Q: Tom, it's not hyperbole to say that the American business community has been rocked to its core in the last few years by business scandals. What happened?

A: The most interesting thing about the recent ethics scandals in American business is that they have crossed all sorts of industries. Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, Adelphia, Boeing, Martha Stewart, K-Mart - the list goes on - and of course there are the well publicized conflicts of interest in the financial services world, and now, most recently, we're hearing all sorts of allegations about unfair, illegal and manipulative practices in the mutual funds industry. Years ago, we'd have a scandal in one industry, or one profession - the savings and loan industry, or wall street - but now the problems are everywhere. What has happened is that a number of cultural trends have converged, self-destructive behavior has resulted, and now we're all experiencing a big wake-up call about the importance of business ethics.

Part of the problem is that too few people in the past fifty years have understood what ethics is really all about. There has been a widespread sense that ethics is just a matter of having rules and playing by the rules. Combine this with a modern sense that business is just a big game and you have lots of people bending and breaking the rules thinking that this is the way to win the game, make the numbers, get the promotion, snag the bonus, and hurt the competition or put them out of business. Just like NFL linemen who figure out ways of doing whatever it takes and not getting caught, you have people in every industry working under the pressure to win at any cost who quickly become much less concerned about obeying rules than about getting to the goal line without being flagged on the play. Cleverness, deceptiveness, and stealth have become substitutes of virtue. People get to the point that they think about ethics as all about staying out of trouble, and think that if they're devious and careful enough in breaking the rules creatively, they can stay out of trouble while getting what they want.

And this brings us to the second cultural shift. People have become much more concerned about externals than about internal matters. Of course, the problem isn't new; it's just especially pervasive now. In the ancient world, Plato tells us Socrates used to stop strangers on the street in Athens and say things like, "Man of Athens, you are a citizen of the greatest city in the world. Why is it that all you care about is money and fame? You never give any attention to the state of your own soul." We all want a big house, two or three nice cars, great clothes, striking jewelry, great educations for the kids, expensive hobbies, maybe a vacation home or two, and on and on. The cultural pressure to "get yours" has never been greater. The economic uncertainties have never been greater. And everybody is in a hurry to get that personal financial security that will take care of their futures and their family's future. People have lost touch with the ancient perspectives on choice and action - that what we do creates who we are, and that the character we cultivate in our day to day actions matters a great deal. It doesn't matter how many outer goods you accumulate if you're inwardly bad. Unethical action breeds corrupt inner character, and that inevitably prevents a person from living the best, happiest form of life. It's also self-destructive in business, as the scandals have demonstrated time after time.

Business isn't meant to be a crass game of constant manipulation and sheer accumulation. It's a form of service and self-fulfillment. It's a creative enterprise immensely capable of bringing good into people's lives and allowing them a stage for becoming what they're capable of being. It's about personal and organizational character, not just net profit and stock price. It's an endeavor where the internal should be viewed as more important than the external. You can't sustain external success without the right forms of internal strength, and that's ultimately what ethics is all about.

A third cultural trend that helped create the problematic climate we're all experiencing now has been a panic for quick results that has replaced a traditional patience with process that supported more modest expectations aiming more for the long run. In the recent dotcom gold rush - I say 'recent' because it is, even though it somehow seems to be ancient history, it was a very short time ago - in that new version of the wild, wild west, where it suddenly seemed that everybody with a T-shirt, a pair of jeans and a laptop could become a multi-millionaire overnight, and without actually shipping a product or performing a service of any traditionally recognized sort, traditional business people in every other industry started looking around, seeing all this "instant success" and wondering, "What am I doing wrong?" Ordinary business started looking prosaic, boring, old, and tired to many people, compared to all the dynamism and irrational exuberance of the new economy that seemed to be passing them by. Smart executives with impressive degrees felt like they were three touchdowns behind in the third quarter. They began to feel a pressure of pride to do things on a bigger scale and at a faster pace than ever before. They felt a panic about getting their piece of the pie before it was all eaten by these upstart startups. And that led to an erosion of standards that many people didn't even notice happening.

We're all suffering from the results of these social and cultural trends - a failure to really understand the nature and importance of ethics, an increased focus on externals to the neglect of internals, along with a misunderstanding of the real nature and purpose of business, and a general pressure to get ahead fast, exceed the expectations of the market, get yours and get out. The results haven't been pretty. They've shaken the general public's confidence in business and the economy in general. The only good news is that all this has served to wake us all up and make us rethink what ethics is all about and how we can build more ethical enterprises that won't self-destruct and collapse under us.


Q: In your Yield Educationprogram The Essentials of Ethical Success, you boldly state: "Your company will never hear anyone talk about ethics the way I do." Why?

A: First of all, I am in a privileged position to plug into all the wisdom of history's greatest thinkers and bring people ideas that have stood the test of time. My work is grounded in the deepest thinking there is about ethical strength and its consequences. I can bring people a new understanding of ethics, which is actually very old, but that has been forgotten for far too long. It happens to be the most powerful conception of business ethics, one that is transformative to people who understand it, because it is broad, sweeping, motivational, and offers the most practical perspectives on our day-to-day challenges. It's also fun to think about and put into action.

Plus, I always enjoy being a philosopher for people. I joke a lot, to make a point vividly and memorably. I also laugh a lot. And this is not the typical personality profile of the contemporary ethicist. I'm not a scold or a cold intellectual. I'm not a dry-as-dust academic or a pedagogue with mind numbing details on the brain. I want to give people the big picture, the real insight, and ideas they can use, now and tomorrow. I want to get people excited about ethical success. It's really amazing stuff, and I'm accordingly very enthusiastic about it.

