EthicalVoices

Jim Olson, the former global corporate communications lead for Starbucks and US Airways and CCO at African Leadership University, graciously shared his insight and observations on a number of topics including:

1) How did Starbucks find a new, ethical option about how to deal with the presence of guns in their stores?
2) How we can help heal the fracturing of humanity by moving from impact to consequence?
3) The ethical imperative of purpose

John Walker, the founder and managing partner of Chirp PR, discusses a number of important topics, including:

1) Keeping your values when others compromise theirs (a.k.a. How to survive a dot-com boom)

2) How to build trust in a time of uncertainty

3) The ethical pitfalls of “guaranteed” media coverage that isn’t earned

In this personal interview, Tami Nealy, the vice president of communications and talent relations for Find Your Influence shares some great advice and insight, including:

1) What do you do when you have an abusive boss and he may have broken the law?
2) The importance of mentors
3) Ethics and influencer relations
4) The growing ethics problem of ghosting

On this week’s EthicalVoices, BJ Whitman, a PR professional with more than 30 years of public relations expertise in the education, maritime, and hospitality management fields joins me to discuss a number of ethics issues, including:

1) Life, death, ethics and a photograph
2) Why silence is a killer to resolving ethical issues
3) Ethical issues in the maritime industry

Quentin Langley, the author of Brandjack and an Adjunct Professor discusses a number of fascinating topics related to ethics in public relations. Specifically:
1. What to do if one of your students is accused of apostasy and treason?
2. Can ethical PR pros really follow the "Do not lie" maxim?
3. Global ethics challenges
4. Ethical challenges with brandjacking

Anne Green, a principal and managing director at G&S Business Communications, discusses a number of important ethical issues including:

1) How to handle ethical pressure to fudge numbers
2) Where to find engaging, compelling ethics training and why it matters
3) How to ethically fight back against disinformation

Marcy Massura, the CEO of MM & Company. discusses client dishonesty, Wikipedia, PR super powers and how they are misused and inherent ethical biases in the social media infrastructure.

Specifically she addresses:

• What to do when a client asks you to launch a product they plan to immediately discontinue?
• The ethics of Wikipedia editing
• Why the increasing power of PR means we need to more aggressively scrutinize client motivations
• Is our private communication infrastructure creating an inherently unethical playing field

Ethics and political communication. It is an essential topic, but one that is not often discussed. Joining me on this week's episode is Peter Loge, Associate Professor of Media and Public Affairs, and director of the project on ethics and political communication at George Washington University to discuss:

1) What are the true ethical challenges most communicators face?
2) Why “The Stakes are High” is an insidious ethical temptation
3) Is political communication today very different from the 1700s?

Ken Jacobs, ACC, CPC, an experienced consultant and certified coach shares his insight on a number of ethics topics including:

1) How to handle abusive clients
2) How to best handle conflicts of interest
3) The difference between coaching and consulting

Hasan Zuberi, the President of the PR Council of Pakistan, shares great global ethics insights and advice, including situations many of us in the U.S. never have to face including:

1) What to do when your client is accused of espionage and his life and property are threatened
2) The ethical challenges of fake news and the coronavirus
3) The evolution of public relations in Pakistan
4) Expense report ethics