Page 8 - BusinessWest February 7, 2022

Loper: “I like to break ethics down into ‘good’ BusinessWest: We’ve heard
“Sometimes we all come up short, we all walk with a limp, as they say, but some people do things intentionally and break those bonds, the contract they’re supposed to have with their stakeholders, and when that’s done, that’s not good at all.”
DePergola: “There are many different avenues to try to articulate the ‘right thing to do’ in a given scenario. One of the things we try to do is look
at decisions to be made from a variety of differ- ent perspectives, understanding that our primary goal in that analysis is very likely, although not exclusively, to try to make the small decision 1,000 times to put someone else’s well-being ahead of our own, without sacrificing who we are as a per- son, what we stand for, at a base level. In the clini- cal world, we’re asking questions of whether what we’re doing is reasonable; we’re asking why we’re doing it, how we’re doing it — is it proportionate to the good we’re trying to accomplish? When are we doing it — is it the right time? Where are we doing it — is it the right place? We ask questions about ‘what if?’ — we project the foreseeable con- sequences of the decision, not just at the end of the day, but where does this leave our patient or our stakeholder or our shareholder six months from now?
“And then, there’s ‘what else?’ This is my favorite question of moral analysis because it’s the question of moral imagination. It helps us understand that, when we make a bad decision in business ethics, it’s not because we’re morally bankrupt in some way, but because we’ve been
to unimaginative; we’ve focused on an ‘A’ or a ‘B’ option, and we failed to brainstorm for a ‘C’ or ‘D.’ So there are a variety of ways to get at what’s the right thing to do.”
BusinessWest: Smith & Wesson recently announced that it will relocate its corporate head- quarters from Springfield to Tennessee, a move that will presumably help the company but hurt families in this area and the region as whole. What does this case tell us about ethics and how it is often difficult deciding what it is the right thing to do?
Loper: “Smith & Wesson may have shut doors
and ‘bad.’ Are we doing something that’s good for folks that are stakeholders? Are we doing things that are not so good? Are we being open and hon- est? Are we being trustworthy and respectful?
All those things are parts of a code of ethics that helps us to deliver on our promise and not come up short. Sometimes we all come up short, we all walk with a limp, as they say, but some people do things intentionally and break those bonds, the contract they’re supposed to have with their stakeholders, and when that’s done, that’s not good at all.”
Leary: In public accounting, our job is help other businesses succeed, so we’re privy to a lot of confidential information that is not out in the public realm, and we’ve very cognizant of that. As a public accountant, we’re required to participate in a periodic ethics training specifically on ethics issues, which is interesting because it gives you
a chance to pause and look at various scenarios where ethics come into play — not that it doesn’t come into play every day.
“Looking back on my career, and when I’m talking to someone about personal tax planning, I have yet to find someone say, ‘hey, how can I pay the most in taxes?’ Usually, it’s ‘how do I reduce my taxes?’ You need to be careful that you’re play-
the phrase ‘do the right thing’ a few times already. What exactly does that mean? Right for whom?
DiGiorgio: “You have to
keep things simple from the
standpoint of terminology, so
people understand. You can
talk to someone about eth-
ics, and they may or may not
understand how ethics works.
But if you say ‘do the right
thing,’ you can have a team
that focuses on your custom-
er, your member, your team. It’s about doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. It’s about treating people with respect, treating peo- ple the way you would want to be treated. There’s a lot of ways at looking at ‘do the right thing,’ but most of us understand that, at the end of the day, the ‘right thing’ is the right thing for the person you’re dealing with. Maybe that’s a member on a call with customer service, or maybe five minutes before your lunch break, and you know the call is going to take 10 minutes. Spend the 10 minutes; do the right thing.”
TOM LOPER
SANDRA DORAN
“Most people think of morals as a more personal aspect of their character and how they view things, the lens through which they look at the world. And when we think about ethics, it’s often framed more as an organization; what are the rules, what is the code that people are going to operate within as part of an organization?”
ing within the rules, the regulations that are pro- vided out there. There are people that would pre- fer to skirt those rules, but our job is to make sure that our clients are not doing that, as best we can. We are looking out for our clients, but it’s not just the business owner. It’s the stakeholders as well. Without employees, without customers, without suppliers, you don’t have business. So our busi- ness, Mark’s business, Bay Path ... everyone here, you’re built on reputation, and it’s easy to lose your reputation and very hard to get it back.”
Doran: “At Bay Path, our focus is on the stu- dent, so we’re always talking about what’s best for the student. But the way we think about doing what’s best in terms of the customer, the stu- dent, is ‘how do we build a strong community?’ Because if we have a strong community that sup- ports each other and is invested in everyone’s success, then people generally make the right decisions. If our students are not successful, we’re not successful; if our registrar isn’t successful, then our students are not successful. We’re really focused on this virtuous cycle of success.”
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