The Business Ethics Alliance brings businesses together with a focus on ethics
More than 350 individuals from Nebraska and Southwest Iowa came together recently to explore the importance of ethical leadership inside of business operations.
The theme of this year’s conference was Building a Culture of Trust, and participants took part in discussions inside of breakout sessions and an interactive keynote address to explore ways to foster the type of organizational cultures everyone deserves.
Two Breakout sessions offered interactive opportunities to learn, and apply principles of ethical leadership
Dr. Erika Kirby, Professor of Communication at Creighton University led sessions on Communication and the Cultivation of Trust. Here participants addressed ways to build psychological safety and create organizational settings in which everyone feels safe to speak up without risk of punishment or humiliation.
Dr. Erin Bass, Associate Professor of Management at the University of Nebraska Omaha steered conversations around Ethical Decision Making. Participants explored how businesses can be ethically responsible; maximizing financial and social responsibility. Dr. Bass facilitated discussions that challenged everyone to explore their day-to-day decisions as leaders and professionals.
A Keynote address that offered a glimpse of the past, and a lesson for the future
Sherron Watkins is known internationally as the Enron whistleblower. She spoke with EthicSpace attendees about ethics and leadership, and the lessons learned from the collapse of Enron.
Her message encouraged leaders at every level to embrace the lessons learned inside of the breakout sessions and work intentionally to create cultures rich with trust and a foundation of ethical decision making.
A 30-minute question and answer session after the keynote address made this conference experience truly unique and special.
“Ethical leadership is at the heart of what we all do,” said Business Ethics Alliance CEO and Executive Director Michael Robinson. “It’s imperative that we come together as business professionals, as peers, and as community partners and engage in conversations about creating cultures based on ethics.”
EthicSpace is the only ethics-focused conference in the Midwest. Its goal is to provide attendees with practical tips and tools that help them create work environments where people feel valued, respected, appreciated, and heard.
The conference concentrates the mission of the Business Ethics Alliance into a one-day event that helps organizations be more ethics-focused the other 364 days of the year.
About the Business Ethics Alliance (BEA): The BEA was founded in 2008 out of a partnership with the Greater Omaha Business Community, The Better Business Bureau, The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, and the Heider College of Business at Creighton University. Everything the Alliance does promotes an environment where the discussion and practice of ethics are encouraged and expected in our local community. Because business leaders trust the Alliance, it is able to create forums to have conversations that no one else in the community can have. The Alliance’s brand of ethics education is impartial, research-based, and respectful.
