Mike Ehrmantraut, the cleanup guy in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, asks soon-to-be-known as Saul Goodman attorney, Jimmy McGill…
“Are you still morally flexible?”
I’m not including the word “still” because I’m going to assume the best. That you’re morally inflexible, unwilling to do just anything for a buck. Jimmy became Saul Goodman because he was morally flexible at some point…and Mike wondered if that was still the case. Sure enough, it was. We now know how the story ends even if we are still enthralled with how it unfolds from Jimmy’s perspective. Stories of immoral, unethical and illegal behavior never end well. Never!
You ready for a TV series recommendation? Dirty Money on Netflix. It’s a series about corporation greed and corruption. The few episodes I’ve been able to watch demonstrate the pitfalls of pursuing profits no matter what. In one particular episode with a business owner who eventually suffered an enormous FTC fine and a prison sentence, the interviewer asked him, “Are you moral?” His reply, after a long pause, “I’m a businessman.”
It was offensive implying you may not be able to be one while being the other.
History has countless stories of greed and corruption. I don’t think the producers of that TV series will ever run out of great stories to tell. Unfortunately.
Cheating. Cutting corners. Skirting laws, rules, and ethics.
And it’s not just in business. It’s pervasive. Ask the Houston Astros. Ask major college programs who’ve suffered NCAA sanctions. Go ask your local youth rec league directors and I promise if they’ve been doing that work for more than 2 seasons they’ll also have stories of cheating in youth sports.
“If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.”   -Eddie Guerrero
Eddie was a wrestling Hall of Famer. No, that Olympic wrestling. Soap opera wrestling. His quote is a common sentiment though.
In spite of the books, movies, TV shows, investigative reports and whatever form the horror stories take about immoral, unethical or illegal behavior in business — greed still corrupts people. From small business owners who choose to not report income to multi-billion dollar company CEOs who choose to violate laws.
The lure? Quick. Easy. Vast.
People who are going to steal from you – whether they’re employees or shoppers – are going to figure out how. I’m not sure you can prevent it, but you can work hard to catch it. If you’re successful you can uncover it quickly to minimize the losses.
Then there are people who won’t steal from you unless they’re given an opportunity. Some will avoid stealing unless the opportunity seems irresistible. Others will steal more easily, but only if the opportunity persists. So you do your best to help keep honest people honest. You remove as many opportunities as possible. For yourself and for the people who may be tempted to misbehave.
That’s how I feel about business morality and ethics.
Scoundrels are going be scoundrels until they’re caught.
Others can be tempted to be scoundrels if the rewards are high enough, easy enough and fast enough. It’s the temptation that has resulted in poor behavior to bring down many, many business people.
What about us? What about you? What about me?
How can we safeguard ourselves and our businesses? What can we do to ensure that we’re behaving ethically, morally and legally?
It begins with character. Our character.
“The best index to a person’s character is how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and how he treats people who can’t fight back.”