Corporate Responsibility Weblog - Instituto de Empresa Business School

I have always had a struggle to find a compelling and inclusive way to address ethics, that is until now. Luckily for me, I had the chance to meet Oscar Motomura at the 2008 IC of AIESEC. If we consider ethics to be the choice for the common good, I share with you the "Reflections on ethics and the process of making things happen: effective implementation of solutions for critical sustainability equations."

If ethics is the choice for the common good (global reach and including all living beings):

1. Deciding to act small because it is more comfortable… is not ethical;
2. Deciding to hold back (your proposals, ideas and actions) because you don’t want to go against “the group” … is not ethical;
3. Deciding to doing the possible instead of trying to make the impossible possible… is not ethical;
4. Deciding to use just a part of your potential (to “save” it for self interest purposes) … is not ethical;
5. Deciding not to act, to stay silent, letting fear stay in the way… is not ethical;
6. Deciding to conform to the “letter of the law” instead of persisting on the path defined by the “spirit of the law” … is not ethical;
7. Deciding not to try because nobody tried it before… is not ethical;
8. Deciding not to pursue the perfection and conform to what seems “negotiable” … is not ethical;
9. Deciding to postpone bold actions again and again “waiting for the right moment” … is not ethical;
10. Deciding to “play the game” and pretend that you are not seeing the manipulations underway… is not ethical;
11. Deciding to live in the realm of ideas, diagnosis and theories instead of taking the risks and going for actions… is not ethical;
12. Deciding to act only when all is scientifically proven, even when the truth is self evident… is not ethical;
13. Deciding to reject all radically creative ideas (yours including) when the “traditional-not-so-radical ideas” have not been working… is not ethical;
14. Deciding to reject every proposal that looks “idealistic” or “utopic” … is not ethical

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Max,
chapeau por la idea. Me gustaria dar un ejemplo de confirmacion de la etica del bien comun. Se trata de uno de los temas tratados en la Conferencia de Derechos Humanos en Ginebra. Hasta donde los Derechos Humanos se han convertido en una obligacion y perdido el sentido de derechos? Donde chocan los intereses personales y comunes? Que un ciudadano tenga un determinado derecho no significa que obligatoriamente tenga que hacer uso de el. Que yo tenga el derecho de trabajar 40 horas, no significa que me tenga que ir a casa a las 6pm si ese dia no estoy cansado, estoy motivado y estoy en una tarea importante. Manuel.

Dear Max,

many thanks for the article. I find this highly interesting because it's thought-provoking to bring a fresh awareness of how we actually have the potential to bring change (rather focusing too much on the obstacles).

Can you think global and go for new ideas? Have you unleashed your potential yet? These types of questions are the ones I am personally working on. I find the article so inspiring that I cross-posted it onto http://www.business4good.org (hope you are ok with it).

All the best
Juergen

It seems perfect. Especially I liked "deciding not to try because nobody tried it before.. is not ethical" is the best for me.. Especially in my town the entrepreneural ideas are not so much welcomed because of common good. Who decides the common good and categorize the ideas not suitable for common good or not really? I think it is just related with attitudes and local culture.

This blog Is very informative , I am really pleased to post my comment on this blog . It helped me with ocean of knowledge so I really belive you will do much better in the future . Good job web master .

August 28, 2008

Reflections on ethics

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