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Book #20 for 2018. I don’t remember disliking a book so much. Not my type of science fiction. #neuromancer (at Cheshire, Connecticut)

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We spend a lot of time asking employees to mind what they do and say so as not to hurt of offend others.
Perhaps there should also be room for us to teach employees how to prepare for hurt and offenses.
Here is one method, borrowed from today's entry in The Daily Stoic. First, we should not expect to work our entire life without a colleague offending us. This expectation is absolutely ridiculous. Second, we should consider (as in “think carefully about”) the offenses that can be realistically thrown at us. Third, and clearly most difficult, we should want for these offenses to materialize as an opportunity to practice excellence and virtue.
This teaching reminded me of a story about Ajahn Chah, the famous Thai Buddhist monk:
“Before saying a word, he [Ajahn Chah] motioned to a glass at his side. “Do you see this glass?” he asked us. “I love this glass. It holds the water admirably. When the sun shines on it, it reflects the light beautifully. When I tap it, it has a lovely ring. Yet for me, this glass is already broken. When the wind knocks it over or my elbow knocks it off the shelf and it falls to the ground and shatters, I say, ‘Of course.’ But when I understand that this glass is already broken, every minute with it is precious.”
When we know - truly know - that someone will eventually offend us at work one day, we can shift our attention to the joyful moments at hand.
#stoic #stoicism #dailystoic @ryanholiday #ajhanchah #resilience (at Cheshire, Connecticut)

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#kindness

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#timing (at Shanghai, China)

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I finally got mine. #mementomori @dailystoic @ryanholiday @kevinkuzia (at Cheshire, Connecticut)

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There are so many definitions of corporate culture floating around that anyone should be excused for not being able to properly define it.
One of my favorite definitions goes like this: How things are really done around here. It's simple, intuitive, and it highlights the sad reality that in many organizations we often say one thing and do another.
Today I ran across another definition that may be slightly superior: The behaviors we allow or tolerate in the workplace. It has all the benefits of the prior definition and adds an element of responsibility (or blame) on all employees. Anyone who tolerates bad behavior is partly responsible for the culture they live in.
Many E&C professionals are being asked by their C-suite how to change the culture of their organization. These leaders feel that culture is amorphous, random and magical. By defining culture as "the behaviors that the C-suite tolerates", it should instantly create in their mind the path they need to take.
Whether they take it is another story.
#businessethics #corporateculture #thebehaviorswetolerate (at Cheshire, Connecticut)

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Culture is simply an outcome of our processes.
Put another way, culture is an outcome of our habits.
Nearly 2,000 years ago, Epictetus would recommend that we break our bad habits by simply abstaining from the behavior for one day, then try for two days, and so forth until we've built a chain of days. And then the goal was not to break that chain.
Most leaders have a weakness that affects the culture. It could be a short temper, telling inappropriate jokes, a lack of transparency, procrastination, condescension, or worse. The way out is to resolve to correct these behaviors for one day, and then again the next day. To build a chain and then not to break it. As that chain grows stronger, so does the culture.

Hat tip to Ryan Holiday and today's entry in The Daily Stoic.
#corporateculture #businessethics #stoicism #dailystoic @ryanholiday #habits #cultureisanoutcome (at Cheshire, Connecticut)

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The featured speaker for the final day of our conference was Gallup's Vipula Ghandi.
Gallup has been studying human behavior for decades and Ms. Ghandi's message was simple: if you want to be fulfilled and successful, bank on your strengths. You will learn faster, excel quicker, and enjoy every minute of it.
An important reality highlighted by Ghandi is that a person's strengths can make them blind to another person's strengths. For example, an "achiever" who must absolutely get something tangible done every single day (even while on vacation) may find a "learner" who prefers the process to the results absolutely maddening.
Reflecting on this reality, I can see how such differences in people's strengths can lead to distrust and pressures in the workplace.  Which makes for an interesting link between Ghandi's message and what Stephen Covey had to say about trust on Day 1 and what @neelvf shared about performance drivers on Day 2.
From this, I am reminded of the importance of valuing differences, of seeking first to understand, of designing job roles carefully. And, more than ever, I am reminded of the strong relationship between ethical performance and business excellence.
@ecinitiative: well done.
#businessethics #corporateculture #stephenmrcovey #gallup #strengths #cliftonstrengths #cliftonstrengthsfinder (at Cheshire, Connecticut)

