Ethics Check: Leaders – What Would You Do?

 Mark J. Komen, President

Kodyne, Inc.

Minneapolis, MN

Let’s face it—ethical dilemmas aren’t just for philosophers or courtroom dramas. They’re alive and well in every break room, Zoom call and budget meeting. And in today’s workplace, how you act when no one’s looking—or when everyone’s watching—says more about your leadership than a polished mission statement ever will.

So how do you actually make a tough call when the right move isn’t obvious? Glad you asked.

1. Get the Facts. All of Them.

Before jumping to conclusions, pause. That thing you overheard by the coffee maker? It might not be the whole story. That heated Slack message? Could be missing context.

Be curious. Ask questions. And above all, avoid filling in the blanks with your own assumptions. Ethical clarity starts with factual clarity.

2. Take the Moral Point of View

What would a group of impartial outsiders say if they looked at this situation cold? No corporate history. No personal loyalties. No “but we’ve always done it this way.”

This is your ethical jury—and they care more about what’s right than what’s convenient.

3. Identify the Ethical Norms at Play

Here’s where it gets juicy. These aren’t just big words—they’re the backbone of ethical leadership:

• Dignity: Everyone has value. Period.
• Autonomy: People have the right to choose—yes, even if you disagree.
• Honesty: Tell the truth. Sounds simple… until you ask how much truth to share.
• Fidelity: Do what you said you’d do. Follow-through matters.
• Justice: Is everyone being treated fairly? Or are you playing favorites?
• Utility: What serves the greatest good for the greatest number? (Yes, Spock was right.)

4. Decide: Consequences or Principles?

Sometimes norms collide. That’s where your ethical operating system comes in.

• The Consequentialist says: “What will happen if I do this?” (Think ripple effects.)
• The Formalist says: “Is this action right on its own, no matter what?” (Think moral backbone.)

Most leaders blend the two. The best ones do it consciously.

The AI Curveball

So, is there a place for AI in all this? With autonomous AI tools, bots and agents proliferating in our lives and our organizations, where do we humans have responsibilities in evaluating and applying ethical principles that have used AI for guidance? Currently, we are discovering limitations of AI such as biases, using erroneous facts and hallucinations (kind of like ourselves, actually). Who or what makes the ethical call here? Aren’t humans still stronger in creative problem-solving, showing empathy, drawing on input from one’s conscience and life experiences? Maybe AI is best-suited for running simulations, thought experiments and role-plays vs. being the deciding factor. Time will tell.

Final Thoughts

Ethics isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being intentional. It’s about asking better questions, slowing down just enough to listen, and being the kind of leader people trust when things get uncomfortable.

And when in doubt? Take a breath, zoom out, and ask:
“If someone I respect were watching me right now… would I still do this?”

©2026 Mark J. Komen. All rights reserved worldwide.

Ethics Check: Leaders – What Would You Do?

Mark J. Komen, President

Kodyne, Inc.

Minneapolis, MN

Let’s face it—ethical dilemmas aren’t just for philosophers or courtroom dramas. They’re alive and well in every break room, Zoom call and budget meeting. And in today’s workplace, how you act when no one’s looking—or when everyone’s watching—says more about your leadership than a polished mission statement ever will.

So how do you actually make a tough call when the right move isn’t obvious? Glad you asked.

1. Get the Facts. All of Them.

Before jumping to conclusions, pause. That thing you overheard by the coffee maker? It might not be the whole story. That heated Slack message? Could be missing context.

Be curious. Ask questions. And above all, avoid filling in the blanks with your own assumptions. Ethical clarity starts with factual clarity.

2. Take the Moral Point of View

What would a group of impartial outsiders say if they looked at this situation cold? No corporate history. No personal loyalties. No “but we’ve always done it this way.”

This is your ethical jury—and they care more about what’s right than what’s convenient.

3. Identify the Ethical Norms at Play

Here’s where it gets juicy. These aren’t just big words—they’re the backbone of ethical leadership:

• Dignity: Everyone has value. Period.
• Autonomy: People have the right to choose—yes, even if you disagree.
• Honesty: Tell the truth. Sounds simple… until you ask how much truth to share.
• Fidelity: Do what you said you’d do. Follow-through matters.

