“It’s just business.” In the context of business ethics, that phrase often signals a justification more than a principle.

It’s meant to sound pragmatic. Or the voice of experience.

But no one says this when the decision is clean. You only hear it when something questionable is being done.

It’s a justification. An excuse to get rid of that employee. Elbow a partner out. Take advantage of a customer or vendor.

No one says, “It’s just business” when they are taking the high road. It’s simply a convenient justification for abandoning character.

In fact, no one says, “It’s just business,” when they are doing good business.

Because conducting business with character is, in fact, good business.

The Myth of Neutral Business

Business decisions are not value neutral.

Every business choice, whether acknowledged or not, reveals a leader’s values. Because people, especially people who have choices, act in line with what they value:

• Speed vs quality
• “Go-along-to-get-along” vs accountability
• Profit vs relationships
• Loyalty vs justice
• Trust vs control

You may find that some of the above are more clearly “right” or “wrong” to you. But probably some are unclear. Perhaps situational.

Values aren’t what’s written on your website or on breakroom walls.

They’re what you protect under pressure. They’re your default when you don’t have enough time to think. They are what you do instead of what you could have done.

That is what makes the phrase, “It’s just business” misleading. It implies that leadership or business is somehow “outside” of the discussion of ethics. Or, worse, that “business decisions” have their own self-justifying ethic. In practical business ethics, choices are never value-free.

Business 101: Business is the exchange of value. Not merely the extraction of it.

There’s that word again.

Value.

It’s baked into business.

Do well by doing good

A client of mine leaned hard into this. He was a new CEO and any change felt like a risk. He wanted to grow it from its current $20M. Not just in size, but the people and the culture. With his team, we defined their values. Then they integrated them into how they hired, fired, promoted and made decisions.

Three years later, that company had tripled in size to $60M. It experienced minimal churn on the team. In fact, the larger it became, the easier it has been to run. Why? Because clarity and agreement around values creates alignment. And alignment reduces conflict.

Another client, an auto dealer, embedded values into their day-to-day operations. Within a year, they became the top-performing dealership in North America. The results were so astounding, the manufacturer filmed a documentary about them. Later, that same value worked guided them, successfully, through the chaos of the COVID shutdowns.

Those are stories. Here’s the data:

This isn’t just wide-eyed, idealistic me banging a drum for ‘being good.’ Thousands of studies have been done on this topic. Here are five:

1. NYU Stern, 2021 – Meta-Analysis of 1,000+ Studies
   A review of over 1,000 studies on purpose-led businesses found that 58% showed a positive financial impact from strong values and purpose integration.Source: NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business
2. University of Hamburg, 2018 – Meta Study
   An analysis of over 2,000 studies found that companies known for strong, intentional ethics and corporate citizenship consistently generated higher profits.Source: University of Hamburg, “Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility”
3. Orlitzky, Schmidt & Rynes, 2003 – Global CSR Meta-Analysis
   A global meta-analysis of 52 studies found a positive, measurable correlation between corporate social responsibility and financial performance—across every major industry.Source: Orlitzky, Schmidt, and Rynes, “Corporate Social and Financial Performance: A Meta-Analysis,” Organization Studies
4. Ethisphere, 2017–2022 – Ethics Premium
   From 2017 to 2022, companies on the Ethisphere World’s Most Ethical Companies index outperformed the large-cap market by 24.6 points.Source: Ethisphere Institute, 2022 Ethical Index
5. LRN, 2022 – Values-Driven Cultures
   Organizations that deeply embed values in behavior, not just on paper, outperform peers by up to 40% across performance, reputation, and innovation metrics.Source: LRN Benchmark of Ethical Culture Report, 2022

The take away? Good character appears to improve the bottom line. That is consistent with how business ethics operates in healthy companies.

Not All “Good” Is Equal

Just being “good” doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll perform well. In fact, not all good is the same. And not all of it is actually all that good. There are three types of “good” in business:

1. Performative Good – This is a form of “good” that is done for appearances or compliance. This is often driven by marketing or strategic goals. In some scenarios, compliance goals. But, ironically, it isn’t drive by values or transformed into culture.
2. Passive Good – The halo effect. The company looks “good” because of the sector its in or a charismatic leader. But the ‘goodness’ may be real, but it is shallow, associative or personality dependent. It often disappears with disruption (especially economic) or with leadership changes.
3. Intentional Good – This is on-purpose, intentional application of character into business. It’s what the studies above identified. A value system that was defined, reinforced, and operationalized. These were the companies that outperformed.

Character is a habit, not a hope. It’s not something you just have. It’s something you practice.

Objections from the Trenches

It’s hard to argue with results. But some people will regardless.

This is often because “It’s just business” often produce short-term wins or serve ot address immediate annoyances or issues. But in the long term, those ‘seeds’ turn into thorns.

Here are common pushbacks and what I say to them:

How to Build Values That Stick

1. Define Behaviors, Not Aspirations : Most values statements are a list of nice sounding words. No one knows what they look like at your company. For example “Tell the truth promptly, even when it’s inconvenient” beats “Integrity.”
2. Embed into Systems: Hire, promote, train, and part ways based on values alignment. Set and pursue goals the same way. How you hire, sell, manage, create and serve should all be informed by your values.
3. Leaders Model: One leader modeling your values is worth 10 workshops. One CEO or owner modeling is worth 100. Practice what you preach.
4. Use Values as Filters: When setting goals or making decisions, ask yourself, “What option reflects our principles best?”
5. Measure and Adjust: Track how well values show up in engagement, decisions, and team behavior. When chronic problems occur in any part of your organization, explore if (and often how) that problem is due to values that were undefined for that process, weren’t introduced or reinforced, or were violated in some way. Correct it.

Build to Withstand the Storm

Values aren’t about feeling good. They are how you make the right call, especially when it’s difficult. And it’s how you keep the trust of those who matter.

When times are challenging or uncertain, companies without clear, cohesive character struggle. Those with character find it easier to stand firm. They already know who they are, and how they make decisions.

In the long run, that’s what drives performance, alignment, and trust. That is why business ethics is a strategic advantage, not a slogan.

If you’re only in business for the money, expect to make less of it.

Take good care,

Christian