Yet, regardless of my need to read book reviews in the future (prior to buying), the title intrigued me from an ethical perspective, because so many believe that there are at least fifty shades of grey when it comes to decisions that they may believe are not necessarily a choice between "black" or "white" .
I have written extensively on ethics, over the years --in this blog (Conflict of Interest - What is it?, If it looks bad in a headline, don't do it, OOOps, I didn't know, and other unacceptable excuses) as well as for some magazines. And although the "right" decision may not be as clear as a neon sign pulsating in front of you, your instinct, or "gut", will usually be guiding you in the proper direction. There are no fifty shades wherein the decision becomes a moral pretzel. My experience has been that when someone argues about the "rightness" or "wrongness" of a direction it is usually around fear of the ramifications to themselves (ego-driven).
Right now in Toronto we have a mayor (this is purposely lower case, because he doesn't deserve to be referred to with capitalization) is arguing that because he didn't read the conflict of interest guidelines, (read story here) he is not culpable for having broken the rules. Huh?
Where is his responsibility as a leader (again not capitalized) to ensure not only that he is abreast of all the rules of office? Yet, beyond that, he is the role-model for the rest of organization. If someone else had broken the conflict of interest rules, perhaps someone whom the mayor is not fond of, do you think for one minute he wouldn't have used these "unread" rules to get rid of this opposition.
We have too many individuals in both corporate and government using the "I am not responsible because I didn't know" excuse. This is never an excuse and quite honestly I am sure that this specific example was done with full knowledge (as are most) but with the arrogant thought that he wasn't going to be caught.
Do we really think that any criminals (either on the street or in offices) consider that they may be caught? Do you think that Bernie Madoff, the CEO of Tyco, the CEO of Nortel etc., etc. didn't know they were doing anything wrong? They knew, but thought that they weren't going to have to pay the piper -- because, hey, they are smarter than the rest of us and rules don't apply to them.
I know I'm ranting here...but it disgusts me when people play fast and lose with ethics, plead ignorance when caught and seem to have a revelation of sorts, with hundreds of mea culpas -- saying "if only I had known, I wouldn't have done this."
Do they really have that little respect for the rest of us -- that they think we are that stupid? I hope that our mayor gets fired -- not just because he is not good for the city in general -- but because this would send a message that there are consequences and that there is a no tolerance policy when it comes to ethical issues.
There are no shades of grey here!
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