PHL Response Paper #2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

PHL Response Paper #2 - Essay Example Perhaps the three factors that must be understood by businesses when it comes to proper corporate governance are the importance of authenticity or sincerity, the need for transparency or accountability and the essential quality of the golden rule. A corporation must develop a sense of authenticity if it expects a consumer base to believe its claims. However, authenticity, by its very nature, is not something that can actually be bought or conducted on a superficial level. As Matt Endriss, the CEO of Birkenstock says, â€Å"When you are honest only because honesty pays †¦ you risk forgetting the meaning of honesty. When you are socially responsible only because social responsibility pays, you lose any real sense of what responsibility means† (212). By bringing in the question of good behavior for monetary reward, corporations and their leaders reinforce the selfish and self-centered, what’s-in-it-for-me attitude that typically leads to corruption and abuse of the system found in the business world today. This principle can be seen in almost every office complex when employees and employers are constantly engaged in a tug of war of favors, extra effort for extra pay and so forth. At the same time, the consume r is able to see through the false ‘humanitarian aid’ provided by a company used primarily as a means of boosting profit. Yet they recognize the true humanitarian aid provided by a company that acts simply in genuine interest in improving conditions for others. This is the focus of John Maxwell’s work regarding ‘true trust’. As Maxwell points out, â€Å"proper governance built on the element of trust should develop connections with others based on action† (lecture, page 6) and this action should be sincere action if it is to have any meaning. Companies that work to develop transparency are more trustworthy than those who struggle to keep their activities hidden. This both assures the consumer as well as ensures