Maricopa Chamber Ethics Blog

ethical compass

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Last modified: June 21, 2007

Most times following the ethical road, is following the narrow road. I was reminded of this famous case today an article I read. I was reminded that working in business can be very tough, especially when the boss is unethical.

This from Journalnews.com

Business can challenge ‘ethical compass’
Man relates decisions he made during tobacco scandal.

By Michael D. Pitman

Staff Writer

Thursday, June 21, 2007

FAIRFIELD — The man who blew the whistle on tobacco industry practices said his “ethical compass” was challenged on a daily basis in the late 1980s and early ’90s.

Jeffrey Wigand, who was portrayed by actor Russell Crow in “The Insider,” faced tough ethical decisions when he learned of the tobacco industry’s push to market its products to children and that it lied about the effects of nicotine and other additives in cigarettes, he told a crowd at the first-ever Business Ethics

Wigand said as vice president of research and development with Louisville-based Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., where he served from December 1988 to March 1993, he saw irregularities, and that all scientific documents must be reviewed by an attorney before being released.

“In January of 1990, I was challenged daily in terms of my ethical compass, my moral compass,” Wigand said.

He lost his job and his wife left him because of the stress. He and his children also were the subject of death threats.

“It was a long, tough struggle with me personally, with my family, to ultimately put them in harms way so I can maintain my own integrity,” Wigand said.

At the luncheon held at Receptions Conference and Banquet Center, the inaugural Rotary Club of Fairfield’s Rotary Ethical Business Award was presented to The Original Mattress Factory.

It’s the employees who earned the award, said Lou Colantuono.

“It all goes back to (company founder and president) Ron Trzcinski, when he established our philosophy,” Colantuono said.

That nine-point philosophy includes striving for excellence, not compromising integrity, caring about the customers and listening to others, he said.

The company was one of seven Fairfield city and township businesses nominated, which are an example of ethical businesses for the community to look to, said Jim Mullaney, Fairfield Rotary club’s Business Ethics Committee chairman.

Other nominees were Avance Funeral Home & Crematory,

Carson Wrapped Hershey’s Chocolates, DNA Diagnostics,

G&W Products, Osborne Trucking and Schnetzer’s Auto Upholstery.

Mullaney said the committee first established an Ethical Business Guide and distributed it to more than 1,000 businesses. The committee then looked to identify and recognize ethical businesses in Fairfield city and township.

“The most encouraging item for us, as the ethical business committee met with each one of these companies, we found the passion that was displayed by the companies and the leaders of these companies were truly outstanding,” Mullaney said.