Ethics of doing business

Apr 08, 2005

Today I saw in the newspaper a photograph with a caption: Cruel colors of Benetton. It was accompanied by a news regarding how Benetton gets sheep wool from Australian farmers who treat their sheep cruelly. Since I come across many businesses and collaborators, I constantly need to think whether I should be doing business with these individuals or not. I don’t have very strict guidelines for myself — currently I’m working on a website whose webmaster plans to sell porn CDs from there. But I have strong issues with people who maltreat animals. A few months ago I severed my business ties with a person who had gone on a hunting safari (I couldn’t care less if hunting is legal in his country).

We were chatting and he boasted, “During my recent hunting vacation I killed 3 deers.”

I was disgusted and my hands froze. Although we were discussing a big website project (website for a diamond mine in Africa) and the deal could have meant lots of money, I couldn’t have done it at the cost of my self-respect. It would have been below my dignity to collaborate with a person who kills animals for leisure or fun.

I have never regretted that decision and a few more decisions like that.