Team Synopsis: VW Scandal: Ethics, Objectives, and Organizational Culture

I hope all is well. The following article contains a number of insights covered in Chapter 6: 

http://fortune.com/2015/10/13/biggest-culprit-in-volkswagen-emissions-scandal/Links to an external site.. 

Leaders should be careful to not create an environment in which pressures to meet the company's financial objectives dictate or override the company's strategic objectives. Remember, strategic objectives may cover a range of non-financial concerns such as social responsibility, employee wellness, customer safety, product quality, environmental stewardship, and corporate reputation. The author of this Fortune article contends that VW may have created a culture in which profit maximization may have trumped employee and managerial integrity.

Keep this in mind as you continue to build on your individual career-based strategic plans. I mentor and coach a lot of students and professionals who make career decisions based on how much money a particular career opportunity presents. I can't tell you how many of them chose a career path because of how much it pays but at the expense of other strategic concerns such as happiness, passion, health, family, learning, future career mobility, etc. I know it's easy for me to say, but never allow money to compromise your non-financial goals. Do what you love and do what is right---and the money will follow.

• How are you ensuring that your strategic objectives are guiding your financial objectives (and not the other way around)?