Fear, targets and moral DNA

31st January 2016 |   Chris Alder

We cover a talk by Professor Roger Steare as part of our series on ethics and sales: he argues that the fear people feel as the primary emotional driver in the workplace gives rise to bad outcomes.

Fear, targets and moral DNA

The reason for putting the right culture and ethics at the heart of sales is because it is the root of prosperity and sustainability. That was the message from corporate philosopher, culture and ethics expert Professor Roger Steare, when he spoke at “A Celebration of Ethical Sales Standards” launched by the Association of Professional Sales.

The Honorary Visiting Professor of Organisational Ethics, and Corporate Philosopher in Residence at Cass Business School in London, added: “The right culture and integrity helps mitigate risk, but more importantly it’s where value is created.”

He stressed: “Culture and integrity is so important in the workplace because bad things happen. In 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico, the Macondo blowout caused the worst oil spill in US history. The root causes of that incident point to culture, and the environment in which individuals made decisions. The emissions scandal surrounding VW may have similar ramifications.”