Opal Leung's Blog

In the realm of business, we live by two main objectives  –   cutting down the opportunity costs and pumping up profits. Businessmen make decisions after weighing the two, often subtracting input from output or sacrifices made from benefits gained. However, we do not live in a society of only numbers, stocks, and markets. There are values, beliefs, and morals to be considered.

When we know that a decision that will benefit the society will also hurt the company, do we sway our professional practices or compromise our personal standards? This dilemma does not subside. We can never completely drive out our emotions. Although this contradiction creates complications, I am glad that we have these contradicting feelings. It is a good sign that we are not fully tuning out our own voices to yield to our materialistic desires. The fact that there is a struggle indicates that we are not merely money making machines, but humans with moral standards.

This is not to say that ethics will always win this internal tug of war. The truth is that there may not be an easy way out, or the ethical solution may not always be a good resolution to the problem.