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a couple of months ago I had the
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opportunity to see Andy Fastow former
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chief financial officer of Enron speak
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he began his talk by saying that he was
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raised in a very ethical home and that
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when he was at Enron he thought he was a
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very ethical person and he also said he
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holds himself most responsible for
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Enron's forty billion dollar downfall
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arguably the biggest business ethics
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scandal in history for his role in that
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scandal he faced seventy eight counts of
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fraud and spent six years in jail and he
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began his talk by holding his trophy for
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CFO of the year in one hand and his
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prison card in the other and told the
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story of how he got both in the same
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year well some might see this is just
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another example of the greed of big
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business my experience tells me that
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this leaves something out you see I too
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used to think I was really ethical in
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fact if there's anyone who should have
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been at achill it was me
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I studied ethics in University and spent
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six years working in the ethics office
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of a large corporation as part of my
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role there I routinely answered
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questions from employees I was on the
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ethics side of the desk they were on the
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business side and because I wasn't
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actually in the situation it was easy
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for me to say no and then something
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happened that made me realize that the
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ethical choice isn't always clear and
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that sometimes we don't do the thing we
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think we will do when we are actually in
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it I went to do my Master's in Utrecht
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University in the Netherlands we
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routinely did case studies
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one of these was about the ethics of egg
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donation it was the first time I had
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ever heard the term which for those who
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don't know involves an intense process
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or one woman donates her eggs to help
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another woman conceive things are
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relatively clear for known donors where
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the woman is a sister or friend but when
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it comes to the compensation of
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anonymous donors the ethical waters get
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muddy i sat in my classroom table
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windmills out the window and used my
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training and ethical theory to consider
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all the factors I thought through the
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possible impact to the donors fertility
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and the risks of financial compensation
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might have her her ability to make an
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informed choice and in response to this
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particular case study question about
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whether or not it is ethical to
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compensate an egg donor for her eggs
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I said no fast forward six months my
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husband and I returned from the
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Netherlands to start our next adventure
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starting a family when things weren't
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going as planned I went to the doctor
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for some tests I can still feel it the
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feeling of dread in my stomach as we
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waited to see the specialist a deep
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knowing that the doctor was going to
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confirm something I'd known intuitively
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for some time Morgan he said tears in
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his eyes your tests confirm the
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diagnosis there's a less than 5% chance
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they go get pregnant on your own and if
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you want a baby egg donation is your
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best option it is one thing to say
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something is that ethical when you're
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sitting on one side of the desk or
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writing a case study it is something
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entirely different
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when ethics seems to stand between you
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and the thing you want more than
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anything you've ever wanted in your
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entire life what I want to suggest is
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that ethics is
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rarely black-and-white and that we have
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a better chance of making better
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decisions if we realize this is the case
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and I've courageously into the gray the
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fact that Andy saw himself as ethical
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while at Enron and that I found it easy
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to judge situations as unethical until I
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was in them myself teaches us something
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important which is that as humans our
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motivations are mixed we are both moral
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and self-interested and this means two
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things first we often don't see the
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ethical aspects of our decisions and
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second we often don't make the decision
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we thought we would even if we do so why
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does this matter
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it matters because individuals and
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corporations are making far fewer
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tangible improvements in ethics than we
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would be if this was understood so even
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though it feels like we're going a world
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away from Enron an egg donation I want
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you to stick with me as we look at the
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implications of this in my world which
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is no longer ethics corporate ethics but
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the ethics of fashion a few years after
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returning for home from the Netherlands
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I took a sewing class my first project
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was a blue dress I chose the pattern cut
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the fabric pinned and stitched it and as
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I did so I began to think embarrassingly
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for the first time about who made my
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clothes this question led me to start
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the garment a company whose mission is
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to change the face of fashion by
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connecting women and responsible brands
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we search the world to find the
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beautiful quality responsibly made
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pieces we shoot these garments on real
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women of all colors shapes and sizes and
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we connect them to our community members
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with a discount and we do almost all of
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it on Instagram
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Instagram is growing with shocking
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ferocity and is in my view the new mall
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with a strong potential to be an ethical
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one there are hundreds of thousands of
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people interested in buying ethical
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things hundreds of thousands of
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companies who consider themselves to be
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ethical and hundreds of thousands of
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influencers connecting them over the
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Internet
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this is great you might think we can use
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this to help shift the fashion world
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from one that is fast and excessive to
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one that is slower and more sustainable
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not so fast
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think back to what we learnt at the
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start about how difficult it is for us
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to see the ethical aspects of our
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decisions or make the decision we
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thought we would even if we do so let's
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look at the implications of this for the
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three main players in this new fashion
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economy influencers consumers and brands
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first influencers last fall social media
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influencers arrived decked out cell
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phones in hand to a beautiful storefront
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in Santa Monica to attend the launch of
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a new luxury store called pale SE
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unbeknownst to them it was actually a
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trick and the store was filled with $35
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payless shoes they're elegant and
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sophisticated said one influencer
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holding up a shoe with a $500 price tag
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I could tell they were made from
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high-quality material said another now I
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don't think these influencers were
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misleading people intentionally it's
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just that the fancy store paired with