• Justice: Is everyone being treated fairly? Or are you playing favorites?
• Utility: What serves the greatest good for the greatest number? (Yes, Spock was right.)

4. Decide: Consequences or Principles?

Sometimes norms collide. That’s where your ethical operating system comes in.

• The Consequentialist says: “What will happen if I do this?” (Think ripple effects.)
• The Formalist says: “Is this action right on its own, no matter what?” (Think moral backbone.)

Most leaders blend the two. The best ones do it consciously.

The AI Curveball

So, is there a place for AI in all this? With autonomous AI tools, bots and agents proliferating in our lives and our organizations, where do we humans have responsibilities in evaluating and applying ethical principles that have used AI for guidance? Currently, we are discovering limitations of AI such as biases, using erroneous facts and hallucinations (kind of like ourselves, actually). Who or what makes the ethical call here? Aren’t humans still stronger in creative problem-solving, showing empathy, drawing on input from one’s conscience and life experiences? Maybe AI is best-suited for running simulations, thought experiments and role-plays vs. being the deciding factor. Time will tell.

Final Thoughts

Ethics isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being intentional. It’s about asking better questions, slowing down just enough to listen, and being the kind of leader people trust when things get uncomfortable.

And when in doubt? Take a breath, zoom out, and ask:
“If someone I respect were watching me right now… would I still do this?”

©2026 Mark J. Komen. All rights reserved worldwide.

Leadership Self-Audit for Building a

Constructive Work Culture

Mark Komen, President

Kodyne, Inc.

Minneapolis, MN

Leaders who want to foster constructive work cultures need to take a close look at how they’re showing up, communicating and shaping the environment around them. Here’s a comprehensive self-audit checklist designed to help leaders reflect, re-calibrate and realign their approach to building a thriving workplace. See my related article – You’re Being Watched – How Organizational Leaders Embed Culture.

Please consider the following questions with this lead-in: “To what extent ….” In the brackets, rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5 where:

1 = “never“

2 = “rarely”

3 = “sometimes”

4 = “often”

5 = “almost always“

Leadership & Team Dynamics

[   ]  Do I lead by example with integrity, empathy, and fairness?

[   ]  Do I actively build trust within my team through consistency and transparency?

[   ]  Do I delegate effectively and empower others to make decisions?

[   ]  Am I approachable and receptive to feedback, regardless of source or rank?

Communication Practices

[   ]  Do I ensure open, honest, and respectful communication in all directions?

[   ]  Do I actively listen, without interrupting or dismissing ideas prematurely?

[   ]  Do I give timely, constructive feedback that encourages growth?

[   ]  Am I clear in articulating goals, expectations, and values?

Culture & Environment

[   ]  Do I foster psychological safety—where people feel safe to speak up?

[   ]  Is diversity of thought not only welcomed, but actively sought out?

[   ]  Do I promote inclusion and equitable opportunities for all team members?

[   ]  Are well-being, work-life balance, and mental health supported, not sidelined?

Decision-Making & Accountability

[   ]  Do I base decisions on data, input, and team alignment rather than ego?

[   ]  Do I admit mistakes, take ownership, and model accountability?

[   ]  Do I celebrate wins and learn from losses collectively?

Growth & Development

[   ]  Do I invest in ongoing development for myself and my team?

[   ]  Am I curious and open to evolving leadership practices?

[   ]  Do I recognize potential and nurture talent?

Reflection & Renewal

[   ]  Have I requested 360° feedback lately—from peers, direct reports and mentors?

[   ]  Have I set aside time to reflect on my own emotional intelligence and resilience?

[   ]  Do I periodically revisit team values and adjust practices to stay aligned?

References

©2025 Mark J. Komen. All rights reserved worldwide.

You’re Being Watched! How Organizational Leaders Embed Culture

Mark Komen, President

Kodyne, Inc.

Minneapolis, MN

Over decades of culture-building work, one truth remains: leaders sustain culture through their behavior. Your staff is watching you for clues on how to fit in and what success looks like because, whether you know it or not, you’re modeling it.

