I kind of knew how the whole conversation was going to play out,
so when I walked back into the office, I had mentally prepared against all those arguments.
Reasons and rationalizations
refer to the objections we hear from our colleagues
when we try to point out an ethical problem in the way things are being done,
or sometimes we don't hear the objections,
because they are the unspoken assumptions of the organization.
It can be difficult to make a strong argument against the assumed,
prevailing winds in an organization if we feel in the minority,
or if we don't feel we have the time to come up with a workable alternative,
or if we don't want to take the chance to present a half-baked response.
Sometimes, in the interest of time, whether in school or in work, it's just easier.
And so, people argue that you're making things more complicated
or more challenging, and they tell you not to think about it
and just make a decision.
One person—it's really hard to think that they can actually
really make an impact and change that entire mindset.
I think something that will always hold you back is when
you're a minority and your values really don't seem to be very relevant in the room
and everyone else has a different opinion than yours, that might feel like,
even though you might raise it up,
it might not impact the final solution,
because it's your voice that's so minimal compared to everyone else's.
If we anticipate the types of arguments we're likely to hear
when we face values conflicts,
we can work on pre-scripting persuasive and well-reasoned responses.
Just think about the challenges you faced thus far in your lives or the kinds of
issues you read about in the business press.
Certain industries and professions and regions of the world
trigger their own types of conflicts, and all of these are fairly predictable.
I've done business in parts of the world where
bribery and things like that are really common.
And I have come across occasions where
I have been provided opportunities, let's say, for
partaking in things like that.
One of the procurement managers of one of my clients
provided me with this opportunity that
we could do a lot of business with them
if we agreed to certain terms and conditions
which were probably outside the legal limits.
So I had a few options.
One: I could agree to those conditions.
I had the means to agree to those conditions.
Second: I could agree to those conditions and
work them out through one of our distributors so that the
blame wouldn't come on me or on my company,
which would supposedly have been the "safe" route.
Or, I could refuse to do it and
possibly lose the business.
The values that were at stake for me were,
first of all my personal honesty and integrity,
it had a great deal of conflict with that.
Fortunately enough, I was working with a corporation
which shared those values, and so it was
extremely easy for me to walk away from that deal,
and we actually did lose the business
it was a significant amount of business,
but because my company shared those values with me,
I didn't have any negative repercussions on my career.
The arguments used to justify or explain
questionable behaviors are similarly predictable,
such as, "It's not my responsibility to deal with this,"
or, "This is just standard operating procedure
in this industry or in this part of the world,"
or,
"This may be wrong,
but it's not material,
it's not a big enough deal to worry about," or
"I don't want to get someone in trouble by raising this issue."
I worked in an organization that was very sales-oriented
and we had regular contests where we were
evaluated on how much did we up-sell or did we sell this promotional item.
The organization I worked at, we sold a lot of things that weren't the most healthiest
things in the world for people to consume,
and so selling that to, maybe, a young child,
it makes you think, well, "I know this is a contest and I know that
if I win I get some sort of monetary prize out of this,"
but at the end of the day can I say that
I did the right thing?
Is it really right for me to sell a large soda to a young child?
To a certain degree it was implied that,
as an employee, you're participating in the contest
because you work here, but then you ask yourself, well,
"I did sell the most but did I really need to do that?
Was this competition worth more than what I value myself?"
And, I think the obesity epidemic in our country is really…
it's something that impacts a lot of
the young generation, and so,
do we want to set an example for them where
hopefully they can lead a healthier life, or do we just want to sell, sell, sell
because that's kind of the society we live in.
I did not speak up about it
because I knew where I worked, and I knew that
that was one of the things that was...
that part of our revenue really drove the business
and that was something that was, kind of,
we had to meet our numbers quota, we had to meet a certain number of sales.
And then also, I was an entry-level employee, and so I thought
my voice, compared to the individuals who are much higher than my pay-grade,
it wouldn't really make much of a difference.
These types of arguments
are among the most common reasons and rationalizations we hear,
and they're all vulnerable to counter-argument.
For example, if we hear,
"It's not my responsibility to deal with this,"
the good news is the speaker is already acknowledging,
at least implicitly, that there is a problem.
So often the best way to respond to him or her is not to
argue that it's their responsibility, but rather to engage them in brainstorming
ways that the situation might be effectively addressed.
Once they have some workable ideas for an implementation plan,
motivating action is likely to be easier.
I think if I had spoken to my colleagues—the people who were also
entry-level employees with me—
and talked to them about, you know, "This is how I felt,"
and gotten their perspective, and maybe if I had
just started the conversation with them and hopefully built some sort of
common ground with them where we could both approach the people,
the managers and the supervisors that were responsible for us,
and talked to them as a whole,
that might have helped me be more able to say, or
be able to actually approach them and then lead the conversation with them.
Whereas if it was just myself approaching them, then I would have felt that
it was just me versus a large group of people, where it was one versus one-hundred.
Similarly, each of the other reasons and rationalizations we might face
are surmountable.
The responses that have worked for individuals who have found ways
to voice and act on their values weren't necessarily
fool-proof, they just had to be credible.
If somebody is making an emotional argument or
is not able to clearly articulate what their reasons are to convince me of something,
I usually don't get convinced very easily.
Something that makes me realize that
I should probably do the right thing, it's like you know, the action-reaction thing.
Like, well if you end up doing this, this might happen.
So thinking about the consequences of whatever I'm about to do or decide on.
I think one of the best ways to be convinced is, for me,
I think it's just a logical argument and someone that's able to—
you know, if I'm doing something unethical, kind of call me out on it,
and talk me through why the decision I'm making is bad,
I think I respond really well to logic and to rational thought.
And so, when somebody else shows that to me and is able to talk me through that side of an argument,
it makes a lot more sense to me,
and I feel like I'm able to kind of step back and realize that
maybe the choices that are being made aren't the best ones.
You can reach out to people individually and that is kind of making a difference, so
not being so discouraged that you're like,
"Well, I'm never going to change it and so, I know I am right but..."
You know you can't ever change the world overnight, it's impossible to do that,
but you can definitely start making impressions,
and I think positive impressions from one person
is contagious, and if I can be that person,
I'm already making, you know, my impact on the world.