Response to Self Evident Truths

Response to: "Self-Evident Truths"

"The true future of America lies in the employees, not in the financial wheeler dealers who are buying and selling corporations as if they are chattel. Too many financial people got to the top and don't view their businesses as living breathing things. They view them instead as financial portfolios, and so they managed them very inhumanely. As a consequence, they were looking for short term profitability, not long term viability... " -Harley Teerlink (Former Harley Davidson CEO)

Their inhumanity extends from their lack of ethics. Too many leaders in our business community take advantage of corporations, big and small, by rationalizing how they treat them. We are constantly hearing about these "Big Wigs" doing things that aren't exactly ethical. Part of being ethical is being truthful. Many believe that truth is a perception, which differs from opinion to opinion. Socrates stated, "Truth is absolute, not an opinion."

English: Harley-Davidson Hummer single-cylinder mo...

Harley-Davidson 1000 cc HT 1923

Harley-Davidson 1000 cc HT 1916

Truth is constant, being honest with yourself and those around you. It's void of opinion. Truth is not perception and you can't rationally justify a lie. If people are taught to make decisions on their principles and values when they are younger, they don't have to make that decision when pressured to be dishonest.

The biggest problem with the corporate world is that people are constantly trying to justify unethical situations, with the fact it is not illegal. The fact is: If someone has to check to see if something is illegal, then that person is rationalizing the situation to make it seem ethical.

Truth is not a convenience, it's not what gets you an executive office or aristocratic tittles of VP or CEO, and it's only what is right. You can't be honest in your business dealings if you are dishonest in your personal life.