What Is Right?

In contemporary organizational ethics, the "right" thing to do is typically defined or identified in one of three ways. Follow the links below to learn more about the dangerous flaws of each of these definitions:

(1) Right = that which is most favorable to the bottom line.

(2) Right = that which the law says is right.

(3) Right = that which "universal" principles say is right.

Read between the lines of nearly any corporate ethical statement today, and you'll find one of these answers at its core. Still, although all three answers are common, none are rooted enough in reality to be adequate to the task of guiding corporate leaders through the pitfalls of the marketplace.

At the Institute 4 Priority Thinking, we adopt a wholly different approach to ethics acknowledging both the central role of business in human life AND the responsibility of each individual to act ethically. We hold that ethical behavior is rooted in each individual's potential to thrive. Thus, ethical behavior is both fundamentally necessary for human flourishing, and is at the same time of great importance in the sphere of corporate activity. Click here to learn more about our Aristotelian approach to ethics.

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Code of Ethics

The poverty of popular business ethics is nowhere so evident as in the lengthy Codes of Ethics that many companies have deployed in recent years. These companies are setting themselves up for failure due to what we call the Epistemic Fallacy: the erroneous assumption that just because employees know the right thing to do, they will actually do it.

While we at the Institute certainly aren't opposed to a Code of Ethics per se, we believe that an organization's ethical policy must be shaped in such a way as to hold individuals accountable for excellence, not scrupulosity. Our approach to ethics is rooted in what Aristotle called "arête" - i.e., the noble and virtuous.