How Leaders Embed Culture

What leaders pay attention to, measure and control

• Do you focus only on “the numbers” and the bottom line?
  • I believe there needs to be a balance between fiscal responsibility and supporting the staff you hired to do the work.
• Do you emphasize developing high performers?
  • Is there visible investment in learning, rewarding achievement and supporting professional development?
• Are your messages centered around “Beating the Competition?”
  • Winning matters—but when internal teams are pitted against each other in the name of market share, it can backfire.
• Are you focused on being seen as an industry leader?
  • If that’s in your vision statement (and it often is), your people will expect you to raise performance expectations—and back that up with resources.
• How is failure perceived and addressed?
  • Is failure considered a learning opportunity? Learning can happen from things going wrong as well as things going right. A wise client of mine once stated, “Make new mistakes!”

How Leaders React to Crises

Do you default to “blame-storming” or do you lean into collaborative problem-solving? Do you take ownership of mistakes, apologizing, repairing and learning – or do you deflect, delay or make snap decisions that create more problems?

When Culture Cracks Under Pressure

A company I once worked for pushed very hard to roll out a new product – one of the most complex systems I ever worked on. An eager customer was sold on being the first to receive this ‘game-changing’ system. Except the product had not been fully tested as a system, only as individual subsystems. When everything was finally connected, either the system didn’t work, only partially worked, failed to meet performance specs, or remarkably — hadn’t even been tested to see if it could survive shipping! Yet the edict from senior management was, “Get it to work and get it delivered!!” Predictably, the finger-pointing began. Software engineering blamed hardware engineering, hardware blamed production testing, production blamed the vendors, everyone blamed product management and marketing. It took a massive effort to align teams, fix the hardware, software, assembly and test issues. Working around the clock, we finally got it to the customer.

And the system worked.

A testament to the dedication – and resilience — of the staff at that organization.

How Leaders Allocate Resources, Rewards and Status

This is the classic “who gets what?” question. It includes everything from:

• Offices with windows
• Workspaces with upgraded furniture
• Plum assignments and stretch projects
• Who gets to represent the company at events or in front of clients

Deliberate Role Modeling and Coaching

• Who gets access to mentoring and coaching?
• Who doesn’t?
• And what message does that send?

Recruitment, Promotions and Exits

• Do you hire to complement your organization’s strengths or people just like you?
• Who gets fast-tracked for promotions and stretch roles?
• Who receives intentional development, mentorship and exposure to strategy?
• And who gets overlooked or slowly pushed to the margins?

These choices speak volumes—and staff is listening.

Promoting Bullies: A True Story

I once worked for a major electronics manufacturer whose style would best be described as “Management by Intimidation.” That included name-calling, public belittling and what we’d now label as workplace bullying. And guess what? Those were the people who got promoted.

Ironically, senior leaders were deliberate about the culture – they wanted “butt-kickers” in management and rewarded that behavior.  It wasn’t accidental. And it cost them. People quit. Including me.

Culture is always happening.

You can shape it intentionally, or let it happen by default. And “organic growth” isn’t a strategy –it’s a gamble.

Dos and Don’ts for Culture-Building

• Be clear about what success looks like. Don’t assume that staff knows what’s expected – make it explicit
• Hire for fit to the culture you need to build your future. Don’t just hire for the one you have now if it’s not producing results.
• Include accepted behaviors in job descriptions and reviews. Don’t let toxic behavior slide just because someone performs.
• Make sure performance reviews reward the right Don’t promote based on metrics alone if the human cost is too high.
• Revisit your cultural messages regularly. Don’t assume what worked five years ago still holds. Culture should evolve with your goals—and your people.

Want to shape a culture worth watching? Start by watching yourself.

©2025 Mark J. Komen. All rights reserved worldwide.

Customer Complaints – From the Business Owner’s Point of View

Mark Komen, President

Kodyne, Inc.

Minneapolis, MN

We regularly hear from customers regarding what they have to say about someone’s business, especially in the areas of dissatisfaction and complaints.  Negative customer reviews abound on social media, whether accurate or even true.  Granted feedback of any sort is a gift, however there is another side to this issue – business owner complaints about their customers – something that doesn’t get much attention in public.