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Finished book 18 for 2018 just in time to have it signed by the author on Tuesday. What an honor it was to meet Mr. Covey in person! (at Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel)

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The keynote speaker for Day 2 was Neel Doshi (@neelvf), co-author of Primed to Perform.
Based on the review of 100 years of social science studies and their own research, Doshi and McGregor demonstrate that how "why we work determines how well we work." While it may appear that this book is about business performance, it has a lot to do with ethical performance.
People show up at work for various reasons. A few of us feel like we've won the lottery and do a job that we thoroughly enjoy. We simply can't believe that we're getting paid for this! Some of us do work because of its noble purpose or for the potential it creates. Meanwhile, many of us go to work under pressure, either emotional or financial. Finally, some of us go to work because... well... we don't really know. This is the only thing we've ever done. What else are we going to do?
The low end of this spectrum (not knowing why we work) is called inertia. From a performance perspective, these employees do the bare minimum. From an E&C perspective, these are folks who, when asked why they do things a certain way, respond "I don't know. We've always done it that way!" They don't see the risks. They don't care. They won't raise their hand when something's wrong. They are extremely dangerous to the organization.
Moving up on the spectrum are those who work because they are pressured to do so. Their focus is not on the work itself but on relieving the pressure. Thus, their performance suffers. From an E&C perspective, we have long known that these employees are more likely to engage in fraud or other wrongdoing if given the opportunity and a rationale (the three points of the fraud triangle).
As we move closer to the high-end of the spectrum, we find people who care more about the work itself than about external pressures. Those who care tend to perform better. From an E&C perspective, absent significant pressures, they are unlikely to engage in wrongdoing.
(See link in my profile to read the rest of this post) #businessethics #corporateculture #primedtoperform (at Baltimore, Maryland)

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I'm writing these lines on my phone while sitting on a park bench in a city I've never been in. It's almost 8 a.m. and everywhere people are jogging or making their way to work. The sun is warm. I can hear bird songs and train horns.
Part of me is on alert because I've never been here before. That's my lizard brain acting up. My rational brain is analyzing all these inputs and telling me there's nothing to worry about.
As human beings, we have evolved to the extent we've correctly assessed who and what could be trusted. Trusting too much can be dangerous. Trusting no one can be even more dangerous. There is a sweet spot that can make all the difference.
Later today I will hear from Stephen M. R. Covey, an expert on trust. I just finished his book and I highly recommend it. It reminded me that trust is everywhere, in every interaction. It's so embedded in our societal fabric that we don't even see it.
Until it's gone.
Ethics & compliance professionals tend to work in low-trust environments. As such, we risk creating a downward spiral where each breach of trust is met with ever-increasing controls. As Mr. Covey explains, these controls only increase our costs and slow us down. Not a good strategy in this fast-moving world.
I look forward to Mr. Covey's remarks later today. I will report back tomorrow.
#stephenmrcovey #businessethics #corporateculture #thespeedoftrust #trust #baltimore @ecinitiative (at Baltimore, Maryland)

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If you and I disagree about what the right thing to do is, it doesn't mean that one of us is wrong.
It might be both of us.
We need to bring humility to conversations. We should not simply be willing to learn but actively desiring to learn. Interacting with others is a great way to learn.
When we disagree with someone, it's worth taking a few minutes to ask two questions. Why might this person think in this way? Why am I thinking differently?
When answering the first question, we should offer of the most generous answers. When answering the second one, we should be extremely critical.
And we might both be right.
But who's right rarely matters. So save the drama for when it really does matter.
#businessethics #corporateculture #humility #whoisright (at Cheshire, Connecticut)

