Saturday, 18 July 2009
Taking The Mirror Test
While going through the excellent book Management by P. F. Drucker I came across a great anecdote that illustrates what Drucker calls ‘the mirror test’:
The most highly respected diplomat among all those of the Great Powers in the early years of the twentieth century was the German ambassador in London. He was clearly destined for higher things, at least to become his country’s foreign minister, if not German federal chancellor. Yet, in 1906, he abruptly resigned. King Edward VII had then been on the British throne for five years, and the diplomatic corps had been planning to give him a big dinner. The German ambassador, being the dean of the diplomatic corps–he had been in London for close to fifteen years–was to be the chairman of that dinner. Kind Edward VII was a notorious womanizer and made it clear what kind of dinner he wanted–at the end, after the dessert had been served, a huge cake was going to appear, and out of it would jump a dozen or more naked prostitutes as the lights were dimmed. The German ambassador resigned rather than preside over this dinner: “I refuse to see a pimp when in the mirror in the morning when I shave.”
I think we’ve all been in similar situations where our jobs challenged our own code of ethics, although I don’t know if we’ve always held our ground like the German Ambassador. It’s hard to wriggle out of something your boss wants you to do and it’s sometimes tempting to cut corners or spam your customers (even when you know it’s wrong).
I would say that breaking your code of ethics, isn’t just bad for your soul, it’s also ultimately bad for business. Sooner or later your actions will come back to haunt you and if you’re in an environment where you’re constantly being asked to bend and stretch your personal morality you will certainly be living a miserable existence.
Personally, I’m keeping this story as a mental note to help me stick to my own code of ethics in what ever I do. In terms of marketing, I think there’s a quick test we can do when ever we run a new campaign, deal with an existing client or offer a new product, and here it is – Simply ask yourself how you’d react to this as a customer. Then do unto other as you’d have them do unto you. As marketers we have a lot of power and influence and we have to make sure we use this privilege with responsibility.
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