The Rapid Response Institute

Tag: ethics

  • Never Ask a Tire Salesperson if You Need New Tires

    Never Ask a Tire Salesperson if You Need New Tires

    This Blog is dedicated to the memory of Eugene Lindsay, 1931-2015.  For many years, Gene was one of my sales representatives, confidant and a friend.  The title of this piece is attributed to him.

    The United States is still in the throes of the election aftermath and the President just pardoned his son; something he repeatedly stated he never would!

    The Not Good, The Bad and Absolutely Ugly!

    Form Information Can Take

    Even Biden’s hitherto staunchest supporters have turned on this so-called liar.  Never mind that he has a decades long visible track record of his verbal latitude with the facts, this seems to have broken the camel’s metaphoric back.  Moreover, this incident has seemingly opened Pandora’s Box regarding the loose running with the truth during the recent election cycle.

    In our forthcoming book (2025), Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making, we address at length the following types of non-factual information:

    • Misinformation–“It can be a collection of false, fabricated, misleading and/or taken out of context.  However, it does not meet the test of Intent to Deceive.”
    • Disinformation–“The deliberate publication of private information for personal or private interest, as well as the deliberate manipulation of genuine content.”
    • Malinformation–“The deliberate publication of private information for personal or private interest, as well as the deliberate manipulation of genuine content.”
    • Deep-Fake–“Technology that can seamlessly stitch anyone in the world into a video or photo they never actually participated in.”  We saw some of this during this last election.

    When Guardrails Fail

    “The fury which destroys an opponent’s character, would stop at nothing, if barriers were thrown down.  That which is true of the leaders in politics, is true of subordinates.  Political dishonesty in voters runs into general dishonesty, as the rotten speck taints the whole apple.  A community whose politics are conducted by a perpetual breach of honesty on both sides, will be tainted by immorality throughout.  Men will play the same game in their private affairs, which they have learned to play in public matters.  The guile, the crafty vigilance, the dishonest advantage, the cunning sharpness;—the tricks and traps and sly evasions; the equivocal promises, and unequivocal neglect of them, which characterize political action, will equally characterize private action.  The mind has no kitchen to do its dirty work in, while the parlor remains clean.  Dishonesty is an atmosphere; if it comes into one apartment, it penetrates into every one.  Whoever will lie in politics, will lie in traffic.  Whoever will slander in politics, will slander in personal squabbles.  A professor of religion who is a dishonest politician, is a dishonest Christian.  His creed is a perpetual index of his hypocrisy.”

    —Henry Ward Beecher

    “Politics was a necessarily dirty game of treachery and deceit.”

    – Dave Robinson

    The tools now available with more yet to come enable nefarious characters to attempt new heights in propaganda.  Joseph Goebbels would be so proud.

    Those of us who they seek to become consumers of valid and reliable information must develop better ‘radar’ detecting mischief in information and/or data.  This will be an ongoing war with significant challenges determining actual facts–truth seeking.  Moreover, misinformation and bias can come from automated solutions including Artificial Intelligence.

    The saying, “If it sounds too good to be truth, it probably is,” applies today as much as ever.  Our book drills down much deeper regarding signs of fabrication.  We must forever be on guard for purveyors of lies are ubiquitous.

    And don’t forget.  Everyone has an agenda–good or some not so virtuous.

    Enter the Tire Salesman

    Gene Lindsay was a lifelong sales representative.  Selling was his stock and trade.  As might be expected from someone with his outgoing personality and background, he had a number of quips about the sales business.  The satire of this Blog title has stuck with me over the years.

    The obvious response is NOT to trust a sales representative of tires if you don’t know if you need one or more of his/her products.  Gene knew that professionalism and helping prospects/client to make the right decision paid more with greater personal rewards in the long run than ‘stretching’ the truth for immediate gratification/commission.

    NO is the appropriate sales objection in response to a tire sale representative, if in fact you do not need tires at this time.  Ethics and truth shines through and yes, someday we all will need tires and hopefully we will turn to Gene’s proteges.

    The Truth Will Set You Free

    We all must attain and sustain the mantel of a knowledgeable (buyer) consumer of information.  Our personal and professional success depends on this skill.  Moreover, teach your children, colleagues, friends and relatives this skill as well.  They will thank you for it every day they are required to make decisions.

    Our marketing buzz word driven world has invented a number of descriptions for those who wish us ill, scammers, porch pirates, politicians who ‘walk back’ statements (give me a break), etc. These individuals are just liars and thieves and should be vilified.  We should not credit them with some panache because of their chosen path.

    While some politicians may not actually break the law, their states expose who they truly are.  As Beecher stated, “Men will play the same game in their private affairs, which they have learned to play in public matters.”  In other words, the philosophy, “We are what we eat,” is inviolate.

    How do you and your organization determine whether information presented is tainted and/or past it’s “sell by date?”

