This should be a great week for Steve Jobs. On Tuesday, he introduced the new Apple iPhone. Apple share jumped 8% to close at a record $92.57 on Tuesday. The Tuesday January 9, 2007 edition of USA Today said that Jobs is “a visionary who changed the way the world works, and the messiah who saved Apple form oblivion a decade ago.”
However, in the next paragraph, the article went on to say “yet on the day of Job’s triumphant moment, he finds himself on the defensive over an issue that swept through Silicon Valley and a swath of Corporate America in 2006 like a California brushfire: the backdating of stock options.
Steve Jobs is caught up in an ethical scandal – and it’s too bad, because it appears that he never benefited from the back dating (a practice that moves option grant dates to a date where those receiving the option grants will benefit from a lower price at which they can exercise their options).
Read on...
On Wednesday, USA Today ran an article on the front page of its Business Section hailing the introduction of the iPhone. However, the last paragraph of the article said the introduction of the iPhone “comes amid a stock option scandal, and the role Jobs played”.
The Wall Street Journal ran an article that began “We can only wonder what Al Gore is making of his experience as the Number 1 defender of today’s Number 1 backdating miscreant”. That miscreant is Steve Jobs. The former Vice President is a member of Apple’s Board of Directors and was one part of “a two person committee that investigated and exonerated Steve Jobs in the backdating matter.
From what I can tell, this is much ado about nothing. Mr. Jobs seems to have received backdated options, but he never sold them and in no way profited at the expense of Apple shareholders. Business Week agrees. They say “is the world ready to see one of its greatest innovators sacrificed at the altar of the good-governance gods – especially when it’s not clear how he (Mr. Jobs) was enriched or his shareholders damaged?”
But it really doesn’t matter what I think, or what Business Week thinks. Steve Jobs will always be known as someone who was tainted by a stock option backdating scandal. And that brings me to my first common sense point of the day: Do the right thing. Avoid doing anything that would cause problems for you if it became public. Avoid the appearance of any impropriety.
I once had a boss who told me that resolving ethical issues is simple. “Ask yourself how you would feel if what you did was reported on the front page of the New York Times”, he said. Pretty good advice. If you act in an ethical manner, you will avoid scandals, but more importantly, you will feel good about yourself.
There’s a line in a John Mellencamp song that sums this up quite nicely – “an honest man’s pillow is his peace of mind”.
If you live in the US and follow baseball, you know that Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame this week. Mark McGwire was not elected – even though he had a great career. Mr. McGwire was not elected because he is suspected of using steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. He hampered his chances for election to the Hall of Fame by refusing to discuss his steroid use when he was called to testify before Congress. Barry Bonds is still playing baseball, and people on the sports radio talk shows are already calling in and saying he should not get elected to the Hall of Fame when he retires because of his alleged steroid use. Again, remember the common sense point here: Do the right thing. Avoid doing anything that would cause problems for you if it became public. Avoid the appearance of any impropriety.
In the end, ethics are a personal matter. Let’s go back to Mr. Mellencamp’s song – “an honest man’s pillow is his peace of mind”. To me, that’s the best reason for always acting in an ethical manner.
I am participating in an eight week teleseminar series conducted by Alex Mandossian. Mr. Mandossian has given an Apple iPod Nano, preloaded with podcasts that contain lots of information, to everyone who has registered for this teleseminar. I got two. When I received the second Nano, my first thought was “cool, I can delete all of the information on this one and load up some music”. My second thought was “I need to return this to Alex. It’s not right to keep it.” I sent it back, and I slept very well that night. I’m not bringing this up to pat myself on the back in public. I bring it up to make a second common sense point about ethics. If you get in the habit of doing the right thing on the small stuff, the big stuff will take care of itself.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense. Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming the life and career star you are meant to be.
I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.
Bud
PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open. Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.
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