Crew cuts to the chase in new book

NAPLES, Fla. -Industry consultant Vince Crew has written a new book: “Everyday Ethics, Everlasting Consequences: A personal guide to professional integrity.” In classic Crew style, the 94-page paperback ($15.95)—perfect for skimming while on business travel—uses everyday language and business examples to cut through the high falutin rhetoric that so often and tediously accompanies high-minded philosophical topics. That, in part, was Crew's goal. “People don't need theoretical discourse,” he said. “They need everyday practical stuff.” With that in mind, here are some Crew-isms culled from a February interview. On writing the book The whole crux of the thing is nothing more than what your mommy and daddy taught you. What we are talking about are just the everyday decent things. It is how do I deal with clients on a day-to-day basis? How do I build my business? How do I combat the competitor down the street who is doing the bad things? Don't cut corners. Maintain the values that have made your business successful. If you look at the state of the industry today, it has come from the negative stuff of fraud and abuse. One of my favorite quotes is in the book: ‘When things go bad, don't go with it.' Establishing ethics The simplest thing is to articulate them in some way shape or form that usually manifests into a code of ethics or some kind of value statement. But beyond that you have to walk the talk. You have to demonstrate it. You have to train. You have to make it part of your initial orientation for new hires. You've got to make it part of your ongoing training at staff meetings, management meetings. And you've got to use real examples to hold up and say, ‘Here's what I'm talking about. Here's that value that was demonstrated.' That extra effort for a customer. The extra commute after hours. ETHICS IMPACT EMPLOYEES It is trust. It is retention, and it is treating others in kind. That is to say, if I know I am going to get a fair shake—that my boss is going to be consistent in how I'm rewarded, recognized and reprimanded, that there is no playing favorites—then I trust my manager, and if I trust my manager, then why would I want to go anywhere else and jeopardize walking into an unethical organization? If that is being reinforced by an employee's boss and by his boss and by his coworkers, it's going to extend to vendors, customers and referral sources. HME