Balancing complexities with ethics

Ethics is defined by Paul Ricoeur as "the aim of living well with and for others in just institutions". For Emmanuel Levinas, it is "responsibility towards others, that is, an obligation by which each man must look after his neighbor, without being able to claim reciprocity".

The scope covered by these definitions illustrates the complexities – which are specific to us, to others or to our environment – and which any ethical approach must take into account.

Like any category, ethics is threatened by three pitfalls:

• become a source of hollow aphorisms stating what to do without explaining how (such as "putting people at the heart of the company" or "leading by values");

• be invoked to justify attempts to dominate others by passing off a habitual practice (management, communication or other) as an ethical practice;

• generate an obvious prescriptive reaction (more controls, more processes, more audits, more charters) which avoids questioning the essential.

As for , the – result remains constant:– every ethical failure (defined here as a breach – in conscience or non – punctual or regular of universal principles or the specific rules of an organization) generates two questions:

• how did it come to this?

• why didn't we see this coming?

If ethical failure occurs – if it comes to "this". – it's because awareness of the consequences of this failure should have been present at certain moments, but was not. Errors of reasoning, over-rationalization and failure to take into account seemingly innocuous factors have thus taken their toll. It's these moments, then, that everyone needs to be able to identify in order to initiate reflection, and then an ethical approach, without waiting for the great ethical dilemma to arise that – never – will signal itself as such.

Stories of resentment (recognition of one's fault with a willingness to make amends) attest to this, whether they lead to books: as in the case of Jérôme Kerviel ("J'aurais pu passer à côté de ma vie") or conferences: as in the case of Andrew Fastow, former CFO of Enron. These stories illustrate that failing – in conscience or not – to think through the consequences of our choices paves the way for collapse: our own, that of others and, by gentle slope, that of our environment.

Herein lies a cross-disciplinary challenge: to develop an awareness of consequences, far from the obvious sermons that satisfy everyone's ego.

With this in mind, here are three steps to explore in order to...