Moral compass needed more than ever

A couple of years ago we published a book called A Knights Code of Business: How to Achieve Character and Competence in the Corporate World Its intent was to help employees and employers navigate the ethical and personal issues that arise in the corporate world. Author Gene DelVecchio laid out a series of scenarios that would help determine right from wrong. He did it with a sense of humor assisted by his illustrator, Roderick Fong. The book bombed. Nobody, it seems, wanted to know about how to approach sensitive issues in the workplace.

Lately, however, we are feeling like this book is more needed than ever. We are seeing more and more "shading" of right and wrong by people who should be leading the country with their integrity. Take Paul Wolfowitz. If he had followed the dictums of A Knight's Code, he would still be president of The World Bank. Says Del Vecchio in a chapter on indecency, "Appearances are truths." In other words, as our esteemed President would say, if people believed there was favoritism in Wolfowitz's treatment of his girlfriend, there was. It doesn't matter whether he tried to deal with it in an ethical way. Following Del Vecchio's advice, his girlfriend would have been gone from The World Bank before he ever arrived or he wouldn't have taken the job.

And then there is Alberto Gonzales, pressuring former Attorney General John Ashcroft, as he lay in his hospital bed, to sign off on an illegal wiretaping program. Unethical? Sure.

Maybe these folks don't have time to read, but they should. More than ever, this country needs people who know right from wrong, truth from lies, and who value their integrity more than their paycheck and ego.