Page 176 - YOU CAN WIN - SHIV KHERA

RokZRooM Special ! You Can Win by Shiv Khera

makes a person with these qualities good person? It is because these are the kind of
people who are dependable, stand up for justice, help the needy, make life better for
themselves and those around them. To recognize goodness in all its forms, we need
benchmarks and standards. Benchmarks can be ethical, or legal, or both. Ethical ones
deal with right and wrong and all the gray areas that are in between leading to what is
good and more good and what is bad and more bad.

*journal of the American Family Association, November / December 1991.

HOW HIGH ARE OUR ETHICAL STANDARDS?

What would you do in the following situations?

1. You know the taxi fare from your home to the airport is $64. You have paid it before,
you know it is the correct fare. This time the taxi driver asks for $32. What would you
do?
2. You are dining in a restaurant and you ordered four dishes and the waiter brought all
four but by mistake, billed you for only three. What would you do?
3. Your best friend is terminally ill and you are a life assurance salesman. They needed
$100,000 worth of insurance. No one knows and no one can find out that your friend is
dying. Would you write the policy?

You cannot legislate ethics. What advice would you give to your children under the same
circumstances? Is your behavior conforming with the advice you would give your children
in the same situation? We start learning ethics right after birth and all through our lives.
Can we change ethical behavior? Yes, we need ethical training.

WHAT AFFECTS ETHICS?

♦ Greed
♦ Fear
♦ Pressure

Pressure to perform does not justify unethical acts. To be treated fairly is not the same
thing as being treated equally.

ETHICS IN BUSINESS

Ethics or lack of it is evident in every profession. Greedy doctors do unnecessary
procedures and surgery. Lawyers bend the truth. Parents and children alike tell white
lies. Accountants and secretaries often falsify reports.
When we cheat the people around us, most of all we are cheating ourselves. We are
preparing ourselves to be cheated. Prosperity brings responsibility. We cannot build
industry and infrastructure while destroying the moral and social fiber.
The consequences of not following ethical behavior are the same as not following legal
behavior. Some people will never be ethical. They think they are taking the easy way. In

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