Corporate Corruption: If You Have to Lie, Cheat, and Steal, You're Just Not Doing it Right

Recently former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski was convicted for stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the company. It was his second go-round in court--the first one ended in a mistrial. You may remember Mr. Kozlowski from the original trial. A video of his lavish party on an Italian island, allegedly paid for with company funds, was last year's high profile corporate scandal. The retrial was a more low-key affair, but it served to remind us of how much business corruption there has been over the past few years.

The people at the forefront of these squalid affairs give business a bad name. Maybe they're greedy, maybe they're "ethically challenged," but ultimately they're incompetent. If you have to lie, cheat, and steal, you're just not doing it right. My career is a model of tough, fair dealing and fantastic success--without shortcuts, without breaking the law.

Back to that video for a moment: For a couple weeks it was all over the news, so most people saw at least a snippet of this cinematic atrocity, including a giddy, red-faced Kozlowski dancing amid ice sculptures and costumed models posing as ancient Roman courtiers.

As I watched this public embarrassment over and over again, it made me realize that my biggest problem with Kozlowski wasn't the alleged corruption, but the lack of taste. The kind of buffoonery associated with this brand of corporate corruption is just distasteful and alien to me. While watching these high-level company officers cavorting on the shareholder's dime, it occurred to me that maybe tackiness is at the heart of corporate corruption.

Like I said, these people give business a bad name. They've served to associate it with scandal, untrustworthiness, greed, and bad taste. But, as I prove everyday, it doesn't have to be that way at all.