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a few weeks ago I was walking the dog
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through the condo complex near my home
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and the parking spots were pretty empty
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and I looked down and saw a wallet in
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the middle of one I debated what to do
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should I move the wallet to a safe spot
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so that if the owner came back to get it
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they could find it I might have done
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that if it was a mitten or a scarf but
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this was a wallet it was 10:30 in the
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morning so the person probably wasn't
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coming back anytime soon and what if
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someone else saw the wallet and decided
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to take it I picked it up I could see
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there was a license inside and I didn't
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recognize the name or the face and the
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address was over an hour away from where
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I was so I did what I'd want someone to
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do if they found my wallet in a parking
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spot I called the local police and they
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sent two officers out to get it I don't
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know what happened but I'm hoping that
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the wallet got back to its owner safely
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and that she was pretty relieved it
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seems kind of simple but would everyone
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have made that same choice do you use
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that question otherwise known as the
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golden rule to govern your actions what
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would I want someone to do if the
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situation was reversed now what about
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the situation where there's not a person
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on the other side my husband and I have
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two kids ones in college ones in high
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school they've been skiing since they
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were three and where we ski kids ski
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free until they're seven and then
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there's a children's ticket from seven
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to twelve and once you turn 13 you have
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to pay the full adult price I'm sure a
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lot of parents pretended that their kids
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are under 7 or under 13 it's not a big
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it's a big price difference but we
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didn't why well what kind of example
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would we have been setting for our kids
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who could plainly see on their lift
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ticket what age bracket we bought even
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when they were under 7 they got a ticket
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that said that maybe the ski resort
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wasn't watching closely but our kids
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were and this was a
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moment be honest don't steal it's our
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job as parents to teach our kids to do
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the right thing now I'm not perfect I
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look back on plenty of situations and
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cringe maybe I didn't treat someone the
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right way or didn't handle a situation
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very well but on the whole I try to
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follow the rules and when there are no
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rules I try to do the right thing
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understanding that doing the right thing
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can be a matter of opinion so how many
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of you are wolf followers I'm a CPA by
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training good to see that and there are
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a lot of rules that govern my profession
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I graduated here from Fairfield and even
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just the fact that debits have to equal
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credits is a rule that we all embrace
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and maybe why we like being accountants
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we like the things balance we have a
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code of professional conduct for CPAs
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and in Connecticut to maintain my
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license I have to take an ethics course
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every three years and most professions
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have some sort of codified professional
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ethics to govern them and they can come
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in handy but when I think of ethics I
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think beyond published guidelines I
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think about personal ethics what guides
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us on a day-to-day basis to do the right
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thing treat people the right way because
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on a daily basis we're faced with
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situations like the ones I just
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described well there's no law there's no
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regulation that's gonna tell us what we
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have to do and all we have to rely on is
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our own sense of personal ethics our
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moral compass
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a few years ago after I made a
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light-hearted comment about being a rule
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follower someone said to me you don't
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get to be where you are by following the
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rules I was kind of taken aback at the
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time I was the fairly newly promoted CEO
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of a private company after having been a
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CFO for about nine years and in my
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opinion the fact that I was a rule
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follower by Nature
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is exactly why I was promoted to CEO our
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investors trusted me to lead the company
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through a pretty difficult transitional
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time but this person who had only just
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met me
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had a preconceived notion of my ethics
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based solely on the fact that I was a
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member of the c-suite Wow
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I get it sort of how many headlines do
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we see about executives having to step
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down from their posts for bad behavior
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about Rockstar CEOs that we later find
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out were treating employees badly having
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improper relationships spending
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personally on lavishly on personal items
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supported by boards who look the other
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way because the CEO got financial
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results or stories of outright
