My guest today is Bettina Palazzo. She is an expert in business ethics and advises companies and non-profits on how to look after the leadership and cultural dimension of compliance. She is a big proponent of speak-up cultures and ethical leadership. 

Living in Switzerland, Bettina also teaches ethics in business at various Swiss universities and, from what I know about her, she’s always bridging the gap between theory and practice.

“Sometimes they don’t even see the ethical problem because it’s under these layers, and if they see it they think “Oh, my god an ethical problem what should I do?”, and they do something very quickly without thinking just to make the problem go away. And we know that is usually not the smartest thing to do.”

I’m really looking forward to this conversation and hearing Bettina’s point of view, certainly one of things I’ve picked up in conversation with her is her capacity to hold opposing thoughts in conversations… I will also ask her about her best and worst conversation, do stick around for that, I promise you, it will be worth it.

We dive deeper into ethics and listening up…….Ethics

  • A good conversation being like riding a see-saw.
  • Drifting off into daydreaming and multitasking.
  • Business ethics getting kidnapped by the lawyers first.
  • The ‘Nikey Moment”
  • Most companies going through the same cycle of denial, be-grudgingly admitting a problem, tackling the problem from a compliance angle and then advancing.
  • The connection of all kinds of forces of the context that pushes people to the dark side.
  • The most important first step for an organisation is to prepare and normalise talking about ethics.
  • Creating safe spaces around people’s stories.
  • Why people in business fear the work “ethics”.
  • Certain prompts and conversation starters that can be very helpful.

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While we’re gifted with speech, conversations, really good conversations don’t happen as much as we’d like. In Better Conversations podcast, my guests and I deepdive into all the corners of what makes a conversation painful and terrible or warming and memorable.

So, how am I doing? What would you like to hear my guests and I talk about? Or perhaps you’ve got a strong point of view you’d like to share or kick about with me on the podcast.

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Sehaam Cyrene PCC

About Sehaam Cyrene PCC

Business leader, entrepreneur and Executive Coach, Sehaam Cyrene PCC is the Founder of Better Conversations and the creator of a game-changing online course for leaders — Leaders Who Coach™. A regular speaker to digital communities, leaders, board directors, and teams, she also hosts her own podcast series Better Conversations with Sehaam Cyrene.