An executive once summed up his organization to me by noting, "We don't recover our wounded."
There was a lot of meaning contained in those words.
On the surface, he was observing that if anyone got into trouble with the Powers That Be, no aid would be coming from upper management.
But, of course, he was also saying far more than that. He was revealing that upper management is so lacking in courage and basic decency that the team - including himself - was into a "Save your own skin" mode.
It is one of the most demoralizing statements I've ever heard.
The executive is a good and highly competent man. Most people would say he is a strong man. His organization is well regarded in its industry. That did not keep him, however, from joining his colleagues in an ethical sin of omission. He, and most of his colleagues, would not needlessly seek to wound - in a career damaging sense - one of their co-workers but they can easily sit by and ignore someone who could be comforted or saved by their assistance.
Ethicist Michael Josephson and others have proposed that one reason why people behave unethically is they overestimate the potential danger that could come from doing the right thing and underestimate the cost of not doing so.
I don't believe that any serious harm would come to any of those executives if they behaved in a decent, caring manner toward their "wounded." On the other hand, I have no doubt that each has been harmed, deep inside, by the failure to do so.
There was a lot of meaning contained in those words.
On the surface, he was observing that if anyone got into trouble with the Powers That Be, no aid would be coming from upper management.
But, of course, he was also saying far more than that. He was revealing that upper management is so lacking in courage and basic decency that the team - including himself - was into a "Save your own skin" mode.
It is one of the most demoralizing statements I've ever heard.
The executive is a good and highly competent man. Most people would say he is a strong man. His organization is well regarded in its industry. That did not keep him, however, from joining his colleagues in an ethical sin of omission. He, and most of his colleagues, would not needlessly seek to wound - in a career damaging sense - one of their co-workers but they can easily sit by and ignore someone who could be comforted or saved by their assistance.
Ethicist Michael Josephson and others have proposed that one reason why people behave unethically is they overestimate the potential danger that could come from doing the right thing and underestimate the cost of not doing so.
I don't believe that any serious harm would come to any of those executives if they behaved in a decent, caring manner toward their "wounded." On the other hand, I have no doubt that each has been harmed, deep inside, by the failure to do so.
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