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.

On Thursday, October 23, 2008, the Oklahoma Business Ethics Consortium’s Tulsa Chapter held its monthly luncheon with national guest speaker Dr. Gary Namie, director of the Workplace Bullying Institute. Why would an ethics group invite a workplace bullying expert to speak, you might ask?  The answer is simple: How can the same organizations who promote a code of conduct, health and wellness, community involvement, employee volunteerism and corporate giving, also allow workplace bullies – psychological office tyrants – to run rampant inside their organizations while targets of their brutal violent episodes suffer physical and mental repercussions?

Allowing workplace bullying to occur is not right. It is not moral. It is not ethical.

According to Dr. Namie, “Workplace bullying is a health hazard. Cardiovascular diseases are the most common stress-related physical problems for bullied targets.”  He further stated, “Psychological injuries caused by bullying range from debilitating anxiety and panic attacks through clinical depression to post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the bullying.  And it’s all unconscionably legal, though morally reprehensible,” states the passionate Dr. Namie.

Clinical depression is experienced by 39% of targets and post traumatic stress disorder is experienced by 30% of women targets.

Is it ethical for an organization to do nothing?

Doing nothing is not a neutral act, according to the founder of the Workplace Bullying Institute.  In fact, Dr. Namie calls it “cruelty by indifference.”  I agree wholeheartedly.

If your organization allows workplace bullies to conjure up their cancerous potions of fear and psychological violence and tyranny, it is time to take action.  It is wrong to sit silently and do nothing.  Taking no action is not an option for good corporate citizens. It should not take enacting anti-bullying legislation to do the right thing, although that is probably where this country is headed.  Let’s do the right thing today.