John,
I am definitely NOT an unadulterated optimist or idealist. However, if I choose to act ethically that doesn't mean I am an idealist. I work as in-house counsel having left private practice because I saw SO much unethical behavior. But if I then use that experience as a justification to act unethically where does it end? I have to live with myself. I will continue to live by ethical standards and hope (but not necessarily expect) that others (certainly not all or even a majority) will respond in a like manner. NO, I am not advocating being a gullible doormat or easy prey for criminals or even people trying to take unfair advantage, just doing the next right thing.
John, I too have witnessed the same disparity you have with many upper level execs. However, if we DO respond with outrage and we DO prosecute high profile execs who act like Dennis Kozlowski, Ken Lay, Bernie Ebbers (and I HOPE we prosecute the likes of Franklin Raines and James Johnson), then we begin to provide the only disincentive and deterrent that such greedy unethical jerks can relate to - the loss of their personal liberty!
Trust me John, I can EASILY get jaded and cynical with all the crime and fraud I see on a daily basis - but responding by becoming what I abhor is not only NOT the answer for me, I couldn't live with myself if I did - and YES, it might make me feel better initially but, since I have a conscience, that initial feeling would eventually be replaced by guilt and regret (and thankfully so since my experience is that the worst criminals have NO conscience).
Your last question is a good one: First, compliance with the LAW should be the MINIMUM standard of behavior - ethics is a higher standard. Stated alternatively, the law prescribes what we MUST do, ethics suggest what we SHOULD do! Thus, MOST of the time, if something is illegal it is necessarily unethical because ethics is a higher standard. However, on certain rarer occasions, JUST because something is LEGAL does not mean that disobeying the law is unethical - think Nazi Germany and apartheid. In these cases, the law allowed horrific behavior so disobeying the law in those cases was actually the ethical thing to do.
John, it does get difficult to continue to live by ethical tenets when you see so many people who do not apparently getting ahead - but I also DO see cases where justice DOES prevail and it does give me a modicum of hope and confirms that doing the next right thing isn't a naive way of life.
