Alison Taylor on Doing The Right Thing

How can businesses do the right thing? What does that even mean and why does or should it matter?

What is Business Ethics?

Business ethics used to be a case of dealing with things like bribery and fraud, which companies tried to — and often did — manage with rules and processes. But nowadays, in a world where every employee and consumer has the ability to go viral on social media, it’s a much harder dynamic to manage.

Businesses are under increasing scrutiny, not just for their business practices and supply chains but also for their position on issues such as racial injustice and quality.

The idea that they’re simply there to maximise shareholder value, while not breaking the law is no longer a tenable approach.

Meet Alison Taylor
My guest on this episode is Alison Taylor. She’s a friend of the show — this is her third appearance (links to the previous two below).

Alison is a Clinical Associate Professor at NYU-Stern School of Business and Executive Director of Ethical Systems. She has spent the past two decades consulting with multinational companies on risk, anti-corruption, sustainability, human rights, culture and behaviour, stakeholder engagement, ESG, and ethics and compliance.

She is also the author of a brand new book out this week called ‘Higher Ground: How Business Can Do The Right Thing In A Turbulent World’.

What We Discuss
In our discussion, we explore:

• what inspired Alison to write the book;
• how she went about it;
• the parallels between corporate and personal decision-making;
• what she learned in writing it;
• the balance between profit, sustainability, and social/political responsibility.;
• the challenges of promoting diversity within organizations.