There`s No Such Thing as Business Ethics: There`s Only One Rule for Making Decisions
By Dr. Alan G. Phillips, Jr. and David H. Brownell
Indiana State University and Lincoln College (Illinois)
There’s No Such Thing as Business Ethics: There’s Only One Rule for Making Decisions
John C. Maxwell, Warner Books, 2003.
In an ambitious effort to address recent corporate scandals, John Maxwell offers his leadership insights to the field of ethics and moral theory. Explaining the impetus behind the title and the content of his book, Maxwell recalls his past conversation with the man who suggested that he tackle the subject of business ethics, Laurence J. Kirshbaum, chairman and CEO of the AOL Time Warner Book Group. After being approached with the prospect of a book on business ethics, Maxwell recalls saying, “There’s no such thing.” His response to Kirschbaum’s request for clarification is recounted in the book’s preface. Maxwell said: There’s no such thing as business ethics — there’s only ethics. People try to use one set of ethics for their professional life, another for their spiritual life, and still another at home with their family. That gets them into trouble. Ethics is ethics. If you desire to be ethical, you live by one standard across the board (Preface).
Here, Maxwell challenges the idea that ethics can be applied in one field of activity and separated from another arena of life.
According to the approach developed in this book, the ethical rule that governs business is the same as the one that governs family life or religious thought. There should be one standard of conduct across boundaries of work, leisure, and worship, and adherence to this single rule will serve as a guide for all areas of human concern.
The single, across-the-board standard that Maxwell has in mind is the Golden Rule which he cites as the one standard that people of different religions and cultures embrace in one form or another (22- 23). He explains, “It is clear that the Golden Rule cuts across cultural and religious boundaries and is embraced by people from nearly every part of the world. It’s the closest thing to a universal guideline for ethics a person can find” (23).
Maxwell also points out that in addition to being embraced across the cultural divide the Golden Rule is accepted as a matter of “common sense” in the lives of individuals. He points out that “everyone wants to be treated well. Even people who pursue unhealthy relationships or who engage in destructive behavior don’t desire or consciously seek bad treatment from others. It is not unreasonable for any person to desire good treatment from others. Nor is it asking too much to expect people to treat others well” (24-25).
For Maxwell, asking the question, “How would I like to be treated in this situation?” is a firm foundation for an ethical approach uncluttered by the complicated musings of theologians, lawyers, and philosophers who have left people in other fields bewildered and confused (20).
In the process of explaining and illustrating how the Golden Rule can lead to a successful life, Maxwell identifies the barriers that can deter an individual from adopting this single standard as “the integrity guideline” for their lives (58). The temptations of pressure, pleasure, power, pride and misplaced priorities are examined by Maxwell in the fifth chapter of his book. Here, he attempts to guide readers through a tangled forest of factors “that most often come into play when someone compromises his ethics” (73). Using his signature arsenal of real life illustrations from the business world and some personal soul-searching of his own at the end of this chapter, the author allows the reader to see how following this seemingly simple rule can pose a major challenge.
After detailing the obstacles encountered along the path toward morality, Maxwell turns to the constructive task of examining the steps needed for “seizing golden opportunities” in the next chapter. These steps involve the following detailed laundry list:
1. Take responsibility for your actions.
2. Develop personal discipline.
3. Know your weaknesses.
4. Align your priorities with your values.
5. Admit wrongdoing quickly and ask forgiveness.
6. Take extra care with finances.
7. Put your family ahead of work.
8. Place a high value on people. (93-105)
In the following chapter, Maxwell takes readers back to the ancient Greek myth of King Midas who was granted the “golden touch,” an ability he had to lose in order to regain what really mattered in his life. In this part of his book, the author contrasts those with a “single-minded fixation on wealth” with others who take their focus off selfish ambition and refocus on “adding value to others” (111). Once again, he gives practical advice to the reader about how to develop the right kind of Midas touch in daily life. It involves treating others better than they treat you, what Maxwell calls “the Platinum Rule,” an interesting supplement (and contrast) to the Golden Rule he advocates throughout his book (113-114). He tells readers to “try to be kind instead of treating people in kind” (114). In addition to observing the Platinum Rule, readers are challenged to “walk the second mile,” help others who cannot help them, do what’s right when “it’s natural to do wrong,” and keep promises “even when it hurts” (112-123).
His concluding chapter attempts to focus on the contrast between those people who “go for the gold” versus those who are wise enough to “go for the Golden Rule” (129). He briefly examines a list of those “captains of industry” of the 1920s who put monetary wealth first and then lost their fortunes and positions in society (129-130). He contrasts such individuals with a friend of his who lived by the Golden Rule and did succeed both financially and interpersonally. The book ends with Maxwell’s concluding sentiment, “People who live by the Golden Rule give themselves a chance to have it all!” (134).
