Business Ethics Alliance Highlights Messages from EthicSpace Moral Courage Training

In a year of adversity, the Business Ethics Alliance (businessethicsalliance.org) recently shared the messages from its successful October 13 Ethics Under Pressure – Moral Courage in the Face of Ethical Adversity educational conference. The second annual event featured two keynote speakers, plus the Second City Work famed comedy troop, which provided fun ethics education for participants practice useful skills such as “Yes…but,” “Yes…and,” “thank you…and,” and more, all toward helping individuals stand up for their values with moral courage in the workplace. The training also included three breakout sessions: Compliance Doesn’t Quite Cover It…You Need Ethics; You’ve Seen Something Unethical… Now What?; and Bonus: Grow the Pie with Alex Edmans.

Dr. Jill Brown of Bentley University led an educational presentation about moral courage in leadership, asserting that moral courage is not innate but is a skill that can be developed and nurtured. One aspect of the skill included emotional intelligence—being aware of our emotions and intentional about how we respond to them given that anxiety, discomfort, and fear are all barriers to exercising moral courage. Business Ethics Alliance founder, former CEO, and current Senior Ethicist Dr. Beverly Kracher sat down with Scooter’s Coffee Co-founder Don Eckles to discuss the role that moral courage has in building a business. He shared how to cultivate a culture around core values with stories and examples from his time and team at Scooter’s and offered practical advice about how to hire and fire to find those who fit with a company’s values.

The Business Ethics Alliance—the Greater Omaha Alliance for Business Ethics at Creighton University—is the nation’s leading nonprofit dedicated to city-level business-ethics education. To get access to the featured speakers, breakouts, and more for just $40, visit ethicspace.org. For other information, go to businessethicsalliance.org and connect on Facebook (@BusinessEthicsAlliance) and LinkedIn (@business-ethics-alliance-omaha)