The Right Way is Always Clear
Over the past several days, I have engaged in multiple conversations about business ethics. Mostly discussing situations where, from the outside, individual actions seem to take on shady tactics.
Before I go on, lets define what I mean by Shady Tactics.
Shady Tactics: When there is a clear “right” path, the actions of an individual or company are clearly circumventing that path with the intent to gain an advantage.
Here are three examples, you decide if they are shady or not:
1) Someone develops an event. This event occurs quite often and is quite successful. The person gains a ton of recognition for the event they are running. Suddenly, copy-cat events start to launch. In specific, a person that has asked a lot of questions about how to run such an event starts one of their own. When asked about applying attribution, or not infringing on trademarks, this person says “But, we are completely different!” and proceeds to trash the original inventor of the event?
Shady? Its a tough one.
2) Someone builds a successful business in a neighboring town. A second person, under the guise of interviewing them for a local blog, comes down with a video camera, and does a walk through. Two days later, the second person announces that they are launching an identical business in their town, without ever telling the first person of their intent or plans.
Shady? This one is not quite as tough.
3) This one is probably the most appropriate to bloggers. MG Seigler of ParisLemon, wrote about tactics he believed he saw another blog employing. Read it. He explains it better than me. He has now written an update as well.
Shady? This one is the most tough of them all.
I would love to hear shady stories in the comments, or thoughts on the three situations above. But, before you leave a comment, let me just say this.
The “right way” is ALWAYS clear.
Never, not once, no way is a defense, “I thought I was doing the right thing.” Because you are not. If you really want to succeed in business, life or whatever, take this lesson to heart.
The “right way” is ALWAYS clear. Some people just choose to do it another way.
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Here’s a website idea - make a site where people post these stories. It’s important to the collective industry to understand the shadiness, when you’re just starting out as an entrepreneur. These situations are really sad, and they should be called out. Let them be tried in the court of public opinion.
Or during a one on one with your boss you discuss a service improvement idea that gets implemented and he/she takes credit for it at the next team meeting.
@ahson I think you are on to something. Lets start by listing them here in the comments.
@gerhard that is one of the most difficult shady activity to respond to. Because if you call them out, are you not being a team player?
Regardless, I stand by my premise. The right way is always clear and some people choose to do it another way. It is our choice to work with those people or frequent their businesses.
YOU’RE preaching on business ethics? Did I miss something. Is that meant to be ironic?
@JH I love the cheesy comment without leaving a URL or using your real name. So, you dont stand behind your statement? Dont have the integrity to indicate who you are?
Love the trolls.
I used to have arguments in the 90’s about artists’ appropriation for their paintings w/o attribution, sampling in the music business of key musical phrases and hooks that stimulated sales, students lifting huge hunks of content for term papers w/o footnoting. I also had a scumbag idiot from a competing ESP attend a couple of my Power Networking events in New York, bad mouth me to the guests, then rip off the format and start his own networking venture. He failed and lost his job at Exact Target, as well.
In a word, it’s unethical. It’s stealing. It’s shitty, no-class behavior by people lacking integrity and originality.
Unfortunately, it’s become the rule, rather than the exception…unless more people out the perpetrators!
Micah,
Watup. Cool post.
I’m a black and white man. I agree that there is always a right way.
Except it’s not always clear because the right way usually means doing things the hard way. It’s “clear” because it’s there, always. But it’s “not clear” because we get blinded with emotion and/or logic.
Business decisions, if the movies are right, always get complicated by family members being held hostage, or a little voice whispering “it’s okay, just one more deal”. You feel pressured, you feel seduced, you feel .. And so the clarity is no longer crystal, more like a foggy stain-glass window.
There is always a right way. I just need the wisdom to see it clearly.