By Chuck Gallagher

What would you do to achieve success?  That was a question asked with two different university groups – Long Island University in New York and Tulane in New Orleans.  That same question was asked of students in a local high school, here in North Texas.  The outcome from all three groups was surprisingly similar.  Young people in large numbers would do whatever it takes to achieve success – even if the choice made was unethical.

As a professional speaker focusing on business and teen ethics, I have studied people’s choices and see a disturbing trend.  This trend mirrors national studies done by Junior Achievement where the pressure to succeed is cited as one of the major motivations for a teen's willingness to make unethical decisions.

“Certainly, having teen's of my own, I see first hand the expectations that are placed upon them and the competition they face as they climb the ladder of success in our highly competitive world.”

While 71% of the teens surveyed say they feel fully prepared to make ethical decisions when they enter the workforce, the question is – what do they think is ethical?  Is it ethical, for example, to copy the work of someone else without their permission? 

I spoke at a college and used what seemed to be a simple ethical demonstration. I had used this example with business people and got predictable results.  This, however, was the first time I’d ever addressed an audience of 100 percent young people and used this example.  The demonstration bombed.

Each question below was asked of the group.  If a person in the group thought the action was unethical or wrong they were asked to raise their hands.  For the majority of the adult world the questions and responses are shown below:

“I borrow a CD from the library. Who thinks that’s wrong?” (No hands go up.)

“I own a certain CD, but it got scratched. So I borrow the same CD from the library and rip it to my computer.” (A couple of hands.)

“I have 2,000 vinyl records. So I borrow some of the same albums on CD from the library and rip those.”  (More hands appear.)

“I buy a DVD. But I’m worried about its longevity; I have a three-year-old. So I make a safety copy.”  (Substantially more hands appear.)

Under normal situations, more hands go up with each question; more people think what I’m describing is wrong.

The exercise is intended, of course, to illustrate how many shades of wrongness there are, and how many different opinions. Almost always, there’s a lot of murmuring, raised eyebrows and chuckling.

Yet, in an auditorium of 125 young people (mostly teens), no matter how far my questions went down that path, maybe two hands went up. I just could not find a spot on the spectrum that would trigger these kids’ morality or ethics alarm. They listened to each example, looking at me like I was nuts.

Finally, with mock exasperation, I said, “O.K., let’s try one that’s a little less complicated: You want a movie or an album. You don’t want to pay for it. So you download it.”

There it was: the bald-faced, worst-case example, without any nuance or mitigating factors whatsoever.

“Who thinks that might be wrong?”

Two hands out of 125.

Now the question about teen ethics isn’t file sharing or copyright infringement, but where do their ethical norms fall?  Illustrating teens’ perception of different ethical standards for online versus “real world” behavior, nearly half (47 percent) of teens said it was acceptable on some level to illegally download music without paying for it, but only 5 percent said it was acceptable to steal something from a store.

More survey results:

• 38% - however, believe that it is sometimes necessary to cheat, plagiarize or lie or even behave violently in order to succeed.

• 24% of the teens surveyed think cheating on a test is acceptable at some level justified by their personal desire to succeed.

• More than a quarter (27%) of all teens surveyed said it is not fair for an employer to suspend or fire employees for unethical behavior outside of their jobs and another quarter (26%) said they weren’t sure if it was fair or not.

• More than half (57%) of all teens surveyed believe it is not fair for employers to make hiring or firing decisions based on material they have posted to the internet and another 19% weren’t sure if it was fair or not.

These survey results mirrored another report featured in the New York Times where young people had no real perception that activities on the Internet had or should have any impact in "real world" situations. In fact, the Times article showed just how disconnected teens were when it came to their ethical behavior and downloading or sharing music.

As adults who want to provide a strong foundation for our children’s success – not only in their future endeavors but more importantly in life, we have a responsibility to shape and mold a realistic understanding of ethical choices and their consequences.  Failure to shape ethical thinking will inevitably lead to unethical, if not illegal, actions that will damage individual lives and ruin corporate reputations.

There seems to be a real difference in what "Baby Boomer's" define as ethical behavior in some areas and what teens feel is ethical today. While most will agree that ethical choices and morays change, the question today is how will the ethical choices and changes reshape our society as the teens move into adulthood?

As founder of the Ethics Resource Group and a teen choices and ethics speaker, I have come to believe that all educational facets of our children’s education should include an ethical or choices component.  Every choice has a consequence.  As soon as we teach our children the direct relationship between cause and effect, how their choices create their consequences, the better prepared they will be to lead us into our future.

About Chuck Gallagher:

Chuck Gallagher is a CPA, successful entrepreneur, member of the National Speakers Association and founder of the Choices Foundation.  The later is a non-profit organization providing ethical educational presentations, workshops, and keynotes to universities, colleges, high schools and religious organizations throughout the country.  Mr. Gallagher’s foundation also provides scholarships to disadvantaged youths looking for a brighter future.  For more information visit www.chuckgallagher.com