Ethics Incorporated - A book by Dipankar Gupta

Dipankar Gupta has penned a very interesting and down-to-earth book Ethics Incorporated: Top priority and Bottom Line. For Gupta, ethics of a company starts with the definition of its mission, vision, and values. And values have to be prioritized too! For instance, the values of Disney parks are safety, courtesy, and show. If the order of the values were reversed, say show and then safety, then deaths and disaster will show up!

Gupta encourages businesses to be transparent - as transparent as a game of cricket were the rules of the game and performance is known to the whole world. Global competition is very tough and C-level executives have to focus on the customer who is king. However, unresolved problems inside a company may distract the executives. It is laxity at home that leaves a company's flanks wide open to unethical pressures from outside. Gossip can be healthy but rumors (breeding on lack of information) are destructive. Third-party ombudsman(akin to a leopard-skin chief) is a good choice for weeding out internal distrust in an organization.

Is 100% honesty best or is 99.4% honesty enough? - It is a very tricky question taking into account the different contexts and intentions of humans not necessarily good.

Gupta recalls how Nike in U.S was blamed for employing children from third world countries for making their shoes(goods). Nike ensured that all the children(below 14) were sent out from their vendor factories, but what happened to the future of the kids? Did the children immediately get food and education, leave alone shelter? Here Gupta gnaws at the hypocrisy of a short-term moralistic solution.

Gupta also gnaws at the cynical behavior of government staff that covers up their inefficiency, lack of initiative, and sloth!

A very interesting book by Gupta that will make more sense when you read it the second time. Don't miss this book on ethics by Dipankar Gupta.