Business Ethics and Safety

In most accredited MBA programs, the topics of business ethics and CSR (corporate social responsibility) hold a great deal of prominence. In my opinion, if you are going to go in business or take on that title of "business owner" or "entrepreneur" - you better know what you are getting into. This applies both in your internal employee and client relationships.

Our April issue of Jewish Business News magazine's cover story was on Business Ethics and Judaism. I would encourage you to take a look at this story, which features interviews with David Jacobson and Alan Dershowitz. As our writer, Jodie Jacobs says -  Greed, ambition and poor regulation have been raised as culprits by talking heads on TV, newspaper and online. Ethics – the lack of, has been raised less often.

In the business world, you should have a clear set of values and standards. Having a policy is good for your employees, and you should make sure they know you are living by it. It also helps to build trust between your customers and the business, as your employees are the face of your company.

Recently, at one of my regularly scheduled breakfast meetings with our Skokie Police Chief, Anthony Scarpelli, he mentioned his new initiative of expanding the very popular "neighborhood watch" program to the business community. He would like to build on the residential program to ensure the retailers up and down Dempster, Oakton, Golf and every Skokie business district are looking out for each other and mentioning if something seems fishy. I applaud him for the initiative and effort.

, reported on by Patch, mention some of the very concerning stories that may be taking place in our own community.

As we all know, if "you see something - SAY SOMETHING". This applies in our local businesses as well.