Kevin Kennemer delivered the following speech on Courage to the Oklahoma Business Ethics Consortium Tulsa Chapter on Thursday, March 26, 2009, at the Marriott Southern Hills.  Courage is an OkEthics guiding principle.

Have you ever heard about miner’s canaries?

Canaries were once routinely used in coal mining as an early warning system. Toxic gases such as carbon monoxide and methane in the mine would kill the bird before affecting the miners. Because canaries tend to sing much of the time, they provided both a visual and audible cue in this respect. When the canary was singing everyone knew the environment was safe. The use of miner’s canaries in British mines was phased out by 1987.

The phrase “canary in a coal mine” is frequently used to refer to a person or thing which serves as an early warning of a coming crisis. [Source: Wikipedia]

It is my hope we have not phased out the corporate canaries in the American workplace: Those people who are willing to sacrifice their jobs, incomes or careers for the benefit of others who may not be aware of the toxic cultural practices inside a company’s work environment, including unethical or illegal leadership practices.

For the sake of long-term business viability – for the sake of coworkers and vendors who have bills to pay – for the sake of employees with mortgages, children to feed, and college expenses to cover, we, as an ethics consortium, are hoping to instill this quality and commission members with moral courage.

It is the right thing to do. Having moral courage is in the best interest of your company’s leaders and coworkers. Company loyalty occurs when a person is willing to stand up when others are looking the other way. The person with moral courage is ultimately devoted to their fellow man.

Canaries sing for a living. They have great attitudes and help make the environment more peaceful. If the canary is alive you know the mine is safe.

In other words, canaries are not dangerous, fearsome, rude or aggressive creatures. They are pleasant to be around. They give their lives in order to keep people safe.

Patricia Harned, president of the Ethics Resource Center, says, “When an employee picks up the phone and dials the company’s ethics helpline; when a student approaches the teacher to raise a concern; even as a leader references organizational values as the prevailing principle guiding a strategic decision there is an important dynamic at work.”

President Harned further states, “It is a concept that is not often talked about, but we certainly notice when it is absent. Nevertheless, the ability for people to take risks to do what is right, and the presence of a climate that supports that courage, is a necessary element to the success of any ethics effort.”

In closing, we need people with moral courage in today’s business environment. Moral courage is the ability to make a decision, take a stand, express an opinion, while it may not be popular or culturally acceptable, and face the loss of status or even your job.

People with moral courage do not simply observe and stay silent when laws are broken, policies are ignored, or people are not treated fairly.

If you are ever faced with a toxic company culture situation, it is my hope you will possess moral courage.

If a company’s leadership has intentions from the beginning to operate a fast-growing business in an unethical and illegal manner, while maintaining a positive public image, I have observed one possible sadistic model that can be successful, at least on a short term basis.

The CEO needs to be a well-liked, mild-mannered, suave, polished and articulate business person.  His second in command, on the other hand, should be a domineering, short-tempered, intimidating, executive bully who doesn’t take no for an answer.  It’s his way or the highway and he drives the truck that runs over you. The second in command essentially takes direction from the CEO and barks out orders and creates fear across the organization.

The second in command is seen as someone to be feared and most people will never cross him nor question the direction of the company, even if it is unethical or illegal.  All this while the CEO looks like the good guy and the company is considered an excellent corporate citizen.  It’s the corporate version of good cop, bad cop.  Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the C-Suite.  This leadership model is confusing to employees on the inside but the public never notices the sadistic practices of the operation.

Welcome to Evil Inc.

According to the 2007 National Business Ethics Survey published by the Ethics Resource Center, the second most observed ethical violation is abusive or intimidating behavior observed by twenty-one percent of employees.  That means one out of every five employees routinely observe the use of abusive or intimidating behavior in the workplace.

Abusive and intimidating behavior is evil, wrong and has no place in the business world. Bullies use the resulting fear to prevent employees from questioning unethical or illegal decisions or methods.  According to the Ethics Resource Center, almost thirteen percent of employees experience retaliation for reporting misconduct.  If you work for Evil Inc. the leaders get what they want and nobody dare stop them. Employees and middle management lack the nerve to question their methods because fear is the weapon of choice at Evil Inc.

Evil Inc., however, is not a long-term going business concern.  Typically the business owners, who are narcissistic and ruthless, run the business long enough to make as much money as possible for themselves before the company folds.  One day everything seems fine to the public then suddenly the company files bankruptcy or closes its doors.  Their voodoo business act is over. The curtain falls on their bipolar management style and operations stop as quickly as they started.  Sadly, the last chapter of Evil Inc.’s story is never a happy ending.