Do you remember the 1976 satirical movie Network? The film is about a fictional television network and its faltering audience ratings. One of the most famous scenes is where Howard Beale (Peter Finch, who plays a news anchor) has been fired because of low ratings. He’s been provided with an opportunity to make a dignified exit from the UBS Evening News, but instead Beale rants about how life isn’t fair and screams at the top of his lungs, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

I consider myself to be a reasonably evolved person, so I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit that like Beale, upon reading recent accounts of how some of the top executives in America’s largest corporations personally financially gained by stripping and destroying the value of their companies, I lost my cool and wanted to shout out, “Those sleazy bastards should be tar and feathered!”

Instead, I sat down at my desk and starting writing this book.

Erosion of business ethics

Sitting at my computer I considered whether business ethics had actually plummeted to new lows, or whether I was merely blowing the current situation out of proportion. After all, corruption in business isn’t anything new. So what was it about the current reports of mismanagement and corporate greed that bothered me so much?

In gathering my thoughts I reflected upon my 22 years as a small business owner, my 3 ½ years as an officer of a life insurance company, and my current gig as a marketing consultant and author. I determined that in business, as in life, everything is an exchange. Just as the leaves in trees provide the air we breathe with oxygen in exchange for the carbon dioxide it absorbs, employees exchange their time, knowledge and effort for salaries and benefits, and for the feeling they receive from participating in something bigger than they could create on their own.

Unfortunately in today’s economy, too many employees are being forced to trade time they could be spending interacting and relaxing with family and friends for conducting business after hours and on weekends because their employer tightened budgets and is “doing more with less”. Even more disturbing is that more and more employees and top executives are exchanging their ethics for the security of a paycheck and associated healthcare benefits. Why? Primarily because the average American today is in hock up to his or her eyeballs with credit card balances and mortgage payments that are so burdensome, employees and top executives can’t afford to lose their job . . . so they look the other way when they witness white collar crime and other breaches of ethics.