Creating an Environment of Ethics and Values

No doubt about, the mortgage industry suffered from a terrible lack of ethics among many participants on an individual level and on a corporate level.

For at least one author, there is a belief that ethics should be developed during people’s formative years. Rakesh Malhotra declared that core values “are not taught in school—not in grade school or in most business schools. While we would benefit from having values taught at all age levels, for now they are learned mostly from parents, mentors, inspiring teachers and others who shape young lives.”

Those core values play a key role in the success of both employees and the corporation, and it is important for the business to have what Malhotra has identified as five essential global values as it is for the employees.

“The business has to show that these ethics are implemented and acted upon. Otherwise, the employee with values, the one instructed to, say, lie about a product, will feel secure about reporting such conduct without being fired,” he said.

Malhotra, author of Adventures of Tornado Kid: Whirling Back Home Towards Timeless Values, listed those five values as:

• Responsibility: “There is nothing more fundamental to being an adult in our society than accountability. Parents can create cause-and-effect circumstances, such as letting a teen borrow the car provided they put gas in it. Breaking such a pact though, because of a bad grade in school, creates a mixed message. When children learn responsibility, they know that happiness comes from doing the right thing.”  

• Compassion: “It’s not just a term for being nice; compassion is a form of intelligence—an empathetic ability to see a situation through another’s eyes and to feel what another person feels. When adults are compassionate, they reach out to help others because they can feel others’ pain—and the relief and gratitude of help, sympathy or encouragement.
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• Integrity: “Integrity is the glue that holds together all of the values. When given an option to stray from our values, such as lying for the sake of convenience, integrity is there to hold us accountable.”

• Peace: “Our ability to manage conflicts amicably is a direct result of a peaceful mind and attitude. Those who value peace view anger, jealousy and hostility as the barriers to communication that they are. In all settings, business and domestic, conflicts will arise—it is inevitable. We must work through these peacefully if we are to move forward.”

• Love: “You must love what you do, passionately. Do your work and your organization in some way contribute to the welfare of people? That is the reason for your passion. With love, you contribute to the greater good and feel gratified.”