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corruption like Enron WorldCom fairness
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people who did bad things hoping no one
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was watching and they wouldn't get
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caught so where do personal ethics come
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from in my case they came first and
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foremost from my parents my dad was an
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engineer my mom was a home acti Chur and
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they were what you would call really
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good people i had a privileged
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upbringing in my family there was a lot
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of love there was a lot of forgiveness
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we went to church on Sundays another
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place that helped for my moral compass
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and we were taught to be humble and
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grateful and kind my dad traveled a lot
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for business which left most of the
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day-to-day raising of five kids to my
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mom later in life when my mom was
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suffering from Alzheimer's my dad took
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care of her at home as long as he safely
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could and then he visited her everyday
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once he had to make the decision to put
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her into a care facility his personal
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ethics told him that this was the least
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he could do for this woman who he loved
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and who had provided so much care for
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him and to our family over the years
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these are the people who raised me but I
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think personal ethics come from a
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variety of sources during our formative
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years parents grandparents other family
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members close friends teachers coaches
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religious organizations scouting
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organizations schools really almost
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everyone we come in
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tact with during those years has some
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sort of influence on our personal ethics
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either as a role model of something to
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follow or maybe just as importantly
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something not to be so how does this
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play out in the business world when
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asked what some of the hallmarks are in
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my career I said I hope that people
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would say that I act with integrity and
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to me that means being open and honest
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dealing fairly with people being
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authentic and accountable for the good
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and the bad and encouraging others to do
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the same after working for an internet
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for a public accounting firm I joined
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one of my clients as their controller I
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really enjoy the entrepreneurial
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environment of that client and I
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respected the CFO I'd be working for and
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I feel like I really grew up
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professionally at that company and al
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the CFO had a big influence as my
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personal and professional ethics
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continued to develop al was smart he was
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trustworthy and he was able to navigate
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some pretty volatile personalities in a
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professional manner people respect it
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out and listened when he had something
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to say al was and is a good person
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whether or not anyone was watching I was
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watching and I was learning and I wanted
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to be like Al I've also had some other
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great mentors over the years some with
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whom I've worked and others that I just
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have known for years people who will
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have coffee or lunch with me and just
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talk things through and these people who
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are both successful and ethical are
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great sounding boards and give me
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something to strive for on a daily basis
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so what do you do when you're faced with
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a tough decision or a tough situation I
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found out the hard way that everyone's
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motivations aren't necessarily ethical
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either in business or in life and I've
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had to deal with some not-so-nice people
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and keep it professional
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so when I
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faced with a tough situation I think to
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myself is the way I'm handling this or
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the decision I'm making something I
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could defend first it was to my parents
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and now to my husband or my kids and if
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there's a person on the other side I go
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back to that old standard how would I
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want to be treated if the roles were
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reversed I don't make the right
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decisions all the time and I know I
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don't please everybody all the time but
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I do my best and I try to do no harm
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which I'm told is the baseline of ethics
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and better yet I try to do good so we're
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the headlines about the people who do
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the right thing day in and day out or
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treat people the right way well who
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wants to read the headline about the CFO
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who chose the right accounting policies
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or didn't manipulate the quarterly
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earnings yay but I think those people
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are a little bit more than Noren than
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what we read about in the headlines now
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being an ethical executive doesn't mean
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you're always making the popular
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decisions and doesn't mean you're a
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pushover in negotiations you have a
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responsibility to your organization and
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you have to deal with financial
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realities sometimes that means taking a
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hard line in negotiations it might mean
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cutting expenses or even staff where the
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ethics comes in is how you implement
