Panel members were Boise State University Athletic Director Gene Bleymaier, Council of Better Business Bureaus Senior Vice President of BBB Capacity Nora Carpenter, former Washington Group CEO Steve Hanks, and former Boise Cascade CEO George Harad.  Moderators of the event were Associate Dean of the NNU School of Business Bill Russell, and President of the Boise BBB Dale Dixon. SIFE collaborated on the presentation with the Boise Better Business Bureau, Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce, Peppershock, and Idaho Department of Finance. Questions asked to the panelists were written by members of the SIFE team.

Local TV station KIVI reported the event at http://www.kivitv.com/global/story.asp?s=9156851 under the title “Local Business Leaders Talk Ethics.”  The video report may be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de6eW3mx-x4.

Comments from the panel include;

• Honesty is disarming and the right thing to do.  Telling the truth is difficult, but gets better afterward.  To withhold the truth just gets worse and worse.
• Ethics is the constant that does not change when circumstances do.
• Integrity will do more to drive people to your leadership than anything else.
• Business is not transactional, but relational.  It’s what happens over time.  The Golden Rule works because it is relational.
• When things are easy, ethics is not a challenge.  Ethics becomes harder when we lose things or pay a price. But even when paying a price, do what is right.  It’s the smart thing to do.

R.G. Vanderpool