There’s No Such Thing as Business Ethics has both strengths and weaknesses to offer those who want to learn more about the role of ethics in business. In terms of strengths, it contributes several things. First, it challenges the assumption that we can compartmentalize our lives and assume multiple value sets. On this front, I think Maxwell exposes a weakness of a particular form of “situation ethics,” one that can lean on relevance as a ready-made excuse for short-sighted convenience, inconsistent behavior, or personal gain (8-9). Secondly, Maxwell’s attempt to simplify ethical issues by minimizing philosophical and theological jargon is admirable, given the many works that have never entered serious public discourse because of specialized terminology that intimidates without illuminating the serious issues of our time. His user-friendly style is a breath of fresh air in a field dominated by dense, often inaccessible, work.
Finally, his use of reflective self-quizzes and questions at the end of each chapter gives the book the benefit of being both a text and workbook in one. Maxwell’s attentiveness to the need for reflective components in this and other previous works is profitable for those who have teaching and applied leadership training in mind.
Despite its strengths, the book is riddled with some difficulties. To begin with, Maxwell is insistent on the need for only one rule in ethics: the Golden Rule. In the Preface he states, “If you desire to be ethical, you live by one standard across the board.” At another point, Maxwell asserts, “I believe you will be able to use one guideline to govern all your ethical decision making. It’s based on the Golden Rule” (21). Later, under a heading entitled “One Rule for Everyone,” he explains, “There are really only two important points when it comes to ethics. The first is a standard to follow. The second is the will to follow it” (23).
Doing philosophy by the numbers, Maxwell seems obsessed with the number one where “rule following” is concerned, even though Jesus Christ himself subsumed all Ten Commandments under two commandments (Mat. 22:36-40). However, later in the book Maxwell gets readers to think about another rule, “the Platinum Rule” or treating others better than they treat us (112- 114). Does this mean that Maxwell is tacitly admitting that one rule is not enough for pursuing a moral life? This seems to undermine his earlier assertion that one rule will suffice, an obvious inconsistency.
Another problem in his book relates to his ambitious effort to keep ethics from getting mired in the messiness of situations. Maxwell may contend that there is no such thing as business ethics, but this does not remove him from the complexities of bounded practices and problems that define professions and various fields of work in society. Furthermore, by applying the Golden Rule as he examines specific cases and violations of it, he seems to be caught in the crucible of applied ethics. Yes, for the most part, he is sticking with one rule, but this does not prevent him from discussing how business leaders, coaches or specific politicians have applied this rule to their fields of endeavor.
Discussion of ethics still involves an application to concrete instances and situations, even if one wants to avoid the abuses of a short-sided version of “situation ethics.” Thus, there is a self-refuting quality to his work, as it denies an approach that it tries to employ.
Maxwell’s premise and argument against business ethics is logically flawed. Business ethics is simply the application of ethical principles or values to business situations. Medical ethics is the application of ethical principles or values to medical situations. Likewise, legal ethics is the application of ethical principles or values to legal cases or situations. If there can be no such thing as business ethics, then there can be no such thing as medical ethics or legal ethics, or ultimately any form of applied ethics. But, if there can be no such thing as applied ethics, there would be no point to ethics in general, since the value of ethical principles is to provide a guide for human behavior. Maxwell’s argument against business ethics consists mainly in the assertion that all we need is the Golden Rule. Maxwell then proceeds to apply the Golden Rule in any business situation. Since this is a form of applied ethics, he is in fact practicing business ethics himself. All Maxwell is really proposing (whether he realizes it or not) is limiting the scope of ethical principles for application to business or other situations to only the Golden Rule, rather than some broader group of ethical principles. He is, in fact, practicing business ethics. This fact brings to mind another old expression: “What you do speaks so loudly that I can’t hear what you say.”
In addition, Maxwell’s presumption that everyone desires to be “treated well” (24) presumes an unfounded knowledge of human desire, and it seems to presume some character traits that may not be present in all individuals. At various points in his book, Maxwell claims to know the desires of others. For example, he says, “Even people who pursue unhealthy relationships or who engage in destructive behavior don’t desire or consciously seek bad treatment from others” (24-25).
How does he know this?
A final word is in order about the author’s ambivalence about how success should be defined. Maxwell invokes success as a goal, but seems to leave readers with a “fill-in-the-blank” version of this ideal. In the Preface he states, “If you are reading these words, I believe you possess the desire to live and work ethically. This book’s goal is to help you find the way to do just that and also achieve greater success.”
Maxwell also makes it clear to readers that “paying a high price for success is inconvenient” (20), and he encourages the kind of character that builds “lasting success with people” (57).
Later, he concludes, “One of my definitions of success is for those closest to me to love and respect me the most” (76). Does this imply that there are multiple definitions of success in the life of a single individual? Why must we live by one ethical guideline if it is okay to allow success to be defined in an open-ended way? Isn’t it fair to say that the many world religions that share some version of the Golden Rule would have very different definitions of success?
In conclusion, it can be said that There’s No Such Thing as Business Ethics provides readers with a valuable starting point for the discussion of some very important issues that will continue to affect their lives on a daily basis. There is definitely a need today for a book like this that introduces readers to a critical subject that is often left to the academics and specialists. However, those who want more depth and content beyond this rudimentary primer will need to go to other sources for more guidance than this cursory treatment provides.
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