As part of Howard Bashman‘s November edition of “20 Questions for the Appellate Judge,” Howard asked Senior Circuit Judge Richard S. Arnold of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit about his most favorite aspect of being a federal appellate judge. Judge Arnold’s answer was, in my opinion, profound and refreshing:
The aspect of the job I like most is that all I have to do is do right. Every day when I come to work and pick up a file, that is my only job. Let right be done.
It is a philosophy which this generation and those after us should really learn from and take to heart. . . and unfortunately, as this article from CFO.com relates, it is not a philosophy espoused by very many today: “Whatever Happened to Doing the Right Thing?” According to the article, “[w]hen Americans were asked what the main business benefit of being a responsible corporate citizen is, their number-one response was “improving brand image.” One-third of the respondents replied “increase sales,” according to the survey. Doing the right thing was apparently way down the list.”
Another article from Beth Matter of Vanderbilt University highlights the issue: “After Enron: the (Un)Certain Future of Corporate Responsibility.” The article notes:
The Enron debacle resulted from a total failure of professionals to do their jobs— from executives running the company to investment bankers giving advice—which helped to push the pendulum into the Sarbanes Oxley Act . . Companies are worried about extra liabilities, but many of the regulations can be distilled down to four words: Do the Right Thing. For companies already doing the right thing, the future is not uncertain. Those not doing the right thing are going to have to venture into different territory, but it is not uncharted. Shouldn’t audit committees already have been independent? Shouldn’t officers already have been responsible for their financial statements?”