Business Ethics for Startups

Business ethics is a topic that deserves more attention. Wikipedia says the topic “examines moral principles that arise in a business environment and lie beyond governmental control.”

Words like honesty, integrity, good-faith, trust, loyalty, courtesy, and goodness come to mind. Startups can choose to pay attention to or ignore these values.

Here are some practical ways I believe good startups pay attention to ethics:

• Embed honesty into the culture. This is closely correlated with becoming data-driven and using open dashboards and metrics.
• Weed out bad eggs in the hiring process. On several occasions, we have rejected seemingly good candidates because they came off as overly “slick.”
• Seek regular personal opportunities for moral reflection and correct course where needed.
• Share good stories internally that motivate good behaviors.

I’m sure there are many other ways to promote strong ethics within a startup. I’m curious to hear from you about other ideas.

Today is Sunday. A personal regular checkpoint on these topics comes weekly during and after church.

Here are some interesting startup-related ethics links I found:

• Excellent post by Santa Clara University:  “A Good Start“
• Post by Steve Blank:  “Startup Ethics: Albatross or Essential?“
• From TechCrunch:  “Integrating Ethics Into The Core Of Your Startups: Why And How“
• Business Ethics: “‘Honesty is the Best Policy’ Must Be More than Words on the Wall“

What are your thoughts about business ethics for startups? How do you find opportunities for moral reflection?

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