Some ethical challenges I have been in include being encouraged to lie to potential clients about services rendered or potential therein – for example, staffing companies’ sales people are encouraged to tell clients that they have lots of candidates that would be a good fit just waiting around eagerly, or that they have a special process that yields higher quality people; in reality, though, it’s pretty much the same and involves just scanning Careerbuilder or Indeed just like anybody else. Some agencies do have a “pipeline” for certain jobs, but it’s usually just general labor type positions.
Additionally, in startups people frequently choose language carefully or use B.S. projections to sound better, especially when raising capital or applying for accelerators/incubators. I’ve been involved in this and it takes quite the mental gymnastics and semantic manipulation for some founders to really believe what they’re saying. It’s important to believe in what you’re doing, but a lot of people try to skip steps and just talk the talk without being able to walk the walk, so to speak.
I believe in authenticity, growth, collaboration, pragmatism, and taking advantage of the time we have on this earth. I feel that if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right.
I think I am pretty solid on the former, but with the latter especially I struggle with having the discipline to exemplify and manifest my values 100% of the time. Of course, we are not always perfect and that should not be expected (even though we often expect perfection in others but are quick to forgive ourselves), but I feel that I could do a far better job of taking my own advice (I give excellent advice on how to live life but follow about half of it at best!) and presenting a consistent example of practicing what I preach. I’m working on it.
