You want to feel proudIt's fairly fundamental that people want to feel proud of what they do. We spend a lot of time in work and a large part of our identity is rightly or wrongly intertwined with what we do. That's one of the reasons I feel sorry for the many ordinary decent employees in the banks who are looking on in disbelief as they learn of the shenanigans that took place when they believed that they were working in an organisation that supported legal and ethical conduct. They’re questioning their judgement in trusting their bosses. For so many of these people it's not just their jobs that were tied to these organisations. They invested in shares or took bonuses in the form of shares and are now looking at vast losses. They also probably dread the question 'what do you do?' in any social situation. In much the same way it's rather hard to feel proud of being Irish at the moment. I knew we'd made it as a nation when people I met when travelling didn't say 'Holland?' when I said I was from Ireland. When they commented on how lucky I was to come from Dublin and talked about a good weekend they'd enjoyed here or their plans to visit Ireland soon. Whilst the global situation has come crashing around our ears it does seem as though some Irish captains of industry are determined to destroy Ireland Inc.'s reputation. As taxpayers it's going to cost us considerably more to fund our debt and we're now seen as a risky place to do business. It may be that many of the senior bankers really thought that they were supporting Ireland Inc. by taking extraordinary measures to support the banking system. It seems as though they may even have been encouraged to do this by the Financial Regulator's office though that office is now saying that it was never intended that any actions taken by the banks should be illegal or breach governance standards. When you are in the middle of a crisis it is hard to retain good judgement. That's exactly why we help companies with training in ethical awareness so that employees can gain more understanding of the potential knock-on effects of their decisions and actions. No-one is perfect. However many of these people were being paid vast salaries related to their experience and supposed ability to exercise just such judgement. They were being paid to do the hard stuff. They were in positions of trust with their employees, their customers and as it turns out the entire population of the country. It seems our trust was in many cases misplaced and in doing so they’ve left us bewildered employees of Ireland Inc questioning why we trusted them and wondering who to trust now. Add a CommentYour comment will appear once it has been approved. |