Whether you’re a blogger, a journalist, a business owner or just a plain ordinary joe in the street, one asset stands above all others – your integrity.
A Sydney advertising agency faking a story about a woman looking for the owner of a jacket is a good example of how forgetting this can backfire.
For Naked Communications this is particularly ironic given the headline Naked tells the Naked Truth at the time of their corporate takeover last year.
An even greater lesson is the damage done to the fantastic “Best Job in the World” campaign with another lame stunt. It’s fairly safe to say overdoing things with a fake tattoo has destroyed much of this story’s goodwill which is a crying shame.
There’s a temptation to dress this up as a new media versus old media story, but it’s not. Ethics have always been ethics and truth has always been the truth.
Regardless of who you are and what your business is, integrity is everything.
Paul Wallbank is a speaker and writer charting how technology is changing society and business. Paul has three regular technology advice radio programs on ABC, a weekly column on the smartcompany.com.au website and has published six computer books.
Since 1995 Paul has setup and run four business including PC Rescue which he grew to be a national IT support business. Paul currently works with government and businesses to help them navigate the challenges and opportunities of the new digital economy. 