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the fact that they were being
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compensated made them actually think the
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shoes were pretty good next let's look
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at consumers show of hands who here
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thinks sweatshop labor is wrong yeah me
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too well what have I told you then it
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all likelihood both of us are pretty
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willing to toss that out the window when
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we see something from a sweatshop that
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we want in her study titled sweatshop
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labor is wrong unless the shoes
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cute near Oprah haria showed that we're
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before seeing a cute pair of shoes
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people like us simply say that sweatshop
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labor is wrong
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whereas afterwards they modify their
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morals and justify the purchase they do
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this by telling themselves that the
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sweatshop labor results in jobs that
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wouldn't otherwise be available to
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people in poor countries and also in
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products that wouldn't otherwise be
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affordable to low income people sound
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familiar
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yeah I've done it too lastly let's look
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at brands many of us are familiar with
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the term green washing which is used to
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describe brands that exaggerate their
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environmental commitment in recent years
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I have watched size washing grow this
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appeared to be the case last year when a
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well-known sustainable brand announced
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their launch into the plus-size market
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with an inclusive sizing collection the
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move was celebrated by plus-sized women
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around the globe
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unfortunately perhaps due to fears about
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the financial viability of the plus-size
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market their commitment seemed to stop
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there the number of plus-size dresses on
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their website was at one point dwarfed
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by the company's New Year's Eve dress
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collection leaving all the women who at
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first felt excited thinking WTF now
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don't get me wrong I'm not criticizing
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these three players for behaving the way
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they do I'm only using them to show that
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most times because of our desire to
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either make or save money and our
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perception that ethics is a threat to
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that those of us who think we're pretty
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ethical don't always live up to our own
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standards the effect of this in the
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fashion space is this influencers are so
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swayed by their compensation that we
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can't really trust them consumers will
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only buy ethical fashion if it's cheap
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enough and right in front of them and
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brands make the ethical changes they
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think they can afford and publicize the
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hell out of it the result is that the
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cycle of relatively poor quality
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fast-fashion continues this is
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discouraging and thankfully we can do
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better
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I built the garment on the understanding
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that ethics is in black and white and my
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experience tells me that we have the
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best chance of building a better story
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if we acknowledge the tension between
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ethics and self-interest and dive
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vulnerably
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into the grey here's what this looks
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like when I'm standing at the mall I
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know that I'm a person who says like you
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that's what child labor is wrong I also
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know that the fact that these shoes are
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cute is going to make me want to think
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that buying them is okay simply the act
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of realizing that my self-interest has a
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role here can be enough to snap me out
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of it I can remind myself of this at the
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mall but also at the office when I'm
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preparing my financial results or when
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standing in a group of friends trying to
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decide whether to speak up after someone
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tells a racist joke or when I'm standing
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in front of the kitchen sink trying to
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decide whether to wash out the peanut
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butter jar before putting it in
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recycling if all of us acknowledge this
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tension between ethics and self-interest
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were in a better position to do better
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if we have the courage to acknowledge
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this tension in community my experience
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tells me that it not only results in a
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special type of human connection but
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also an ethical ripple effect this
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simply is impossible if we make these
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hard decisions on our own now these
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decisions still aren't easy but the
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garments business model helps make them
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just a little bit easier by making the
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economics of ethics work when brands
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like the New Year's Eve dress company
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say that they can't afford more
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inclusive sizing the garment sponsors
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those larger patterns and helps the
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brand's make more money and bigger
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ethical shifts by selling those new and
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improved larger garments to members of
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our community when individual consumers
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say that ethical fashion
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is too expensive too hard to find and
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not cute enough we find the cute quality
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responsibly made things and connect them
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to our community members with a discount
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something which makes it easier for them
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to follow through on their anti
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sweatshop labor convictions the model
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helps make it easier for people and
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companies to behave the way we they want
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to and it works
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last year in its first corporate year
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the government did over 1 million
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dollars in responsible garment sales
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I want to come back to Andy from Enron
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intrigued by how someone as smart as
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Andy could get himself in a situation
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where he spent six years in prison I
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sent him a message hi Morgan he
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responded yes I don't think the
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challenge is getting people to do the
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right thing 99% of us always want to do
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the right thing the challenge is even
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realizing we have this decision to make
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what we've learned here today is that
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that's hard to see because of our
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self-interest and that we can be better
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when we realize this is the case
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speaking of which you might be wondering
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what happened with the egg donation we
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spent the first few months after our
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appointment with a specialist grieving
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then I acknowledge the tension between
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my ethical concerns for the donors
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well-being and our self-interested
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yearning for a baby open my heart and
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open I emailed a friend from the
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Netherlands who has her PhD in bioethics
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and together we drafted a series of
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robust questions about compensation and
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informed consent which my husband and I
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proceeded to ask every clinic we looked
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at in addition to questions about ethics
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we also asked them questions about their
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success rates and didn't stop until we
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found one with high levels of both and
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in case you're wondering it cost more
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the quality and ethical things usually
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do so that blue dress I told you I made
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in the sewing class it was for my
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daughter
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her sister now wears it
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and because of our dive into the gray we
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have not one wonderful daughter
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by two
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you
