Imagine if you were the head of a multinational with offices and employees in every country. Every one of those countries has different laws, political systems, and rights that do not necessarily coincide with your values. Now imagine one of your employees speaks out against the government in a country where that is illegal, or they are asked to fight in a war they do not agree with, or they are the victim of segregation, discrimination, or violence on the basis of race, religion, gender, or sexuality. You are put in a situation where either, you comply with the government and its laws, or you protect the rights and values that you believe are important to the company and its ethics.
At the One Young World conference in Ottawa, Emmanuel Lulin, Senior Vice President and Chief Ethics Officer at L’Oréal, was in attendance to help people better understand the role of ethics in business but, more broadly, to explain to young leaders the importance ethics should play in shaping their daily decisions.
Lulin, has always been involved in the fight for justice. But, whenever he talks, Lulin, likes to make the distinction between the law and ethics. He believes it is important to remind people that following the law is not always the ethical thing to do because, in his words, “something can be lawful but be awful.”
It is Lulin’s positon that leaders need to go beyond the law and make decisions that are driven by a transparent set of values. This, he explained, is because the “rate of innovation is much faster than the speed of legal production.” He believes that when there is an innovation it is too easy for people to say “its legal, let’s do it.”
However, in a rapidly changing and technologically advanced world, this is no longer possible. With subjects like big data, artificial intelligence, robots, and transhumanism posing risks to privacy and challenging our understanding of what is right and what is wrong, Lulin explains that “ethics is becoming the new decision making framework.” As leaders, young people “will have to make tough choices” and this is especially true because when you are posed with an ethical dilemma and when you are the boss, “silence is not an option.”
But, when it is impossible to please everyone, how do you deal with the fallback? Lulin has a simple answer. “Integrity, Respect, Courage, and Transparency are the new fashion.” Lulin believes that when you deliberate and make tough choices that, even if people disagree, as long as you are transparent about your values and how you come to your decisions they will at least respect your integrity and courage; and Lulin is willing to defend that.
Lulin was brave enough to let Sparknews throw him into a room full of editors and journalists from top newspapers around the world to debate the subject. The discussion, at times heated, was ultimately a successful and constructive conversation where both sides emerged with greater insight into how each of us interprets ethical decision-making.
The debate was also helpful for the Sparknews team and the editors who all participate in Impact Journalism Day, which, each year, identifies innovations having a social or environmental impact. When choosing which innovations to cover and share with the world a strong understanding of ethics is vital to the goal of making a real difference.
As the world becomes more complex so does doing good. For this reason, remaining optimistic, and being loyal to respect, integrity, courage, and transparency is the best solution to growing challenges.
