01/28/2010
Ranking Down
Like any competition in life, everyone participates to win.
When it comes to business ethics, do we all win if we simply say that we are ethical (subjective, we know)? Is it an instant victory the moment we develop and publish new ethical rules and values for the company? The Swiss research firm Covalence begs to differ.
Covalence compiled a report, ranking the overall performance of multinational corporations. Since there were top performers, such as IBM, Intel, and HSBC, there also had to be lower-performing corporations.
The Huffington Post article “The 12 Least Ethical Companies in the World” digs into Covalence’s report, highlighting 12 businesses with questionable ethical practices.
While they scrutinize businesses on a multinational level, know that the experts and the public examine business ethics on a national and local level as well. With unemployment rates still high and markets slowly recovering, “Main Street” constantly watches, waiting for a scapegoat. This should be a warning to companies to become more transparent with their policies, processes, and practices.
Understandably, change is never easy, especially in a corporate setting. Doing nothing gets us nowhere either (image source: Doodlemeister).
Regardless of monitoring, you probably don’t want your business showing up on the lower end of this list, or any other similar study. This is a great reminder that even in down times, ethical business practices aren’t just to look good; they are representative of what your corporation, company, or business is made up of and what it stands for.
01/13/2010
Core Values: People First
There’s a difference between doing your job and enjoying your job. Anyone can be a “do’er.” Not everyone can really say, “Hey, I absolutely love doing this for people.” Hardly anyone would want to do what they do for a living for free.
We don’t expect everyone in our office to absolutely and wholeheartedly love what they do (nor work for free), but we want to do our utmost best in providing a work atmosphere that fosters pride, confidence, productivity, camaraderie, and hopefully invoke people to come into the office feeling like they can really do something for the company.
Saying all of that isn’t enough. Fairway acts upon it. As a core value, we believe in putting “People First.” We want to provide an environment for our employees, investors, and other peers to want to stay engaged and enabled to do their very best.
Today, we welcomed our newest Affiliate of our CAnet program, John Arant. We hope to stay true to our core value and provide him with a network and community that helps him do his very best.
(Kipp Cosgriffe and John Arant)
Welcome, John!
01/07/2010
Core Values: Strive For Excellence
It’s too difficult to be perfect. It’s also impossible. The belief that perfection can be attained is unrealistic. This perspective could also be so focused on minutiae that the bigger picture is lost.
Solid business and great service takes more than a myopic approach of trying to be perfect. Instead, we should take a Lombardi approach and chase after perfection, knowing that we grow in excellence along the way.
Widen your perspective and the problems at hand all of a sudden seem manageable. This initiative to take a step back requires the drive to do your utmost best. Throughout the process, the potential of excellence increases.
At Fairway, we strive for excellence on a daily basis. We do it so often that it is a core value for our team, “while respecting the importance of timeliness, we take personal pride in doing everything the absolute best we can do it and in always learning to do things better.”
We hope we can extend this level of service and products to you.
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