Ethics & Entrepreneurship: How the Virtues Are Intertwined with Success (EEC Learning Lunch)

​On Friday, October 13 at noon Dr. Peter Rea, Vice President of Integrity and Ethics at Parker Hannifin Corporation, will join us for a one-hour Fireside Chat on a critically important topic—Ethics & Entrepreneurship.  This not-to-be-missed session will explore how entrepreneurs can build virtue and integrity into their everyday practices and decision-making, improving their chances of success. Please join us for this important conversation!  
 
If you want to innovate, then the idea is everything. 

According to Bill Aulet, Director of Entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) this is the greatest myth of entrepreneurship. MIT researchers found that about 66% of the variance in return on investment was attributed to the leader and team and about 33% was explained by the idea. We not only need product innovation but also relationship innovation.
 
What if we put character to work on relationship issues that entrepreneurs face? Imagine the difference in outcome or at least the process of innovation. 

The value of character is widely endorsed -- though what does this word mean? The classical virtues of trust, compassion, courage, justice, wisdom, temperance, and hope define character in a way that cuts across borders and times.  

Virtue isn’t just a nice-to-have.  Virtue is a must-have since it packs more performance punch than factors such as IQ. The word virtue means excellence so the case for character to guide innovation is not based on sentimentalism or hopeless idealism. Character defined by virtue is a hardheaded way to promote innovation and lower its inherent risk.               
 

• Innovation starts with trust. High-trust cultures outcompete low-trust cultures as measured by innovation, productivity, and engagement. 
• Innovation deepens with compassion by supplying customers and teammates with superior value.
• Innovation depends on courage to step into the unknown powered by grit, and resilience.
• Innovation requires justice to strive continually to look out for the interests of customers, teammates, partners, and investors.
• Innovation is lifted by wisdom since success is not assured, so new ventures are doomed in cultures that lack tolerance for mistakes.
• Innovation takes temperance to balance daily operations that pay today’s bills and future innovations to pay tomorrow’s bills
• Innovation always requires hope. Few people want to take or can afford to take crazy risks. We better manage the fear of failure by defining and managing the level of loss we are willing to accept. 

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We all flunk practicing virtue perfectly, which is why we are wise to practice virtue with humility. An unpretentious approach enables us to create a culture where we learn from mistakes rather than gain skill by assigning blame. Character-based leaders want to win, just not at all costs. They lower the risk inherent in new venture creation by protecting their reputation and financial strength by bringing value to the people they serve. Virtue results in elite reliable performance in this way: when we get better at whom we are by practicing virtue, we get better at what we do.  
 
Dr. Rea joined Parker in 2012 in this newly established position with the purpose of preserving Parker’s reputation and protecting its financial strength. His vision is to teach virtue in a way that adds value to Parker's 60,000 employees operating in 50 countries. 

His strategy is to integrate ethical action into existing programs and business goals delivered through seminars, consulting, coaching, and web-based instruction. 

Previously, Dr. Rea was the founding Burton D. Morgan Chair for Entrepreneurial Studies and Director of Baldwin Wallace's Center for Innovation and Growth.  He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Akron, a M.A. from Bowling Green State University and a B.S. from Ohio University.  He co-authored Integrity is a Growth Market and Leading with Integrity with Alan Kolp.