People always think theyre behaving ethically, even when theyre being hauled off in handcuffs," said veteran newspaperwoman-turned-Leon County Commission candidate Mary Ann Lindley at a community conversation on ethics.
Paid professional ethicists, students, political people and garden variety taxpayers gathered at the Challenger Learning Center recently to consider the effects of ethics or lack of ethics --- on the economy.
If Sydney Greenstreet in Casablanca had Power Point and an IMAX theater screen, hed have given Florida Chamber Foundation President Dale Brills lecture. Theres a role for corruption in the marketplace, said Brill as he scrolled through a series of slides that proved it.
Far from endorsing bribery, Brill was merely restating recurring themes of human behavior familiar to readers of the Bible and viewers of cable news. If Greenstreet was central castings version of the tribal elder in every community who knows which people are for sale, and at what price, Brill is the avatar of 21st century professionals who make the business case for ethical behavior.
There are more of them than you think.
The Ten Commandments were good enough for God and for a long time, the Twitter version --- do unto others --- sufficed for the rest of us. But these days, America alone has 130 academic ethics centers with more on the way. In addition, theres a small army of private consultants like Jonathan Low, who joined Brill in making the case that it makes for a bad economy when 'your customers, suppliers, lenders and investors dont trust you.'
Lows company, Predictiv Consulting, serves clients all over the world, but his home is in Palm Beach County, which earned the name Corruption County as a parade of city and county officials were perp-walked out of their offices and into prisons in recent years.
Whether youre talking about communities or corporations, believe Low when he says that much of their reputation resides with the folks at the top. If youre looking for a sustainable business, or political career, there had better be no air between what youre doing, and what you say youre doing.
Florence Snyder is a corporate lawyer who lives in Tallahassee. She also consults on ethics and First Amendment issues. Contact her at lawyerflo@gmail.com.
