By Chris A. Ciufo, Editor Optional ethics? No freakin’ way
If you make a mistake, own up to it. And always stick to your ethical principles, else they’re worth as much as how you’ll even- tually be treated. I was reminded of these mantras this week, right before I penned this column. So this month, we’ re taking a break from Core i7, Thunderbolt, and OpenVPX. Consider it “Chicken Soup for the VME Soul.”
Sometimes I impress myself too much and am carried away by my own “brilliance.” The end result is always the same: I out - smart myself and screw up … while usu- ally laughing at my own stupidity. Such is the explanation for why a half-page adver- tisement is at the bottom of this page.
Simply stated, we ran out of space in this magazine for a last-minute ad, but I incor- rectly approved its addition at the last min- ute. Here’s where my brilliance “shined” ever so brightly: I failed to ask if there was actually available space in the mag azine.
In my defense, several people involved in this fiasco also failed to notice the error of adding 0.5 pages into a mag azine with exactly 0.0 pages left. But I made the call and the error, so I’m taking the blame for the mistake – and penalizing myself by slicing 0.5 pages from this column.
Which (finally!) brings me to my point about ethics: Doing the right thing ... is always the right thing. It’s not an optional tactic that can be emplo yed when conve- nient. In the ad screw-up scenario, I made the mistake, pure and simple. Blaming someone on my staff would’ve been coun- terproductive and unethical. At 20 years old at my first job, my mentor drilled ethics into my head. But what is “ethical beha vior”? It’s as hard to def ine as “irony,” but most non-psychotics recognize an ethical deci - sion as one you feel good about after doing. Speaking of ethics, one of my favorite ethi- cal statements is read by John Rynearson of VITA’s VSO before every meeting:
“VITA’s patent policy regarding the use of patented technology in stan - dards is po sted on its website. … Working group members should read these policies. ... Members who are aware of any patents or patent appli- cations that might be essential to the standards proposed by this w orking group are required to disclose them.”
This isn’t just a legal threat, it’s a statement about doing the right thing. Past VSO dis- closures have yielded second sources for connectors, and predatory patents ha ve been avoided.
So do the right thing – be ethical in all of your personal and professional dealings. And remember my own screw-up and sub- sequent public admission of guilt. Oh, by the way, please also patronize the adv er- tiser below. If you buy something, maybe my boss will also forgive my mistake. − Chris A. Ciufo, Editor
VME and Critical Systems / Spring 2011 7
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