Not OxyContin! Not
Oxytocin!
Included in
our delicate design and complex composition is a chemical substance that is the
key to moral behavior. This “moral
molecule” according to author Paul J. Zak accounts for why some people are
generous and caring and others are cheats and frauds.
In his
recently published book, “The Moral Molecule:
The Source of Love and Prosperity”, Zak posits that the chemical
substance Oxytocin—the same substance used as a female reproductive
hormone—creates a surge that induces us to behave more properly. And then somewhat incredulously Zak adds,
“Fortunately, all you have to do to trigger this Moral Molecule is give someone
a sign of trust. When one person extends
himself to another in a trusting way, the person being trusted experiences a
surge in oxytocin that makes her less likely to hold back and less likely to
cheat. Which is another way of saying
that the feeling of being trusted makes a person more…trustworthy.”
You’re
probably thinking what I thought. Let’s
give all the potential Bernie Madoffs a heavy dose of oxytocin. Certainly less risky than my trust! And I suspect that you are as dubious as I
that there’s a magic pill or injection that can transform greed and corruption
into Honest Abe behavior.
I do embrace
and support Zak’s notion that trust in others may make the trusted person even
more trustworthy. Yes, we know it’s not
100% applicable and we know that we must be diligent, prudent and common
sensible when it comes to trusting others.
As President Ronald Reagan so well put it, “I trust you but cut the
cards.”
Another
study (Wall Street Fleet Street Main Street:
Corporate Integrity at a Crossroads), more pragmatic than the Zak
research, was conducted and reported on in July 2012 by Labaton Sucharow, a long-established
and noted law firm for their corporate governance and more recently their
whistleblower representation services.
Labaton surveyed 250 companies in the United States and 250 companies in
the United Kingdom in various segments of the financial industry. Questions
were posed about personal ethics, corporate culture, possible misconduct,
competitors, regulators, and compliance authorities. Here are the results summary:
·
Misconduct is still widespread in the financial
services industry; 26% of respondents indicated that they had observed or had
firsthand knowledge of wrongdoing in the workplace.
·
Nearly one-fourth of respondents believed that
financial services professionals may need to engage in unethical or illegal
conduct in order to be successful.
·
An alarming number of financial services
professionals, 16% of respondents, would commit a crime-insider trading-if they
could get away with it.
·
Nearly one-third of all financial services
professionals reported feeling pressured by bonus or compensation plans to
violate the law or engage in unethical conduct.
Nearly one-quarter of the respondents felt similar pressure from other
sources.
·
While enforcement actions are on the rise and
new reforms have strengthened financial regulators and law enforcement
authorities, only one in four financial services professionals believe these
watchdogs are effective.
·
Despite the encouraging 94% of financial
services professionals who indicated a willingness to report wrongdoing, given
the protections and incentives such as those offered by the SEC Whistleblower
Program, less than half of the industry is aware of the SEC;s new program.
After
reading the Labaton report, one may feel he must rush to OxyContin, the pain
reliever and not Oxytocin, the so-called (and I think exaggerated) trust-inducing
chemical.
The Labaton
report suggests an alternative approach to addressing the trust crisis which is
much preferable to either a pain reliever or a “devil made me do it” antidote:
“The
best way to ensure that the financial marketplace operates with greater
transparency, fairness and accountability is to recognize the powerful troika—regulators,
corporations and individuals—that has the ability to establish and strengthen a
culture of integrity that will create lasting change in the financial markets.”
Yes,
companies, institutions, all forms of organizations and of course individuals
must step forward and lead with integrity.
And there are many, like the Scooter Store (“Always do the right thing”)
who tell the world that ethics, trust and integrity aren’t just nice words but
the operating and intrinsic core of the company. You may know many companies, firms or
individuals who embrace and promote integrity and trust. Share them with me and I’ll begin highlighting
some of these. We’ll receive quickly the
bad news of the unethical—the cheats and the greedy. Let’s focus a much larger part of our
attention to the ones who behave and conduct themselves in a trustworthy
manner.
Not OxyContin. Not Oxytocin.
Let’s try leadership!
Ad astra
Per aspera
