By Housley Carr
Guest Blogger, Energy Efficiency Markets
April 18, 2012

So much of what’s discussed in offices these days – and forever really – focuses on this: What’s best for the company? How do we increase profits?

That’s totally understandable, given that a primary responsibility of any for-profit enterprise is to benefit its owners and investors. Still, as individuals, and I would argue, as part of the capitalist system, we have responsibilities that go beyond improving the financial bottom line. Most of all, we have a duty to be ethical.

The initial thought of almost everyone in business or government when the issue of ethics comes up is, “Oh, I’m ethical in everything I do. I follow the letter of the law.” But there is much more to it than that, and the energy efficiency sector of the US electric industry provides a perfect example.

When it comes to ethics, there are three ways of doing business: immorally, amorally and morally. The immoral approach is based on pure selfishness; the goal of immoral managers is profitability and organizational success at any price.

The amoral approach, which is unfortunately a dominant one in US business, focuses on what can be done legally to maximize profits. Amoral managers may be well-intentioned, but they don’t give a lot of thought to what their decisions mean to others. They lack empathy.

Moral managers are different. They run their thoughts and plans through another filter before making a decision. They ask, “Is what I’m doing fair to others? Is it just?”

My definition of an ethical grid flows from that. To me, an ethical grid is an electric industry in which the rights and responsibilities of utilities are carefully and properly balanced with legitimate interests of power consumers, the environment and society at large.