Ethical Sales Leadership: A Compass (2 of 5)

I recently had the honor of having lunch with Ron James, president and CEO of the Center for Ethical Business Cultures (CEBC). This How to Grow Sales world-leading nonprofit organization is committed to helping business and sales leaders create ethical, values-based, and profitable business cultures.

As we’re talking, I realized that here is a man who’s truly committed to doing things the right way. Ron is intentional about pursuing ethics, both personally and professionally. In fact, he was recently honored by Twin Cities Business Award Ceremony as an Outstanding Director 2011. The passion and commitment that I saw in Ron caused me to question my own purposefulness in responding to the challenge from my business colleague to ‘raise the bar’ – to inspire people to lead, manage, and sell profitably – and to do it with integrity.

Ron also moderated the Twin Cities Ethical Leadership Forum with three veteran business executives, Marc Belton, Marti Morfitt and Kevin Rhein. Here are some of the important life lessons from their personal experiences that they shared with the audience:

Be clear on your personal values before the storms come. Otherwise, the storms will dictate your response.
Create alignment between your personal and organizational values.
Serve all stakeholders of the business.
Good guys can finish first.

What are some of your life lessons on the importance of ethical selling and leadership?

In our next posting I will tell you about a model for ethical sales business processes

Sales Growth Question: How are you inspiring your team to do ethical business, even under challenging financial conditions?

Sales Growth Lesson: Your example influences those you lead.