Comments on: Whatever happened to business ethics?

By: Christina Valkenaers

Christina Valkenaers — Mon, 28 May 2007 07:27:30 +0000

I have the feeling that in the increasing competitive business world today behaviour standards are dropping. It is very sad because as you rightly say trust is very important. Once that trust has been broken there is no way back and instead of a little gain with the original lie you loose a lot.

By: John

John — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:39:57 +0000

I think people have always been this way, we’re just more exposed to them today via the global media and reality TV.

By: Richard Stokes

Richard Stokes — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:41:32 +0000

I have first hand experience of those who cheat as a means to make money, unfortunately at a time when I was most vulnerable. However I believe that most people are basicly honest and if the only defence against the sharks is not to go swimming then I’ll just have to take my chances as I enjoy getting wet so much.

By: Wayne Lambert

Wayne Lambert — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:01:21 +0000

“For me, trust is an essential element of doing business.”

I just wanted to elaborate on this comment. Stephen M. R. Covey (The son of Stephen R Covey, venerable author of ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’) says trust can either be a tax or a dividend.

The following two statements show how this is the case.

“When trust is low, speed goes down and cost goes up” - this is a tax.

“When trust is high, speed goes up and cost goes down” - this is a dividend.

When I first heard this from Stephen M R Covey, this made perfect sense. The only question left to ask is, “do you want a tax or a dividend for your business?”