How Honor Codes Help Instill Ethical Behavior

Our good friend, Catherine Finamore Henry, Ethics Officer and Vice President, Business Development at SmartPros Legal & Ethics will be speaking at the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics 2008 Compliance and Ethics Institute (CEI) on the topic of honor codes.

This age-old tradition is still central to many institutions and cultures, including universities, service groups and the military. Catherine examines the historical significance of honor codes and how they can be used to successful bind together a group in a common cause. Honor codes are only useful when they are lived out and Catherine will discuss best practices on making them come alive and not simply be words enshrined on a plaque. Hint: find ways to tie into shared values.

Her talk will take place on Monday, September 15, 2008 at 11:00 am - 12:00 pm as part of SCCE's CEI 2008 conference (http://www.complianceethicsinstitute.org) which is being held at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, Chicago, IL on September 14-17, 2008.

If you plan to be in Chicago for the conference, don't miss her talk.

RIP George Carlin, and thanks for vuja de

The recent passing of George Carlin has meant the loss of one of our generation's sharpest observational critics. Many people mainly remember Carlin for his more notorious comedy bits, but I often found his jokes as insightful as they were funny.

I was recently reminded that he is credited with coining a term that has a unique value for business: "vuja de". The bit went something like this:
"Do you ever get that strange feeling of vuja de? Not deja vu, vuja de. It's the distinct sense that somehow, something that just happened has never happened before. Nothing seems familiar. And then suddenly the feeling is gone. Vuja de."

Doing a bit of internet research, I found that The Fast Company Blog commented on this a few years back. "Vuja de happens when you enter a situation you've been in a thousand times before, but with the sense of being there for the first time. As French novelist Marcel Proust said, "The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes."

It may be a bit of a stretch to put Carlin in the same class as Proust, but if vuja de is synonymous with seeing with fresh eyes, then it is a skill that should be taught in all MBA programs. It is a key prerequisite for creativity and innovation, and it is a central hallmark of healthy, adaptive corporate cultures.

Too often leaders can fall into the trap that "we have seen this all before...", effectively shutting down any opportunity for fresh analysis or innovative approaches.

The next time you find yourself in a familiar business situation, take a minute or two to see if you can summon up vuja de. Ask yourself what might be going on beneath appearances. See if you can see things from a fresh perspective, a new angle. George would love it.

Your Organization in One Word

Elizabeth Gilbert, in her best selling book Eat,Pray,Love, describes a discussion with friends about the vibe of different cities. The friends suggested that each city has a word that defines it and identifies most of the people who live there. Whatever the majority "thought" might be is the word for the city. If you've read this entertaining book you know that the friends dubbed Rome with the word "sex," New York with "achieve," and Los Angeles with "success."

The underlying truth of this exercise is that we learn the values of people through our experience with them or being among them. The core essence of a group of people or an individual reveals itself to us through actions, words and structures.

On a recent trip to London I asked a friend, a Londoner, to describe the essence of her city with one word. As she hesitated, I offered the word "tradition." We'd just witnessed the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. My friend offered a word that held deeper truth for her - "tolerance." My mind connected with the scene at Heathrow Airport, a diverse melting pot where differences such as language create a chaotic buzz, but tolerance lends a melody. The important point is that "tolerance" is true for her. It is her experience of her city.

What word would describe the essence of your organization? Is it a word you've chosen for your organization or has it developed organically? Said another way - what is the predominant value expressed in your organization?

Leadership Beyond Limits offers a tool that allows you to determine with certainty what values your employees see expressed in the organization and how those compare with their personal values. This information is vital. If there is misalignment between their personal values and what they experience in your organization, they will be looking for a better match soon.

Open your next leadership team meeting by asking each person to write down the one word that describes the essence of your organization and then share them. The discussion might be revealing or affirming, but it will likely be one of the most important discussions you will have that day.