A Hidden Cost of Crappy Business Ethics

Yesterday’s edition of Christopher Baauer’s Weekly Ethics Thought newsletter bore a startling statistic:

43.8% of the surveyed companies said they would not refer uncovered fraud to law enforcement due to fears of bad publicity.

Wow! So these companies are potentially throwing away millions of dollars because they’re too ashamed of the bad press they’d receive.
Like Bauer, I say avoid the problem in the first place by having strong ethics programs in place from the get-go.

Of course, in my award-winning sixth book, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First, I make the case that strong ethics can actually be a profit center–but we’ll cut the bean-counters some slack and demonstrate that at least a culture of ethics has significant cost-control advantages.

His article isn’t on the Web, but here’s a link to Bauer’s site.

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmail

A lifelong activist, profitability and marketing specialist Shel Horowitz’s mission is to fix crises like hunger, poverty, racism, war, and catastrophic climate change—by showing the business world how fixing them can make a profit. An author, international speaker, and TEDx Talker, his award-winning 10th book, Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World, lays out a blueprint for creating and MARKETING those profitable change-making products and services. He is happy to help you craft your messaging and develop profit strategies. Learn more (and download excerpts from the book) at http://goingbeyondsustainability.com