Ethics for Kids and Compliance Officers
The Foundation for Ethical Organizations was established 30 years ago in coordination with establishment of the Council of Ethical Organizations, parent of the Health Ethics Trust and Compliance Resource Group. The purpose of the Foundation has not changed over the years and that purpose is to promote ethics in business, government and the professions.
David Lincoln (of the Lincoln Electric Company in Cleveland, Ohio) who endowed the Lincoln Center for Ethics at Arizona State University (which I established and headed for many years while a Sun Devil Professor of Management) once asked me two questions:
Isn’t influencing the ethics of companies through their adult members a difficult task?
Shouldn’t we be working on the human input to these organizations – our kids – if we want a more ethical business climate?
Right on both counts, David.
Trying to get ethics education in the public education system without offending the winds of political correctness, teacher and administration bias, and the (appropriate) fears of parents is not easy. We eventually tried to get such an effort going through the Ethics Works for Kids® program tested in the Phoenix metro area. At the time, the Council of Ethical Organizations was based in Scottsdale.
The program was very successful using a unique model. Instead of a preach-and-teach approach, we asked community leaders to speak to kids in the middle school and high school years about the ethical challenges they faced in their careers.
In one program, Assistant Police Chief Jerry Oliver (of the Phoenix PD) talked to the kids about the challenges of running undercover police operations. An undercover cop is not supposed to engage in illegal acts but sometimes must do so to survive. The cop’s boss is supposed to discipline the cop if the cop admits to doing anything illegal. This is an ethical dilemma the kids could grasp.
Many other leaders spoke in this program and I have forgotten most but was moved by the fact the Jerry Colangelo, owner of the Phoenix Suns (and a great community leader), also gave his time for this program. He spoke about recruiting players for below market salaries because the league cap would not permit him to pay the player what they were worth. He promised these players he would make up their loss dollar for dollar once the cap permitted - on a hand shake - and many believed him. So his topic was how to earn the trust of young folks who grow up in an environment in which trust was not always rewarded.
Instead of resisting an outside-of-the-education-system program, the schools embraced these leaders and their message. Many maintained a connection with the presenters long after the presentations were forgotten.
For several reasons, the Council moved from Scottsdale to the Washington, DC metro area (Alexandria, VA). While the move helped the organization survive and grow, it also brought Ethics Works for Kids to a virtual standstill. We continued raising money for the program (mostly my own), but we have not yet re-launched in a systematic way. And this program is needed!
The economic challenges of 2009 revealed another function of the Foundation for Ethical Organizations. It is the policy of the Health Ethics Trust to make a best effort to never turn a compliance professional away from a program if they have lost their job as a compliance officer or if their company simply will not support education for its compliance team. We continued this policy in the darkness of 2009 but admit that it drained the resources of the Trust. So we have started a fund within the Foundation through which working compliance officers can help those who have lost their jobs, often for doing their jobs with integrity. This program takes every dollar contributed (no overhead) and applies it to the educational needs of compliance professionals.
These two projects are the work of the Foundation for Ethical Organizations at this time. I hope that you will consider being involved in these projects and making a donation to the Foundation to support them. We know not to expect the “big bucks” from working compliance professionals but every contribution is appreciated. And many of the organizations for which compliance professionals work may want to to participate in these activities as well. The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit so donations are tax deductible for the donor. Expect to hear more from us about these projects in the near future.
Mark Pastin
President
Foundation for Ethical Organizations
214 South Payne Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-683-7916
councile@aol.com
Fed Tax ID No. 860622787