I asked a sample of small-to-midsize company owners/business leaders the following questions:

1. What are your biggest complaints about your customers (assuming you have complaints)?
2. Have you ever fired a customer and why?

18 owners responded representing the following industries:

• Distribution
• Manufacturing
• Engineering/Construction
• Business Services (IT, insurance, financial, management, marketing, consulting)
• Education (B2C)
• Non-profit
• Real Estate

Here are the most often cited complaints they have about their customers. Most were also grounds for firing customers. The complaints were common and span all the industry categories above.

Complaint 1 – Customers who don’t pay, expect freebies, haggle

• Failing to pay or delaying payments which cause immense strain on small businesses. Some customers even demand more work even though they aren’t paying their bills.
• Businesses need to at least break even. The cost to serve some customers is just too high for reasons reported below. Low profit/high maintenance customers are often shown the door.
• Dealing with continual and unreasonable price justification demands are time consuming and it’s hard to know when the justification is satisfied. Related to this is the situation of being price-shopped in spite of the service we provide.
• “They say they want value, then haggle over price”
• Delivering fast vs. doing things well
• Wanting everything for free without commitments on their end

Complaint 2 – Verbal abuse, not fitting our values

• Customers who abuse and belittle our staff members. (editorial comment – I imagine actually being an employee of those customers is a real nightmare).
• Not respecting our engagement processes

Complaint 3 – Never satisfied, push for 1-sided agreements, endless complaints

• Expecting perfection
• 1-sided supplier agreements and demanding that we waive certain rights in supplier agreements
• Endless perceived emergencies and demands for immediate attention. Many not warranted; deluging us with emails over minor details
• Lack of cooperation

Complaint 4 – Ghosting/cancellations

• No-shows for appointments and meetings
• Last minute cancellations
• Not responding to our attempts to reach them or replying in a timely manner

Complaint 5 – Unprepared, can’t make decisions

• Not providing the necessary input so the work can be done
• Not really understanding what they want or need
• Unable or unwilling to decide between options presented
• Lack of forecasting which results in many rush orders

Complaint 6 – Don’t follow recommendations or guidance

• In some cases, companies have been asked by their customers to do something illegal or borderline illegal
• Going rogue on decisions that aren’t aligned with our recommendations
• Customers who aren’t equipped internally to act on recommendations and be successful

Engagement Exit:

The owners who responded to the survey are very customer-focused and have a strong desire to satisfy customer needs and help them be successful.  Loyal customers, who could take their businesses elsewhere but don’t, are golden…up to a point.  Once the cost of serving certain customers exceeds the value of doing so, ending the engagement is a tough but important decision. Exit approaches used by the respondents are shown below.

Respondent Engagement Exit Approaches

• Raise prices until they go away – perhaps not the most direct approach as it avoids addressing the core issues but likely results in the customer moving on.
• Recommend other providers who might be a better fit
• Don’t take on new work with them, just finish what’s in the works
• Flat out fire them

Advice for Business Owners

• Create and communicate clear, consistent messages about your expectations for a successful customer engagement. This is an opportunity to optimize the engagement at its earliest stages. Establishing financial expectations, personal interaction guidelines, decision process approaches and the like go a long way to set the stage for success. Have a frank conversation with the customer on these points with the idea of optimizing the relationship.  The reality is that there are times where the fit between the customer and the business isn’t good, healthy or profitable and cutting ties may be the appropriate course of action.
• As one owner stated – Difficult customers can be your best, long-term customers if you can find a way to work with them. Their feedback can help you fine-tune your approaches and processes where you might have had blind spots. At the same time, there’s a limit to what owners are willing to tolerate.

©2024 Mark J. Komen. All rights reserved worldwide.

Brand Promises vs. Exceeding Expectations

Mark J. Komen, President
Kodyne, Inc.
Minneapolis, MN

Over the last few years, I’ve seen a focus on “exceeding customer expectations” as an example of customer-related sayings that fall into the category of increasing customer satisfaction and engagement. Other phrases include “going above and beyond for customers” and “customer service is everyone’s job.” Then there’s the old standby “The customer is always right.”

