William Hobler said, "I see a body of evidence that the businesses that
persevere on the top of their industry are almost ruthlessly ethical. The
businesses that exclusively focus on profits are shorter lived than most
would suspect."
This is my experience as well in a number of companies. The one exception
that I see to this is in the environment. Corporations in general tend to
be slobs in their treatment of the environment. This too, is changing,
however, as they come to realize more and more that it is in their long
term best interests to be respectful of the world they inhabit. It takes
time to overcome old habits, but environmental values are changing.
I recently read for example that insurance companies are noow opposing
chloroflourocarbons and other compounds that contribute to the breakdown
of the ozone layer. They are also expressing concern about global
warming, and exerting pressure to understand and reverse the causes.
Why? Well, partly because global warming and breakdown of the ozone layer
cause more violent storms which in turn cause big insurance payouts.
However, the real reason has as much to do with respect for the world as
it does for profits. Insurance companies always have the option of
raising insurance rates, but in this case they have chosen the more
difficult road.
It's a first step for them, and some other companies have likewise moved
to be more respectful visitors to Earth. Others have a ways to go.
-- Rol Fessenden LL Bean 76234.3636@compuserve.comLearning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>