I think it is fair to summarize the prevailing attitude of businessmen to ethics as follows: Businessmen`s discourse on ethics is often a thin decorative coating on the harsh realities of gambling: In many negotiation scenarios, participants bluff by inventing unverifiable pseudo-facts, such as: „I don`t know if I can pass this in front of my boss, ” or „This is my best and last offer” or „I have x other interested parties in the transaction”. Is inventing false „facts” in the rules of the game understandable to everyone? In some cases, this may be the case. „This is my last offer” made at the beginning of a negotiation would not be taken seriously by an experienced negotiator on the other side. Or if one party says, „I have five other people interested in this deal,” that claim would be rejected by others at the table. Nevertheless, these are questionable practices, as seemingly factual statements may be seen by other parties as going beyond the rules of bluffing. Perhaps we cannot categorically say that Christians should not engage in this particular kind of bluff. But we strongly encourage believers to ask themselves, „Does this process honor God and respect the other party?” But Carr had a trap. He suggested that most bluffs in business are simply seen as a gambling strategy – like bluffing in poker, which does not reflect the morale of the bluffer. Essentially, Carr`s article gave business leaders permission to clear their consciences and bluff in order to win in business. A leader`s private morality may tell them it`s not okay to lie, but Carr`s HBR article told them that their morality doesn`t apply to business games. „I made the mistake of telling him I had lunch with Colby, who gives me about half of my stuff.
Colby mentioned that his company participated in the election. Then he said, „By the way, I`m treasurer of the Lang Citizens` Committee. I collect the dues. Can I count on you for one hundred dollars? I agreed that the basis of private morality is respect for the truth and that the closer a businessman gets to the truth, the more he deserves respect. At the same time, I suggested that most bluffs in business could simply be seen as a gambling strategy – similar to bluffing in poker, which does not reflect the morale of the bluffer. Most executives are almost forced from time to time in the interest of their company or themselves to practice some form of deception when negotiating with customers, dealers, unions, government officials or even other departments of their company. By deliberately making false statements, concealing relevant facts or exaggerating – in short, by bluffing – they try to convince others to agree with them. I think it`s fair to say that if the individual executive refuses to bluff from time to time – if it feels compelled to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth – it ignores the opportunities allowed by the rules and is at a serious disadvantage in its business relationships. An important limitation of bluffing in any situation is that substantial disclosure is required. That is, the disclosure of factual information, which is essential to understanding the operation. For example, if I was selling my car and the transmission is about to break down, it would not be legitimate for me to mislead the buyer into believing that the transmission is in good condition.
If I don`t want to or can`t reveal the true condition of the car, then I must at least declare that I am selling it „as is”. In fact, in many jurisdictions, sellers can be prosecuted for fraud if they have not provided essential information (this is especially true for door-to-door sales). I reminded my friend that millions of business people feel compelled every day to say yes to their bosses when they secretly believe no, and that this is generally accepted as an acceptable strategy when the alternative might be job loss. The essential point, I said, is that business ethics is the ethics of gambling, which is different from the ethics of religion. The ideas promoted by Carr were certainly forward-looking. Unfortunately, far too many business leaders in the twenty-first century grew up in an era where they were taught that business is a game and that it`s okay to bluff. If a man plans to take his place in the business game, he must master the principles by which the game is played, including his particular ethical vision.