Marty Nemko was speaking on KGO radio (he’s the Career/Education/Life Advice guy) and brought up the issue of a lack of ethics in society and the workplace. Since I was driving home from a concert in Santa Rosa, I gave him a call. I agree that we need to teach our youth about ethics and train parents to pass it on to their children. But training in ethics should be more than merely identifying good and bad behavior. We should include “consequences,” “resolve,” and “hedges.” If we can somehow give people a vision of the consequences of their actions, such as the destruction it would cause, it would help motivate them to make a resolve to act with integrity (such as “I will never cheat on my wife, but will reserve my romance for only her”). Then, we can think of what “hedges” to place around us to protect us from bad behavior (such as accountability with friends).
Unfortunately, there is a lack of ethics in the Christian church as well. Too often we hear of pastors who are stealing money, cheating on their wives, or lying. The Ashley Madison scandal has been an eye opener catching a number of leaders cheating on their wives. Ethics in the workplace is so important and has a ripple affect down the road. What do you think?
