This morning, I read about a company using on-line auctions to defraud customers. Last week, I consulted on an ethics complaint where a business coach betrayed a client's confidentiality. And, recently a Physician was convicted of insider trading based on information from a patient, a violation of both business ethics and her professional ethics.

Tonight I'm going out with two extremely impressive ladies who I am introducing to one another. They are both GORGEOUS, in their mid 20s and both incredibly intelligent. One is divorced with kids and is probably one of the most flawless and incredibly beautiful women I've ever met, the other is single and possibly one of the most fashionable and forward thinking women I've ever met.

DUE PROCESS
Africans, especially Nigerians are stereotyped on the internet and offline in foreign countries as corrupt, cheats and thieves.
Whenever I have to introduce myself to foreign contacts, whether online or offline, I must make visible effort to prove my contact wrong, because he or she instantly sees me as a scammer-419, another Nigerian cheat or thief.

According to the shamanic traditions, the great mystery of being is that all things are alive and have a level of intelligence. This is because all things are a part of the Great Spirit. However, all things also function individually, in thought and action. It is in these individual actions that karma is born. Karmic laws also state that all karma, both good and bad, must also return home...return to sender!

I got yelled at tonight. Not the type of yelling that someone does when you've done something to tick someone off, but the kind of yelling that was a swift kick in the pants about something that I'm NOT doing.
I probably deserved it. I needed to hear it. But it made me edgy and I tried to make excuses.
Nope! That didn't work. I continued to get the lecture.
Now I know you are all dying to know what I did that wasn't exactly right. Mary? Got yelled at? How DARE they?

Breaking news may feature the Enron debacle, WorldCom activities, or accounting problems but we live our everyday business life making ethical choices that affect our employment and businesses. Consider the ethical choices made in these situations:

-A restaurateur hired a firm, used the firm's ideas, benefited from them and refused to pay for the services rendered.

-A partner used intellectual property created by another partner for his own personal benefit.

Executive summary
Its revenues made up US $139($184) billion, assets equaled $62($82) billion, and the number of employees reached more than 30,000 people in 20 countries around the world.

Enron Executive goes to prison for 10 years, Martha Stewart is under house arrest, and Bill Clinton averages $150,000 per speaking engagement.
It all comes down to decisions on the fly, no pun intended.
What you may not even think is an important decision at the time, could bring down your company or your employers, in less time than it takes to say to the massage parlor attendant, "Do you take Amex?"
Does it seem like the world has gone to hell in a hand basket overnight?