It makes sense that companies would promote these messages to foster loyalty to their brand and aim to receive high recommendations using approaches like Net Promoter Score.  While well-intentioned, actually delivering on these messages, particularly regarding exceeding expectations is particularly challenging.  Why?  Because they require you to live up to a promise you make to your customers.  Forever.

Brand Promise

A brand promise is a value or experience a company’s customers can expect to receive every single time they interact with that company. The more a company can deliver on that promise, the stronger the brand value in the mind of customers and employees.  When a company fails to deliver on that promise, they have “broken brand” and thanks to social media, bad news travels fast and brand loyalty fades quickly.  People readily tell their friends and contacts about negative or unsatisfying interactions and negative press is tough to overcome.  Positive experiences count.  Negative experiences seem to count more. Living up to these promises over time requires great degrees of clarity around brand messages, staff training around customer service practices, commitment to resolving problems and all in ways that are better than your competition.

Customer Expectations

Understanding what your customers expect from you is fundamental.  Don’t we all expect things from our product or service providers like:

• Quality (e.g. products that work when we get them or services that are free from errors, both fitting their intended use)?
• Responsiveness (e.g. the company gets back to you on status and provides prompt service)?
• Timely and effective communications (answering questions about products and services and addresses satisfaction and dissatisfaction)?
• a fair price?

A classical definition of quality from the ISO world is to “consistently provide products and services that meet customer and regulatory requirements.” Another way of stating this is, “meeting customer/user expectations.” I believe the best way to know what customers expect from your organization is to ask them and not assume you know the answers ahead of time.

The Lawn Mower story

I was a devoted fan of one particular hardware manufacturer’s lawn mower product line.  They long had a reputation for outstanding quality so I bought my first gas-powered push mower from them and it lasted over 15 years before the steel deck cracked and broke off.  I thought that was a pretty impressive tenure so I bought another mower from that manufacturer – a gas powered, self-propelled, walk behind model.  That one lasted 7 years before it quit working (engine problems not worth repairing).  So I gave the brand another try for a similar gas powered, self-propelled, walk behind model.  Got it out of the box, started it up and within 5 minutes, parts started flying off the mower.  Not what you’d expect from a company with such a stellar reputation for quality.  Definitely did not meet my expectations. I packed it up, took it back to the store, got my money back, went directly to a different store and bought a mower from a different manufacturer – which I still have in operation over 10 years later.

OK so what does “exceeding expectations” look like?  Here’s an example:

The Enterprise story

I recently had the misfortune of being rear-ended while sitting in my vehicle at a red light.  The body shop and insurance company arranged a loaner vehicle for me with Enterprise car rentals.  After I dropped the car off at the shop, Enterprise sent over a car for me to use. The customer service agent that dropped it off was friendly, thorough and professional. The car was clean, gassed up and ready to go.  I should point out that the accident occurred during the winter.  After I got home, I noticed an ice scraper and snow brush sitting on the rear seat.  That simple thing really caught my attention.  I had removed an ice scraper and brush from my own car in anticipation of needing it during my use of the rental car.  I had not expected Enterprise to provide one for me.  Talk about exceeding expectations! In fact, I later went to Enterprise’s website and saw the following on their company values page: “Customer service is our way of life. Our goal is to exceed every customer’s expectations.”  They certainly did here and in a very tangible way.  Now I will hold them to that goal forever!

In my opinion, exceeding expectations is a high bar to consistently meet unless you are setting extremely low expectations for your company in the eyes of your customer.  And why would anyone do that? Should the lawnmower manufacturer have put a caveat on their product literature stating, “parts may fly off of our mowers at any moment?”  But the parts actually stayed on! Exceeded expectations! Definitely not good for the brand.  The old practice of “under-promise and over-deliver,” as in quoting 6-week delivery times and delivering in 4 is definitely walking a fine line here. Will you be able to do that every time?

I believe business practices that “surprise and delight” customers are a better way to go.

© 2023 Mark J. Komen. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reference: ISO 9001 from the American Society for Quality website, https://asq.org/quality-resources/iso-9001