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In episode 107 of “The JoyPowered® Workspace Podcast,” JoDee and Susan discuss ethics with speaker, author, and consultant Karl Ahlrichs.

JoDee and Susan start off the episode by sharing some definitions of “ethics” and discussing how workplace ethics has changed from being considered the same thing as legal compliance to including over 200 data points.

Karl Ahlrichs joins the show to share his ethics expertise. It’s a common misconception that ethics is just following the law and doing what’s legal. A lot of people want the clarity of rules, but Karl describes ethics as a layer cake. Ethics happens in the chaos of modern life, so it needs some wiggle room.

There’s also a correlation between ethics and high performing cultures; high performers want full accountability and to be able to count on their leaders doing the right thing. Knowing that their boss will have their back if they do the right thing means high performers stick around and other high performers want to work there.

When asked about the connection between ethics and diversity, Karl says it’s easy – doing the right thing. Fundamentally, the answer when we’re wrestling with ethics, racism, microaggressions, unconscious bias, etc., is just do the right thing, even if it’s personally painful.

In this episode’s listener mail, our listener asks what the hot jobs are right now. In the news, JoDee and Susan discuss a Wall Street Journal article that reported that Black working women are one of the groups hit hardest by COVID-19 in America and are more likely to consider stepping away from their career.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Purple Ink
• Susan Tinder White Consulting
• “How Companies Can Create an Ethics Program for a New Era”
• Gregory & Appel
• Karl’s website
• Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in. Personal Change by Stephen Covey
• How Good People Make Tough Choices: Resolving the Dilemmas of Ethical Living by Rushworth M. Kidder
• Karl on LinkedIn
• “What Careers Are Most In-Demand Right Now?”
• “For Black Working Women, Covid-19 Has Been a Heavy Burden”

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