In my pursuit of the biggest mistakes leaders make, the second biggest mistake is fixing a problem going forward without owning the problem’s history. This would be like GM fixing its ignition problem going forward without owning the problem in cars currently on the road. This never works but it is very tempting to leaders who don’t want a past problem dragging their organization down. But you have to own the organization’s history to be able to move on.
Question re Ethical Mistakes
October 7, 2014 — MarkWhat ethical mistakes do you see leaders making? I have an odd view since I only hear from them when they have problems. What do you think?
Ethics Masters and Slaves
October 7, 2014 — MarkIn my book Make an Ethical Difference I use the following quote: The master knows the rules without suffering them; the slave suffers the rules without knowing them.”
The Biggest Ethical Mistake
October 5, 2014 — MarkI was recently asked to write something on the biggest ethical mistakes made by CEOs. There are a lot to choose from so this took some thinking.
And the winner is: Judging information you receive by the person who delivers it. I know of no ethical fiascoes, including Enron, that did not have clear warning signs. Somehow these signs were ignored – and not without reason. The information that enables a CEO to prevent an ethical crisis often comes from individuals who are afraid of taking any risks, whine about everything, and have a chip on their shoulder. I have just described one type of whistle blower. Really sharp CEOs ignore the source and act on the information, often at the objection of the top tier of their management. An ethical CEO is always asking, what if this information, although from a questionable source, is true? Would I gamble the future of the company on it not being true?
Lessons of the Secret Service Mess
October 2, 2014 — MarkHere in the DC Metro area, everyone is asking is how things could have gotten so bad at the Secret Service. Many employees of the Service must have known the vulnerabilities, so how could the folks at the top ignore this? My answer is that the bad news may never have reached the top. Several Service employees commented to the local media here that you simply did not raise issues or complaints. This is typical of line-of-command organizations, which turns out to be nearly all sizable organizations. In business, companies establish hotlines and compliance programs so that down line employees can short circuit the line of command. In fact, government often orders businesses to establish these mechanisms! But these mechanisms do not prosper in Federal agencies. Yes, employees can go to the Inspector General for their agency but these individuals are often closely bonded to the agency’s senior leadership. It is time for government to take some of the advice it freely gives to business and create genuinely safe channels through which employees can report concerns.
Medical Ethics
September 28, 2014 — MarkSeveral times each year, I give a seminar to roughly 50 doctors on medical ethics. What surprises me is that what medical ethics experts write about has little to do with the ethical issues doctors face on a day-to-day basis. Most medical ethics issues arise not because of new technologies or strange circumstances. They arise because we often surrender to the judgment of those closest to the situation to committees, such as the ubiquitous medical ethics committee. But there is no evidence at all that these committees make better decisions than the people directly affected. The question is often not what is the right thing to do but who should decide what is the right thing to do.
Book at O’Reilly
September 23, 2014 — MarkMy book Make an Ethical Difference is on sale at half price today at http://oreilly.com/. One day only.
Compliance Headhunters
September 21, 2014 — MarkWe are contacted by headhunters because we know a lot of compliance officers and we know whether they are available. However, it is extremely difficult to help these folks as they often have no idea what a compliance officer does. They are generally working from a job description written by someone in HR who also has little idea what a compliance officer does. The essence of the job of a compliance officer is the ability to influence others to do the right thing. This does not translate into a certain college degree or work history. When describing a compliance position to a headhunter, don’t forget to include BEHAVIORAL requirements and expectations. This will save the headhunter and job candidates a lot of time
Compliance Celebration
September 16, 2014 — MarkAbout 19 years ago we created an annual celebration of what is bright and new in compliance called the Best Compliance Practices Forum @ bestcompliancepractices.com. This year, the Forum is being held on October 20 and 21 in the Washington DC metro area and it will be the best Forum in ten years based on the incredible faculty and best practices to be recognized. It is amazing to see the innovations in compliance that are presented each year. Please join us.
Whistleblowers or Pirates?
September 13, 2014 — MarkEveryday brings new reports of whistleblowers receiving millions of dollars – even tens of millions of dollars – as a reward for being a whistleblower. This occurs primarily in healthcare, defense and financial services. It changes the equation from one in which the whistleblower risks their job to do the right thing to one in which the whistleblower risks their job in the hope of winning the lottery. The public image of the whistleblower has not caught up with this new reality in which the whistleblower is more of a pirate than a hero. The media have been particularly reluctant to give attention to this new, profit-seeking whistleblower. It is time that our perceptions begin to fit the facts.
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Mark Pastin 