Ethics and Your Personal Brand: It’s Just Common Sense

For some reason I’ve always been one to err on the side of caution when it comes to my personal brand.

I’m especially careful about how I conduct myself at work and work-related functions. The lines become blurred between personal brand and the company’s brand. It’s important that we represent each other well.

Call it ethics if you like. I prefer to think of it as common sense.

Perhaps it was the education I received at my first post-grad school job.  We were given extremely large amounts of responsibilities for such young people, including large budgets, overseas travel and managing a team.  With those responsibilities came some perks including product discounts and being wined and dined by vendors.

Fun and stress and work all mixed together into one large cocktail.

Most people handled it quite well. We had it drilled into our heads that every single minute we were representing the company and our actions needed to be stellar.  If not, there may be consequences.

Personal reputation was everything; none of us wanted to damage our brand since we all wanted to be promoted.

Our behavior was important when it was just corporate employees, but even more so when vendors were present. We had to represent, no matter how many glasses of Grappa they tried to buy us at the dinner table in Italy.

This was business.  Yet sometimes there were temptations.

My VP did a great job of showing us right from wrong.

One day she called all of us to an impromptu meeting in her office. Of course we were nervous; think of Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada”.  We just knew that there was going to be more work, probably involving lengthy spreadsheets.

Goodbye, weekend plans!

We all squeezed into her office and with a smile she pulled out the most exquisite Italian leather handbag, saying, “I just had to show this to you!”  It was a gift, straight from the House of Ferragamo in Italy.

Problem was she couldn’t keep it.  Company rules stated that we could not accept any gifts with a retail value of more than $25.  Anyone caught in violation of this rule could be fired.

The packing materials alone probably cost $25. The handbag itself had to be more than one thousand.

So she hosted a handbag party, with all of us holding the bag, looking at the bag, carrying the bag around her tiny office, pretending – just for a moment – that we “owned” the bag.

Then she did the right thing: she packed it up with a gracious thank-you and shipped it back.

Could she have kept the bag?  Probably.  She certainly made enough money to purchase such a bag; it’s doubtful that anyone would have questioned her.

That’s not the point.  It was unethical. It was wrong to keep it.  And in doing the right thing, she protected her personal brand.

The news today is full of stories about people of all ages who have not learned this lesson.  It’s hard for me to understand why it’s so difficult for people to do the right thing.

Even if something is “okay” – meaning it’s not necessarily wrong or unethical – we need to take a step back and ask ourselves, “Is this the image I want to portray?”

For young people who are just beginning their careers, this concept is especially important to grasp. Especially since all eyes will be on the “New Kid” for a while. We talk about this when I guest lecture on Ethics at my alma mater.

Trust me; the company wants you to have a good time at sponsored dinners and functions. Enjoying the music and having a cocktail with clients is fine. But going too far and puking at the feet of the CEO? Not your best move.  (Seriously; I saw this happen once.)

Think about your brand and how you represent, both yourself and your company. Your behavior will help define your brand. With social media it’s easy to document it as well, which is almost scary.

Call it ethics if you want to be fancy.  I think it’s just plain common sense.