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those decisions what a difference it can
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make if you treat the people on the
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other side with dignity I've always
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found that tough conversations can go
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better if the person on the other side
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has a window into my reasoning or at
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least knows I'm being straight with them
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it doesn't mean they always go well but
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hopefully better than they would
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otherwise and losing a job is
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devastating no matter what the
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circumstances so what a company or
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person does to help soften the blow and
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help that employee move on goes a long
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way on the morality scale when I took
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over as CEO
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we had just sold most of our ongoing
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operations to another company and our
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former president had joined that company
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to lead the division we both felt a huge
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responsibility to our team and worked
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together to find most
00:11:05
people a spa at one of our corporations
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so what does it take to make a company's
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culture ethical there's no question that
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the tone is set at the top ethical
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people like to work at ethical companies
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and follow ethical leaders most of the
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people I've worked with over the years
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really like producing a good work
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product they like having good
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relationships with their customers and
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they like to be proud of the
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organization that they're part of and
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I've known people who will leave
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organizations whose methods of doing
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business or values don't align with
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theirs I've done that I don't mean that
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a company I worked for ever broke the
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law or violating any regulations but
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maybe I would have handled certain
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situations differently or declined to
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work on certain clients at the choice of
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in mine alone and as my husband says you
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can complain about the people you work
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for for a little bit but if you stay at
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some point you become them and so I
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chose to leave so what companies do you
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think of when you hear the words ethical
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company it's easy to think of those who
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donate a certain amount of their profits
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to charities those who support their
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communities financially and through
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volunteerism those that are leading the
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way in decreasing their carbon footprint
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but not all companies can afford to do
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these things in a material way so what
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are some of the other signs of ethical
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companies how do they treat their
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employees and their customers are they
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transparent in their communications and
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operations do they take ownership when
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they make mistakes what are they doing
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when no one's watching or there are no
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rules to follow the tide seems to be
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changing and boards are no longer
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supporting bad behavior executives are
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having to step down for ethical reasons
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not just for poor financial results
00:13:08
activist investors are holding public
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companies responsible making sure they
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have independent and diverse views on
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their board and also making sure that
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executive
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making the right decisions companies now
00:13:21
have to report on their environmental
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social and governance policies the
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Business Roundtable which is a group of
00:13:29
almost 200 US companies CEOs put out a
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paper a couple a couple of months ago
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with a new definition of a purpose of a
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corporation no longer is generating
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shareholder value the only priority
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higher on the list we're delivering
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value to their customers investing in
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their workforce dealing fairly and
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ethically with their suppliers
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supporting the communities in which they
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work and last came generating
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shareholder value now some of this is a
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little bit circular because in order to
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do well financially you have to deliver
00:14:02
value to your customers and invest in
00:14:04
your workforce and in order to support
00:14:06
the communities in which you work you
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have to have the resources to do that
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but the point is made all of these
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should be priorities I hope it's not
00:14:14
just PR and I hope boards and governance
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and compensation policies support all of
00:14:19
these priorities because in reality how
00:14:23
we compensate people is going to drive
00:14:25
behavior
00:14:26
today's theme is innovation and
00:14:29
inspiration with the evolution of
00:14:31
technology companies of all sizes are
00:14:33
waiting into uncharted waters there are
00:14:36
a few rules and those that exist have to
00:14:38
be continually updated to keep pace with
00:14:40
advancing technology companies have
00:14:43
access to an enormous amount of
00:14:45
information about us the stories coming
00:14:48
out recently about how some of those
00:14:50
companies have used and profited off of
00:14:52
our personal information are unsettling
00:14:54
what code of ethics were those
00:14:56
executives following AI and robotics
00:14:59
implementations compose even more
00:15:01
challenging ethical considerations as
00:15:03
the process is concurrently done by
00:15:06
humans are automated so in my opinion
00:15:10
it's more important than ever that
00:15:12
companies our staff from the top down of
00:15:16
people with strong personal ethics
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people who can put in place policies to
00:15:21
govern how the company will implement
00:15:24
technology and protect personal
00:15:27
information and help their employees
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deal with the changes that automation
00:15:32
will
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ringg people who will act ethically and
00:15:35
mentor others to do the same who can put
00:15:39
in place controls and rules were none
00:15:41
currently exist people who will do the
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right thing even when no one is watching
00:15:47
thank you
00:15:48
[Applause]
00:15:57
you