When I talk about ethics, people tend to catch the spirit in which I approach this incredibly important topic. We all end up jazzed, and eager to go do things right.

Q: You've been critical of other business ethics approaches because they focus exclusively on complying with rules and regulations, that they lack the depth and usefulness of your ethical framework. Why do you think the rule-based approach to business ethics is ineffective and does not serve a company well in the long run?

A: First, I should say that I think rules are important in every walk of life. They're important for our children, they're crucial on our roads and highways, and they're essential in business, as well as in every profession. But any approach to business ethics that centers on rules and compliance alone creates problems. The rule-based approach to ethics presents regulations and prohibitions that constrain conduct, and then adds sanctions or penalties to any violation of these requirements. The rule-based approach can easily degenerate into a matter of orders and threats, utterly devoid of any positive sense of why all this is so important.

I've seen situations in which the rule based approach just created a complete cynicism, where the unspoken message ended up being, "These are all the ridiculous rules that outside regulators and government busybodies will expect us to abide by. You can't figure out how to do whatever you want to do and need to do and still avoid detection unless you really understand the game, know these rules very well, and thereby grasp fully how your conduct needs to appear always to comport with them all. Credible deniability these days requires no less. Study these rules, learn them well, and then watch what the rest of us do to learn how to really play the game." Disaster then ensues.

Proper understanding motivates. I want people to get how ethical conduct is conducive to long-term success. Done right, an ethical approach to business creates strength within a company, and between its people and their customers. It creates strength at every level. Good people prevail. And in addition, they enjoy the benefits of a strong positive character. Aristotle thought of the virtues as ingredients in the good life, requirements for happiness, and essential for full human flourishing. I present business ethics as revolving around issues of character, integrity, and virtue. When we come to understand that the Latin word 'virtu' meant strength or prowess, we gain an important insight into the proper role of virtue in business and in life. Building our enterprises on the right ethical foundations will give us the opportunity for long-term success.

Q: But a manager in charge of his company's ethics training or an industry specialist such as a financial accountant might respond: "Let's put first things first: I need to master right now the specific ethical codes, rules and regulations for my job to stay out of trouble before concerning myself with the ethical foundations governing my company and my personal business values." You disagree with this point of view.

A: I'm a firm believer in getting the little things right. I want people to know and master all the expectations and regulations in their specific industries, but I just want to help them dig deeper to really understand the implications of compliance, and to see how professional care in doing things right relates to the rest of their lives. I want to help them see the big picture and understand their industry specific and company wide policies and regulations in a deeper and more practical way. My approach to ethics isn't at all opposed to the practicalities of the rules and regulations, but rather gives us the ultimate motivation for following the rules and regulations. Rules are important, but until we understand more than the rules, we never realize how important they are and why.

Q: In fact, the Yield Education approach provides the best total solution to business ethics training: The Essentials of Ethics Success program teaches companies and business professionals the elemental ethical values that should shape every facet of their business experience, while we complement your acclaimed approach with Industry Ethics Perspectives on the key codes of conduct, regulations and other ethical issues employees face in their business specialties.

A: That's right. We're offering people the complete package. It's insightful, practical, entertaining, enlightening, ennobling and fun. We provide the big picture like no one else, and then we help people see the little things they need to do to create the ethical climate where everyone can flourish and move forward without fear. Ethics and sustainable success are intimately related. Any ethics program that doesn't show how isn't doing the job that needs to be done. It's my main interest to help people understand ethical success and what it means to their lives as well as to their business endeavors. I can help people to be winners for the long term. I can help people want to do things right, maintain their ethical motivation under pressure, and strive to create a climate where others share that same commitment. I want to help our users and their companies become scandal resistant to the highest degree. And that's because I want to help them become successful to the highest degree. That's my goal in the program.

I am very proud of the framework of ideas we're uniquely positioned to bring to people. We can give them a form of leverage and power that no other ethics training program I know of can provide. And that gives me great satisfaction as a business philosopher who wants to make a positive difference for people.

Q: You've been an acclaimed and award-winning philosophy professor at Notre Dame and now one of the nation's leading corporate speakers and business authors. How have these experiences shaped your online learning teaching style and approach to business ethics?

A: There is a certain energy to what I do that people react to very positively. I love great ideas, and it shows. I use humor, story telling, and every teaching technique in the book, along with some that re in no book whatsoever, to communicate great ideas and make them stick. It's all about drama, and the excitement of learning stuff that's just fascinating and useful. I have fun in everything I do, and that communicates itself to my live audiences, to viewers of my videotapes, and to people who interact with me on the Internet. The flood of testimonies I get from people whose lives have been changed by the practical philosophy I have brought them makes me feel like I'm doing something right. I loved every day in the classroom at Notre Dame. And I love every chance I have now to bring people the best of ancient wisdom for modern life.

Q: You've claimed that business values based on the wisdom of ancient thinkers such as Aristotle can actually transform a company and change the lives of its employees? A skeptic might say this is a tall order for a business ethics program, even one presented by one of the nation's foremost authorities on the subject.

A: We'll I'd just invite the skeptic to join in and see. Plato has changed lives for over 2,000 years. So have Aristote, Confucius and Lao Tsu. The greatest ideas are always transformative, when delivered with passion and insight. I can't make a person or a company change dramatically, with just my own efforts. But I can give them all the tools for dramatic change, and I seem to be blessed with a talent to motivate people to use those tools. That's what makes my work so exciting to me.

Can an ethics program be transformative? You bet. You want to know how? Then come and see.