Deflate Gate Ethics

Take a look in the mirror. What do you see? Hopefully, you see honesty, integrity, trustworthiness and many other ethical principles. These are principles which do not disappear when you step away from the mirror. For as John D. MacDonald once said, “Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat, then you know he never will.” As with the individual person, honesty, integrity, and civility are the cornerstones in which a business must be built in order to be successful and prosper. A business’s ethical principles quickly become visible to the consumer, who will continually return to a business they trust and who treats them with politeness and respect. This, in hand, produces both a happy consumer and greater business revenue. With business prosperity and consumer loyalty at work, the
economy is stimulated, thus making the community as a whole better.

By comparison, the results of “possible” unethical behavior can be seen in several recent events.
For example, consider Tom Brady and the New England Patriots and their involvement in the “deflate-gate” scandal in which they were accused of deflating footballs to give them an unfair advantage in a football game. The Ted Wells Deflate-Gate report states that it is “more probable than not” that the Patriots purposefully release air and that Tom Brady was “more probable than not” aware of it. Regardless if this is true or not, has their image been tarnished? You decide. Now, consider Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, and the controversy of her use of a private email account to send government related emails. An investigation is currently ongoing to determine what classified emails, if any, were located on Clinton’s private server and if she knowingly forwarded those emails. Regardless if Hilary Clinton violated the law or just the spirit of it, has her actions tarnished her image as a Presidential candidate? You
decide. As with the individual person, a business’s decisions and actions determine how they are viewed by the community. Each and every decision that a business makes must be make with honesty, integrity, and civility. Billy Graham reminds us that “The world is watching how we walk and how we talk. We must have the highest standards of morality, ethics and integrity if we are to continue to have influence.” What image are you going to reflect to the world?