas faced within the Accounting profession while sharing her heroic story with professionals all over the United States. Her recent book, Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower tells the story of how she became a significant player in a major business story.
The formal definition of ethics describes ethics as, “the philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions.”
Key takeaways from listening to Cynthia Cooper are:
- Character is the foundation of ethics and it is important to be conscious of your own moral compass and keep it pointed in the right direction.
- Create a strong ethical foundation and instill values to consciously make the right decisions as a professional.
- When faced with an ethical decision, stop, step back and then make a decision based on your core values.
The foundation of making sound professional decisions is to identify your values, trust your instinct, find courage to make the right decisions, don’t feel intimidated, and practice making ethical decisions every day. Keep in mind that values will eventually collide, and when they do, be sure to take the time in order to make the right decision with best of intentions in mind. Remember, no one can take away the power to make a good decision - you can give it away, but it cannot be taken away.
Professional Ethical Guidelines:
Take a look at the Ethical Code of Conduct in your profession. Are you abiding by your professional code of ethics?
** Would you like to hear other speakers like Cynthia Cooper? Please be our guest at an upcoming Accelerent event.