Making Character First: Building a Culture of Character in any Organization

by Tom Hill

Making Character First® is the turn-around story of Kimray, Inc, a premier manufacturer of oil and gas equipment and controls. It is also Tom Hill's personal story of the founding and development of Character First® and includes a step-by-step guide for transforming the culture of any organization to one of character. With tough economic times for business, highly visible ethics violations in major corporations, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and a "flat" business world, the character of every individual, beginning with the top leaders, may be the most important and challenging issue facing every organization today. Until now, organizations have focused on ethics training--but the cheese has moved. As leaders we must do more than ethics training. Every major business with ethics violations appears to have common elements, 1) an ethics manual including an active compliance program, and 2) a leader or leaders who fostered or participated in ethical misconduct. Why was their ethics training insufficient? Why were there ethics violations in spite of the ethics training? Ethical conduct can be motivated by fear of prosecution or by individual character. There are simply not enough compliance officers to police every organization, and greed can be stronger than fear. But individual character demands the right response even when no one will ever know. Therefore the most effective ethics program is one that teaches, inspires, and requires good character from every individual. Making Character First demonstrates through the story of Kimray and with collaborating results from organizations around the world, how any organization can develop a culture of character. This culture not only fosters ethical decisions at all levels within the organization, but it is just plain good business. A recent PBS documentary by Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, Doing Virtuous Business, highlights 14 organizations from around the world that exhibit good character and how character contributes positively to their profitability, their local community, and the world. Kimray is one of those businesses. Making Character First explains how Kimray became what it is today and how your organization can also develop a culture of character, the foundation of any effective ethics program.

188 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Tiffany · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting approach to running a business even if he is contradictory at various times throughout the book. I will implement the key points as per my boss's instruction.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a very easy read. The first few chapters are really boring, but the information in the rest of the book is good.

My school is attempting to implement this program. Admittedly, even after reading the success stories, I'm still skeptical that it will work.