#PR Ethics: “Perfection” vs. Process

Across recent years, I’ve struggled with more than my share of ethics battles in the PR industry.

Without question, I’ve felt disillusioned not only by the cascading series of unethical incidents within the U.S.-based PR trade organization, but also by the widespread silence of the larger many.

That said, I understand people’s trepidation about speaking out. 

Harvard Business Review published an insightful piece on this phenomenon many years ago (2007), aptly entitled, “Why Employees Are Afraid to Speak,” by James R. Detert and Amy C. Edmondson, who wrote:

"Making employees feel safe enough to contribute fully requires deep cultural change that alters how they understand the likely costs (personal and immediate) versus benefits (organizational and future) of speaking up."

I strongly recommend checking out this article, because it cuts to the heart of many universal issues about cultures of corruption and why humans allow rotten cultures to persist and even grow – against better judgment and powers to effect change.

HBR wrote as the top-line summary of the article, in answer to the title question of “Why Employees are Afraid to Speak,”:

“In a word—self-preservation. And they’re just as afraid to share innovative ideas as to blow the whistle.”

This article was published in 2007… so that’s 14 years ago, around the time social media started hitting its groundswell.

This “self-preservation” insight isn’t new stuff at this point, although I will say the HBR article holds an intensified level of meaning, in this day and age of social media and digital judgment. 

To that point, I’d like to offer up some cautionary points about the idea of “Ethics” being undergirded by a notion of “Perfection” versus Process.

• By nature, many people hold a deep-seated although often unrecognized fear of speaking out, hinging on fear of judgment against them (consistent with the “self-preservation” theme as well as the Biblical adage, “Judge not, lest ye be judged”).
• Social media, cancel culture and public virtual floggings strike fear in the hearts of many, who are turned off by such spectacles, understandably.
• The rising backlash against cancel culture is fueled – in part – by the inhumanity of unjustified condemnations against people … particularly those who are perceived not to deserve such criticism – and also when a lack of perceived due-process has tipped the scales unfairly.

To these realities driving the backlash against even talking about Ethics, I’ll say something trite, yet true:

Nobody’s perfect. But that's no excuse.

To the extent that I’ve raised concerns about Ethics in my industry to such a marked degree, I acknowledge without hesitation that if you look up the word “imperfection” in the dictionary, my picture is right in there along with everyone else’s.

We all make mistakes and errors in judgment.

It’s my hope that – particularly in my industry of public relations – we can start turning around the conversational subtext, away from notions of “Perfection” (which is unattainable, particularly when dealing with subjective criteria as well as – to put it plainly -- humanity) and more centered on notions of Process that drive positive relationships, trust, service-to-others and reliability… all juxtaposed, respectively, with divisiveness, distrust, service-to-self and unreliability.

We have to make Ethics okay to talk about, without fear.

And we have to acknowledge that our humanity makes all of us fallible or potentially fallible, each day ... but that this recognition should not be treated as a free-pass for "Anything Goes!"

It’s also an important fact to recognize that all companies, organizations, government agencies, etc., are human institutions, and as such, are always subject to the same imperfections.

Conversely, if “Process” is our guide (instead of “Perfection”), conversations about Ethics can focus centrally on far more productive, accountable and attainable outcomes and drivers of good behaviors.

As imperfect humans, it takes conscious effort, hard work and even sacrifice to overcome the daily pull of more harmful motivations and instead rise “by the better angels of our nature,” to quote Abraham Lincoln.

How do these ideas influence your willingness to talk about Ethics in your industry or workplace?

Mary Beth West, MPRCA, is serving for a second term as the co-chair of the PRCA Ethics Council (#PRCAethics). She can be followed on Twitter at @marybethwest and contacted at mb@marybethwest.com.