Team Synopsis: VW Scandal: Ethics, Objectives, and Organizational Culture

I hope all is well. The following article contains a number of insights covered in Chapter 6: 

Leaders should be careful to not create an environment in which pressures to meet the company’s financial objectives dictate or override the company’s strategic objectives. Remember, strategic objectives may cover a range of non-financial concerns such as social responsibility, employee wellness, customer safety, product quality, environmental stewardship, and corporate reputation. The author of this Fortune article contends that VW may have created a culture in which profit maximization may have trumped employee and managerial integrity.

Keep this in mind as you continue to build on your individual career-based strategic plans. I mentor and coach a lot of students and professionals who make career decisions based on how much money a particular career opportunity presents. I can’t tell you how many of them chose a career path because of how much it pays but at the expense of other strategic concerns such as happiness, passion, health, family, learning, future career mobility, etc. I know it’s easy for me to say, but never allow money to compromise your non-financial goals. Do what you love and do what is right—and the money will follow.

  • How are you ensuring that your strategic objectives are guiding your financial objectives (and not the other way around)?