"There have always been a few bad apples in business," said Robert Garff, owner of Ken Garff automotive group and the Utah Blaze. "It doesn't matter whether you're selling cars, suits, or tickets. Business people are going to do something that isn't ethical according to that business."
Mac Christensen, owner of Mr. Mac and current president of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, spoke of past experiences that have shaped the current dividing line of ethics when starting a business.
"I ended up selling my home and moving my family to Bountiful in order to start my business," he said. "When I first started, I was only going to buy 100 suits from ZCMI because it was all I could afford.
"Because I had worked with them in the past, they gave me 500 instead and trusted me to pay them back."
This life example of good ethics, Christensen said, helped him grow his business into what it is today.
But that was just one example in a time when ethics and morals were one and the same. When Christensen started his Mr. Mac business in Bountiful, he mentioned that business ethics was one of the most important features an owner could have.
"As a business owner, you are ultimately responsible for how you run your business," said Garff. "I try to instill those values to my people, who pass it down to every employee I have in both businesses."
They both agree that today the dividing line between ethics and morality today is much wider than it was.
"By definition, ethics is knowing the difference between right and wrong," said Garff. "Morality is an actual pattern of conduct from an employee."
As an example noted from another panelist, an employee may know that advertising a lemon as a new car is ethically wrong, but his/her morals may have them sell the car anyway.
"I believe that if you do the right thing in business, the ethics will be there for the future," said Christensen. "By instilling good ethics, the morals can be shifted along with them."
Garff agreed, but added that at any time in any industry, there's going to be one employee that will do something ethically wrong just to make a quick dollar.
"Some people look at the car selling industry and think that all dealers and their employees are crooked," he said. "But I have found that you have to be honest in this business in order to succeed.
"If (Christensen) and I were unethical in our business practices, we wouldn't be successful in our businesses."
One final point that Christensen said was that unethical people never last long, especially in business.
"If you are unethical, you will get caught," he said. "I've met plenty of business people that I believed were going to be successful and fell apart once they were caught doing unethical business tactics."
sgillet@davisclipper.com
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