In an interview on NPR, behavioral economist Dan Ariely tells Kai Ryssdal about a survey of golfers that exposed how their approach to the game correlated to the way they worked.
What did they find out?
According to the study, “if you look at law enforcement, education and government, people in those three industries basically cheat on average, as do people in sales, marketing, advertising and so on. But the people in law enforcement, education and government think that they're the most honest, while the people in sales and marketing and advertising cheat just the same but they think they come from industries that are much less honest.”
"Cheating in golf is kind of a good example for how we think about day-to-day tasks." Ariely continues, "The fact that people can take a mulligan or how they can cheat on golf, I think tells us that there is a lot of corner bending in the business world. And what I worry about is that once we start down this path of immorality, even with small bending of rules and cutting corners here and there, that this tendency could become bigger and bigger and really a part of the collective understanding of how business is actually done."
As a marketing guy, business man and It’ll Do! golfer, unfortunately, I just don't agree. I would define 'business' as an entity that makes money for its investors in a legal and ethical way. The reason I wouldn't just leave it at 'businesses make money' is that there are always ways to make money in illegal and unethical ways. The difference is risk/reward and running a legitimate business these days is risky enough. So what if I want to take a mulligan on the weekend!
"Cheating in golf is kind of a good example for how we think about day-to-day tasks." Ariely continues, "The fact that people can take a mulligan or how they can cheat on golf, I think tells us that there is a lot of corner bending in the business world. And what I worry about is that once we start down this path of immorality, even with small bending of rules and cutting corners here and there, that this tendency could become bigger and bigger and really a part of the collective understanding of how business is actually done."
As a marketing guy, business man and It’ll Do! golfer, unfortunately, I just don't agree. I would define 'business' as an entity that makes money for its investors in a legal and ethical way. The reason I wouldn't just leave it at 'businesses make money' is that there are always ways to make money in illegal and unethical ways. The difference is risk/reward and running a legitimate business these days is risky enough. So what if I want to take a mulligan on the weekend!
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