“What is the Value of Ethics Education?” – Business Ethics Speaker Chuck Gallagher Comments

This post was bound to happen. It is a third generation post. Steven Mintz, Ph.D., an ethics professor at CalPoly, an author and trainer of accountants, wrote a blog entitled: “What is the Value of Ethics Education?” The blog so inspired (and rightly so), Mitchell M. Handelsman, Ph.D., a psychologist, that he wrote a blog (April 11, 2013) for Psychology Today entitled: “Five Big ‘W’ Questions about Ethics Training.”

In turn, both Dr. Mintz and Dr. Handelsman have motivated me to blog about their observations. In the spirit of ethics, I make absolutely no claim to having a Ph.D. but I do have one credential that I am positive neither of these gentlemen would want to claim: I was locked in a jail cell for being unethical. Granted, I was given a second chance at life and my life has taken on meaning and purpose, but I paid a price.

To quote Dr. Handelsman, in turn quoting Mintz, I will focus for this post on one of the five points that Handelsman observed:

“When discussing a training curriculum in business, Mintz reports ‘not being able to get faculty from various business disciplines on board to incorporate ethics into their individual courses.  Some feel unequipped to do so; others do not believe we should be ‘preaching’ to college students.’”

To someone who once wore an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs, I would sincerely like to weigh in on this issue.

It is called Shame

If you have not noticed, we are living in a digital and often virtual world. Entire segments of our populace hide behind gadgetry. Many live life much like a third generation blog. This world is amorphous; it may be reality television (which is never real), You Tube (often highly edited and modified) or millions of websites or Twitter or Facebook. Truth is often twisted, distorted and bent into pretzels.

And ethics? In this virtual world, we are often subjected to a moving conveyor of ethics filtered though the digital screen. Reality television, for example, may display the police arresting a silly sloppy drunk driver who has just rammed a portable toilet. We find it hilarious. A Hollywood starlet may be charged with shoplifting and then she pleads her case through a publicist on the social media. She evokes sympathy and thousands of comments. A politician may commit fraud and he defends himself 140 keystrokes at a time to his multitude of followers; we re-tweet him and politicize it rather than understand its true meaning.

It is no wonder that professors feel unequipped or like preachers when they are asked to teach ethics to 19 and 20 year olds. They throw their hands in the air and walk away. However, I must sort of defend the young ones as well; ethical miscues are also committed by 60 year-old executives and 35 year old soccer moms.

There is nothing I can say in this brief post that will fix all of our ethical problems. But I will offer a couple of thoughts:

1. Shame trumps (almost) everything – Shame is the detergent that immediately washes away illusion or delusion. The shame of wrong-doing and standing alone in front of family, friends, co-workers, your community or your industry, destroys anything digital or social you might imagine hiding behind. This can’t really be taught, but it can be felt. If you are caught and when you are caught, will be the day your guts or soul will be ripped apart. The deepest scars will never leave.
2. Reality trumps shame – When a person is caught, and is shamed, the process starts there; it doesn’t end there. An ethical misfire may cause a suspension or an expulsion; a firing or jail-time. Have you been out of work? Have you had to start a new career? Have you ever gone to jail? I have experienced all three; simultaneously.

It Takes One to Know One

I made mistakes; even when I was screwing up, I knew it. While I am not shamelessly promoting myself here, I will say that it takes one to know one. I don’t preach to anyone nor can I teach anyone who doesn’t want to learn. What I can offer is honesty borne out of first-hand knowledge.

Perhaps, maybe, possibly, a psychologist or a professor might have said something that could have dissuaded me from my ethical miscues. But I doubt it. However, a man or woman like me; someone who was shamed and then imprisoned might have drilled something home to me. Unfortunately, no one like me was there.

I had to learn ethics from someone like me in jail. I first met him when I looked in the mirror, and I must admit that at first he so repulsed me, I cried at his sight.

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