What Happens When Things Go Wrong

Click the play button below to view an introduction on this topic from David H. Blake, Chair of the BGS Center for Ethical Business Leadership

In spite of all the good ideas and well-meaning intentions, sometimes ethical transgressions do occur. This section of the EBL website provides insights on what corporate leadership does in these situations. While the website does not delve into the complexities of crisis management, we can see first hand what is done to address the resulting controversy and then to institute action to learn from the mistakes and correct them. Both aspects are critical.

 

The company must regain its reputation for conducting business with ethical intent and determined purpose. Then it has to examine its policies and procedures to see how the problem behavior escaped the many safeguards. What went wrong? Why was this not foreseen? What checks and balances or training could have prevented this? What must we do now to ensure against similar or different transgressions in the future? How do we recapture the commitment to ethical business leadership?

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Dan T. Cathy
President and COO,
Chick-fil-A

 


W. Thomas Chulick
President and CEO, UMB Bank St. Louis


Douglas R. Conant

President and CEO, Campbell Soup Company


Robert Corcoran

Vice President of Corporate Citizenship, General Electric; President, GE Foundation

Willie A Deese
President, Merck Manufacturing

Timothy P. Flynn
Chairman, KPMG International

William V. Hickey

President and CEO, Sealed Air Corporation


Jonathan S. Hoak
Vice President & Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, HP


M. Lee McAllister
President and CEO, Weaver Investment Company


Brian McCoy
President and CEO,
McCoy's Building Supply


Anne M. Mulcahy
Chairman, Xerox

Chung Po-yang (Po Chung)
Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus, DHL International Ltd.

Victoria Sweeney
Principal, Ethics and Compliance, KPMG International

Robert E. Turner
Chairman and CIO, Turner Investment Partners, Inc.