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is a coauthor of the recently published book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    We are also pleased to announce our forthcoming book to be published by CRC Press in 2025, Navigating the Data Minefields: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making.  This is a book for the non-IT executive who is faced with making major technology decisions as firms acquire advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg and his latest book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • ESG Explained

    ESG Explained

    According to Investopedia, “Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria are a set of standards for a company’s operations that socially conscious investors use to screen potential investments.”  Definitions of the three components are pretty straightforward:

    • Environmental–Generally refers to the stewardship of the planet and how organizations facilitate that responsibility.
    • Social–Facilitating organizational responsibility to the global society, at all levels from the globe to the local communities firms operate in.
    • (Corporate) Governance–Typically, the umbrella organizations put in place to assure issues such as transparency, fraud, safety culture and ethics are in compliance with social norms and local regulations.

    Since the Deepwater Horizon incident of April 2020, operators (oil and gas companies) have extended and enhanced the above criteria to their supply chain ecosystem and in some cases even customers with a Safety and Environmental Management System (SEMS).  This is true of most other Critical Infrastructure sectors as well.

    Likewise, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 enhanced transparency and increased fraud protection after the Enron (and other) scandals.  Other incidents have triggered governance changes as well and some are referred to in linked materials.

    Why Is ESG Important?

    By one account, approximately $12 trillion in investments made in 2018 were driven by those who consider themselves socially responsible.  According to Forbes, in 2019 this accounted for almost 25% of total investments and are seen through the lens of sustainability.  Moreover, between 2016 to 2018, the growth rate in such firms grew at 38 percent.

    These numbers confirm our research going back to the turn of the century and perhaps earlier.  In 1993 we controversially posited that the Principles of Scientific Management were applicable to software development by Knowledge Workers.  Developed by Frederick Taylor, his monograph was published circa 1911.

    In other words, owners (investors) have always demanded top notch, legal and ethical performance.  Activist investors, i.e. Carl Icahn are not new.  As always, they have a very important role to play in the current markets.

    Asset/Equipment Integrity Governance

    There is a buzz of newness to ESG; however, from a contrarian perspective, this is not necessarily the case.  After the Deepwater Horizon failure with significant loss of live and many billions in economic losses to many parties including BP, it became clear that traditional Governance models did not have a focus on operations and the management of capital assets, i.e., manufacturing plants, marine vessels and other revenue producing sources.

    In our book we addressed a New Risk Environment from large corporate operations in which ‘failure is really not an option.”  We stated as a risk element, “Escalation of Consequences: The level of consequences of a disaster in the energy industry can now be larger than from the accidental release of a multi-megaton nuclear weapon.”

    Still governance models continued to struggle.  We believe that in the critical infrastructure sectors there is a lack of strong bonding, in other words top management is still hands off and operating from historical ‘control’ models that are no longer relevant or applicable.

    We do not believe this will change until a Strong Bond (tightly coupled) model is adopted.  We define the term as, “A strong model is used by High Reliability Organizations (HRO) and as part of that model, trained; knowledgeable personnel are empowered to make the right decisions in the field.  The strong model provides an organization with the capability to become and remain and HRO.”

    In 2011, we released our monograph, Asset/Equipment Integrity Governance: Operations–Enterprise Alignment; A Case for Board Oversight (AEIG).  In addition to developing a financial model documenting the Return on Investment (ROI) from strong governance, a Compliance Model, as well as a robust AEIG Matrix which incorporates an Asset Maturity Model are part of the solution.

    The AEIG extends the enterprise governance model to include the full ecosystem including subcontractors to its primary supply chain partners.  While not directly addressed at the time, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is implicit in the model.

    This roadmap is comprehensive and is a good starting point for developing and implementing a vigorous ESG initiative.  Other monographs in our Changing the Dialogue series (exploring our New Business Dynamics) include Structural Dynamics and Rapid Response Management are available online.

    Relationships, Behaviors, Conditions

    Scroll down on The Rapid Response Institute, Operational Excellence Platform page and you will find our R B C Framework Cultural Transformation model.  Shown below for ease of readership.

    The R B C model was originally developed to research international (cross cultural) negotiations.  We have extended it to support the transformation process to a robust and model organization culture such discussed herein.  Readers should note that this model is focused on Operational Excellence and is comprised on Processes & Methods supported by Enabling Tools.

    Built on Structural Dynamics which was developed as part of Dr. Shemwell’s doctoral dissertation in 1996.  It is defined as, “The morphology or patterns of motion towards process equilibrium of interpersonal systems.”

    This proven Framework is grounded in Management Science yet is a useful tool (Roadmap) that real originations can successfully and cost effectively implement.  We believe it is the best approach for attaining ESG.

    Summary

    One can view the current ESG status as part of a continuum to hold organizations accountable as appropriate and frankly, increase their Operational Excellence.  We have long known that firm’s that are well managed command superior stock market multiples and greater equity value.

    Many ‘self-serving’ consultants and pundit would have us believe ESG is breakthrough Thought Leadership in need of their help.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

    In the early 1990s, we document the history and evolution of Management Science/Thinking.   It is not written in stone, like most human endeavors it evolves and has for thousands of years.  ESG is a step in this continuum.

    How is Your Organization Addressing the Requirements of Active Investors?

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game.  Two current online games; Safety Culture and Diverse Teams specifically address issues raised by ESG Criteria.  If you have any questions, please contact this author as well.

    Graphic Source: The Rapid Response Institute derived from a Storyblocks image under license.