The Slippery Slope of Business Ethics

I attended an event recently and the topic of discussion was ethics in business practices. The speaker for the event was Harvin C. Moore III, a once prominent executive in Houston who spent two years in jail for fraudulent deals he made during the Texas savings & loans crisis. Having learned from, and paid for his past mistakes, Harvin now does speaking engagements for executives on the topic of ethics in business. Here is Harvin's list of classic ways people try to rationalize illegal practices that I think all business owners should keep in mind (or, rather, not let in to your mind.) Harvin Moore's Top Ten Classic Rationalizations 10. It complies with GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Practices.)9. They owe it to me.8. I wouldn't harm my own company.7. I didn't know about it. Well, if I did know about it, I didn't know it was wrong.6. There's no victim, no harm.5. No one will ever know.4. There's no personal gain.3. Everybody's doing it.2. I'll straighten it out later.1. I had to do it. Now ask yourself- have you ever needed to tell yourself any of the above before making a questionable decision?