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This afternoon, I dropped in on the Idea Lab "Are You as Ethical as You Think You Are?" There was a lot of interesting discussion, and presenters Jennifer Baker and Mary Ghikas kept attendees thinking and asking tough questions.

At one point during the session, someone said, "Ethical behavior typically goes unremarked." At first, I agreed, but the more I think about it, the more I think that's not quite true. Admittedly, we're never going to see weeks of front-page stories about ethical behavior--"Association executive does the right thing!"--but I think ethical behavior is remarked upon, if only subconsciously, by the staff and volunteers around you. If your association tolerates unethical behavior, staff will start to step back from true engagement. They'll focus on covering themselves and making sure they have a paper trail to back up each decision rather than on proactively moving their work forward. They'll expect to be treated badly and focus on defending themselves rather than helping others. And eventually they'll leave.

It comes down to trust, and as Mary Ghikas said during the session, "The critical precondition for trust is ethics."