Captain Jim Coulson USN Commanding Officer Naval ROTC

Captain Jim Coulson, USN Commanding Officer Naval ROTC Unit University of Minnesota

Biographical n n n Professor of Naval Science at U of Minnesota teaching Leadership and Ethics, leading staff/student load of 91 Career aviator, non-flying tours: Special Operations (counter-terrorism), COO of an aircraft carrier, senior executive trainer, CIO Graduate programs include Information systems (CIO) and Leadership

Informal Survey n Show of hands …how many people feel one person can change the world?

n Can one person change your company, business, or department?

Everyday Ethics Why ethics? n Why now? n

Not all companies created equal

CEO of People. Soft fired last week

Who is your head ethics advisor? Do you have one? n Chief Executive Officer or … n Chief Ethics Officer!

Probably not, after all… n n n Employees are honest (just like me) Employees came from families (just like mine) My lawyers and COO are looking out for me

How well do you know your work force? n n n Do you live with them nearly 24/7/365 (family owned business) ? Does your work force embrace the same core values as you do? Do you engage in dialogue, or do they just repeat what you say?

US Naval Academy n n Highly selective institution with an honor concept run by the brigade itself In 1992, 133 midshipmen ~14% of the class were accused of stealing a copy of an Electrical engineering exam required for their graduation.

n Needless to say, alarm bells went off.

Mid-1980’s to mid-1990’s …a decade of change n n First generation where large portion of both parents were in the work force Geographically dispersed from grandparents Decline in religious training country wide Rise in civil lawsuits

Mid-1980’s to mid-1990’s …a decade of change (cont) n n n 28% of 70 Million children below age 18 from single parent homes… 40% of those from never married homes Additional 4% of the 70 million raised by grandparents …so, 1 in 3 were “latch key” kids

How to deal with a difference in generations? n Not everyone had ethical problems n Preaching didn’t work… n If some of the Officer Corps (white collar) had this problem, what about enlisted (blue collar)?

US Navy n n n Instituted core values: Honor, courage and commitment. Ethics training from day one of entry for 100% of personnel Sailors start in boot camp Officers start in OCS/NROTC/USNA Mid-grade leadership schools Annual ethics refresher for senior officers

Ethics Training n n n Training not just “legal versus moral” and philosophy Centers on understanding the moral point to the case, brings ethics into the first person…what would I do? Focuses on character and moral courage

…How this applies to you ! n n …if the American all-volunteer military accurately reflects the American population, how well does this reflect on the population at large? Do your employees know what your company core values are…and do they think it is only begins with Dollar $ign$?

Survey says… n n "I actually think cheating is good. A person who has an entirely honest life can't succeed these days. " "We students know that the fact is we are almost completely judged on our grades. They are so important that we will sacrifice our own integrity to make a good impression. “ "I believe cheating is not wrong. People expect us to attend 7 classes a day, keep a 4. 0 GPA, not go crazy and turn in all of our work the next day. What are we supposed to do, fail? " "What's important is getting ahead, " CNN survey April 5 2002

Rutgers University Grad School Survey Blind survey of Students admitting to cheating to get into professional school n Education 57% n Law 62% n Medicine 68% n Business 76% n 2003 Donald Mc. Cabe, Center for Academic Integrity

Survey: Many students say cheating's OK n n n Confessed cheater: 'What's important is getting ahead' (CNN) -- "Cheating is a shortcut and it's a pretty efficient one in a lot of cases. " A national survey by Rutgers' Management Education Center of 4, 500 high school students found that 75 percent of them engage in serious cheating. More than half have plagiarized work they found on the Internet. Perhaps most disturbing, many of them don't see anything wrong with cheating: Some 50 percent of those responding to the survey said they don't think copying questions and answers from a test is even cheating.

How did you do? n n Can that one person change your company? (Ask Martha Stewart about her broker!) Remember, these college students are entering the work force…yesterday, today, and tomorrow

Recommendations n n n If you do not have annual ethics training for your employees (especially in key positions) consider it Just because it is legal, it might not be moral…consider the implied message you send to your people Make sure your company core values are not just a slogan and are well understood

Questions? Questions ?

Thank you for your time ! n Time for me to “punch out”