Release Date: 08.01.10 | Location: All Metro Atlanta | Organization: Womble Carlyle
Tone at the Top: A Call for Business Ethics
Deal Attorney and Corporate Governance Expert Sandy Smith Joins Atlanta Daybook Experts Network
NewsCertified Expert Sandy Smith joins the Daybook Expert Network with extensive experience in business law, mergers, acquisitions, corporate governance, ethics and education.
Article by Sandy Smith
http://www.wcsr.com/lawyers/john-f-smith
http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsandysmith
America’s economic malaise is making many people cynical about American business. The truth is that many corporate leaders make a lot of money being mediocre or worse. They show up to play, not to win. By win, I mean excelling both financially and ethically.
Some people believe you can’t teach ethics - you either have them or you don’t. I disagree. While some people are innately more ethical than others, we can and should set up systems and procedures to give people incentives to act ethically. While being ethical is often seen as a religious or social value, it should also be a business value. Sadly, too few schools teach that.
While “corporate governance” is an obscure term to many, it essentially means the way a company is run. It concerns the relationship the company and its board have with investors, customers and other stakeholders. And good corporate governance is important to keeping companies – and the nation – on the right path.
A breakdown in ethics can often eventually lead to breaking the law, which is where government prosecutors and regulators come in. Society moves quickly, and the “perp walks” of the past become ancient history all too soon. Sadly, every few years, a new group of highly-educated people goes to prison because they forget what happened before and think they found a new way to outsmart the system, whether through insider trading, pyramid schemes or “creative” accounting.
Investors need to remember that if something’s too good to be true, it probably is. And America’s corporate leaders should work to do the very best for both their shareholders and the long-term interests of our country. That includes promoting and rewarding positive, ethical, behavior.
Read Sandy Smith's Daybook Network expert bio.
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Sandy Smith has been certified by the NewsCertified Exchange and joins the Daybook Network through the NCE/Daybook alliance.
sandysmitharticle.doc
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