The question “What makes a good corporation?” was the topic of discussion for a program conducted by Students Actively Involved in Leadership, also known as S.A.I.L, on Feb. 28, entitled “From Enron to Martha Stewart Living, Worldcom to Tyco–is this what corporate leadership has become?” Charlie Warner, the director of Student Leadership and Involvement, hosted the program. It was centered around cooperate leadership-what it is, what it has become and what the future holds for it.
In the past five to 10 years, society has experienced scandals involving Enron, Tyco and Martha Stewart. The Enron Corporation was an energy trading, natural gas and electric utilities company based in Texas. According to Warner, Enron was caught “fudging the numbers,” of company financial documents. Big heads such as CEO Jeffrey Skilling, and CEO Kenneth Lay, were charged with fraud and insider training. Skilling served time in jail but Lay died before he ever went to jail.
Tyco is a toy company whose employees committed embezzlement. CEO Dennis Kozlowski and CFO Mark Swartz were convicted of stealing more than $150 million from Tyco, and are serving time in prison.
Martha Stewart was involved in a scandal that led society to believe the icon sold her own stock to make money off it. She served jail time as well.
Warner posed a question concerning leadership today in America. “Were actions such as these expected to be the norm for all cooperate companies?” Warner pointed out examples of where corporate America went wrong such as the lack of checks and balances.
“Some people can make mistakes, but if checks and balances aren’t in place for a corporation, the ability to do what Enron did is there for everyone” Warner said.
Warner also mentioned the loss of morals, the thin line between greed and ambition and ethical behavior as reasons why corporations are experiencing a downfall.
“Every West Chester student should ask him or herself what they are willing to do to go ahead in life,” Warner said. “Ambition can be a powerful tool and a motivator in a good and bad way.”
Corporations such as Disney, Universal, Hewlet Packard, IBM and Starbucks are examples of corporations that, according to society, still have a clean record. Warner explained that teamwork, communication, correct checks and balances and, most importantly, consumer trust, are reasons that companies such as IBM are considered “good.”
These companies also use other tactics to succeed. They target their consumers, have outstanding human resource departments that control communication within the organization, promote women and minorities into leadership positions, expand their job markets by risk taking and use celebrities to endorse their products.
HARPO entertainment, more famously known as Oprah’s company, is another example Warner pointed out as a good company. The company, predominately run by women, is a corporation that uses its diverse team to succeed and thrive in the business world.
Warner also explained the difference between morals and ethics, and how both are important to corporate America. Morals are values that are instilled in a person, or what he or she believe in, while ethics are conscious choices individuals make that help describe their character. Both help an individual decide what is right or wrong in a given situation.
Corporate scandals are continuously making the news but, according to Warner, with trust, morals, ethics, and a clear view of ones’ ambition, a leader can make that extra effort to follow the rules and succeed in his or her company legally.