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When people ask me what I do at work, I often respond that my job is to answer the question "Should we?" after others have answered yes to the question "Can we?"
It's a short and flawed answer.
It would be more accurate to say that I am part of a team that creates a robust compliance program and an ethical culture by supporting the work of 500 ethics & compliance officers and the decisions of 25,000 supervisors and 200,000 employees.
The first answer is easier to process at a cocktail party.
Ultimately, an organization does not want its employees to turn to an ethics guru every time they face an ethical dilemma. It wants a system where employees know to ask the right questions and with values to support the right answers.
My job, as part of a larger team, is to create that system.
Not a bad gig.
#businessethics #corporateculture #cultureisanoutcome (at Cheshire, Connecticut)

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Today at work you will learn something new.
Pay attention to notice it.
Write it down to remember it.
Reflect on it to determine if it's good or bad.
Teach it to create collective wisdom.
And inspire others to do the same.
#businessethics #corporateculture #learningculture #payattention (at Cheshire, Connecticut)

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Finally done. Done with book 16 for 2018. Done with book 7 of The Dark Tower. Done with a story I started reading 20 years ago. #darktower

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In court, a party can ask the judge to sign an "Order to show cause". If she signs it, it forces the other party to explain why they should not be subject to the relief requested.
We've had something similar in my organization for several years now in the form of disciplinary guidelines. For example, if an employee engages in retaliatory behavior or lies to an investigator, the guidelines points to termination. If management wishes to keep the employee on the payroll, they need explain why the employee should not be terminated (i.e. show cause).
These are guidelines, not mandatory sentences. And, for now, they address only terminable offenses. Recently, I have been thinking about expanding the guidelines to other behaviors that may not deserve termination but, still, harsh punishment. For example, in what circumstances should a supervisor be demoted to an individual contributor.
Having such guidelines allows us to tell employees, in advance, what the consequences of their actions might be. It allows for consistency and fairness, specifically making it more difficult to have double standards for more senior employees or star performers. It can also make it easier for management to determine and communicate the sanction.
However, disciplinary guidelines can also have negative effects. They can support an unfair termination when management wants to get rid of someone and fails to show cause. In some cases, common sense or good judgment can be obscured by the guidelines.
So in this post, I am asking for your help, for your thoughts. If you have disciplinary guidelines in your organization, how do they work? Have you found them helpful? Do you wish they didn't exist? If you don't have guidelines, do you wish you did? If so, what would they look like?
Thanks for leaving your thoughts in the comment section. Much appreciated.
#businessethics #corporateculture #disciplinaryguidelines #disciplinaryaction #disciplinaryactions #disciplinarycommittee #disciplinaryhearings (at Cheshire, Connecticut)

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Many articles have been written about the challenges that E&C professionals face in the business. A recent article offers three ways to address these challenges and one of these ways got my attention: connect personally. The author, Vera Cherepanova recommends the following:
—- “Do field drives with the salespeople to better understand their job and the ethical risks they face. Use interpersonal ties to develop your trustworthiness. Really listen to employees’ concerns. Even if you have to say “no” to an idea, treat them with respect and show that you understand their perspective.”
—- It reminded me of this saying: "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."
As an E&C professional, we are seen by many as a profit-reducing center, as the "Department of No". They don't believe what we believe, and this is often because we haven't connected with them on a personal level.
Connecting personally can be done in ways that are not time consuming. We can ask questions like "Help me understand why you want to do it this way." We can share lessons learned or success stories every quarter. We can provide E&C training that help employees do their job better rather than focus on legal concepts.
Today, pay attention to your interactions with colleagues and ask yourself repeatedly: "How can I connect better with this person (or this group) in just a few minutes?" Do this every day and take some small actions. Before long, you will notice an increase in traffic to your door. That's a sure sign that you are providing value. Others now believe what you believe.
#businessethics #corporateculture #connectpersonally #makethembelievewhatyoubelieve (at Cheshire, Connecticut)