For some executives from a bygone era the idea of striving to be ethical had no place in their ranks. Business was for tough, rugged individuals, who played a life-or-death game of survival of the fittest. As a zero-sum game, the goal was to take what you could, demolish competitors, and let the buyer beware. For some of these executives, legality was a consideration, sure, but laws could always be bent, and ethics were something to be ignored. Fines, settlements, and judgments were often viewed as an acceptable cost of doing business.
For the most part, these ideas are long gone. Today there’s little doubt that executives of major companies, as well as smaller ones, have a very different view—that integrity and ethical values occupy an important place in business and should form the foundation of a company’s culture.
