Ethics in the Limelight
Click below to get your 2 Free Ethics Infographics PDFs.
The news these days is full of ethical questions about social media, specifically those giants pushing boundaries that generate unsettling headlines, especially for business owners (of any size) who worry when they may have a sudden bad turn in the limelight themselves.
In truth, we all view such issues first from a personal point of view first.
Most of us have migrated big portions of our lives online, particularly after the pandemic upended our habits dramatically, out of necessity.
We jumped online to stay connected with each other, and to get stuff done, and we’re still there. We take our '“consumer” experience very personally and seriously.
Then that set of experiences— good and bad— gets applied to our business dealings on both online and offline transactions— as buyers and sellers.
Yet there is a bigger issue at hand.
The bigger issue is trust.
What must businesses do to earn and keep the trust of their desired audiences?
Not just customers or prospects, but those other audiences noticing us, whose word-of-mouth can spell success or banishment from consideration.
Problems in this realm of “instant karma” world happen at warp speed. We’ve seen too many videos of altercations on airplanes, which used to be rare, and are way too frequent now. Unfortunately, the retail space has myriad problems too, as do many public-facing, service-based industries. Restaurants, grocery stores, and movie theaters come quickly to mind. Even many software as a service (saas) businesses are shying away from phone support in favor of “live chat” to ward off irate conversations. Yet some high profile mega-tech CEO’s have jettisoned their own manners as well, so the need for cooler heads goes both ways. Politics has become a poster child for conflict, bringing such questions to the forefront with a vengeance that reflects raw, ill-mannered, and angry rhetoric nowadays.
What can you do about your reputation as a business owner?
We have some practical answers that provide a context for what to watch and what to do in your own business to address growing need to nurture your business and establish trust.
You can grab the set of 2 Infographics I’ve created to highlight the importance of Ethics with “7 Principles that Protect a Brand” and “7 Dangers that Destroy a Brand.”
It’s a fast and simple way to assess where you stand with this topic at a core level in your own business communications, and help elevate trust with your audiences— and it’s yours free for the asking.
Thank you so much for your interest in this most important issue!
— Diane
