Costco Connection - July 2006

By David Wight
Guiding business with
your personal values

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If you’ve browsed a newspaper or watched the news in the past six months, you couldn’t miss seeing examples of a popular media focus this year: unethical business practices. The allegations widely reported against Enron, Tyco International, WorldCom and several other companies have resulted in hyper-scrutiny of business conduct under the negative glare of media floodlights.

This attention prompts us to examine the unasked questions—the flip side of the story. What about the thousands of businesses out there that anonymously walk the ethical straight and narrow, or newly established companies that want to start off on the right foot?

Running an ethical business requires constant discipline, ultimately guaranteeing that the very fabric of an organization is woven of enduring values and principles, experts say. And according to several Costco members who shared their experiences with us, guiding a business with a well-stated set of ethics yields rewards beyond financial gain.

Values, mission and the code

Dr. Gary Wenet, a Seattle-based psychologist and author specializing in business leadership, has observed many business successes and failures, and points to the long-term benefits derived from a strong ethical foundation. “It makes good business sense to know clearly what you want to be as a ^Dr. ^Gary ^Wenetbusiness, what you want to represent, what you want to contribute and what kind of culture you want to establish in terms of how you conduct business, both internally and externally,” he says.

LARRY GILL

What is the source of ethics in any organization? “It starts at the top with the leadership of any company,” says Wenet.

“No matter how big or small [a company is], it’s extremely important and makes good business sense to have a strong moral compass, a strong set of values that serves as the foundation of a business.”

Wenet says that having a mission statement is the first step, especially if it speaks to the values that a company represents. But it’s not enough unless those value statements are translated into action and clearly communicated to the employees.

“If you’re really going to walk the talk, what does it look like?” he asks. “That’s how people can hold themselves accountable and that’s how a company can hold the employees accountable.”