Opal Leung's Blog

Last class, a guest speaker spoke to us about business ethics. He showed us several quotes that led me into thinking about the ethical issues that are emerging in the business world today. The quote that caught my attention was,

 “In looking for someone to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. But the most important is integrity because if they don’t have that, the other two qualities, intelligence and energy, are going to kill you.”

It’s a shame because many of the individuals who carry out misconducts are the ones who have spent years in education and achieved significant accomplishments. Most importantly, they are the ones who still have a life of potential ahead of them.

Intelligence and energy are two vital qualities capable of leading an individual to success, but when these strengths are channelled into a negative direction, they have the power to bring a person down. Integrity is the quality that catalyzes intelligence and energy and ensures that this synergy is pointed towards an ethical direction.

The list ends with the quote, “What we learn from history is that people don’t learn from history.” Is this predicting that unethical misconducts will never be eliminated from the business world? I think not. The moment we realize how to maximize our potential and desirable qualities without crossing the ethical line, we will learn from history.