51–60 of 72 posts
An effective way to deal with corruption is to make it clear that you don't participate in it. It only takes for you to fail once and then everybody will know that you are ready to de "business" with them. Whereas if you make a name for yourself as a clean contractor, you will also attract other kind of customers. Even inside government itself, but from other branches. Government is such a big beast, that there is pl…
Running an IT service business for 7 years, I've run into a number of dubious situations. Heres a couple. A client introduced me to a salesperson who works for a competitor company. We sat down for coffee, and his opening line was that he has a million dollars of deals in the pipeline (which would have been a very welcome addition to the bottom line), and he was interested in bringing all these customers to my busine…
Thank you for sharing your experiences. They gave me some very useful perspective.
Sometimes these situations are ambiguous, and confusing. In some cultures, this would be a normal part of doing business and it's commonly accepted. In some places, you can even claim these 'bribes' against tax...!
Generally it comes down to being comfortable with your choices, and ensuring that everything you do is completely legal.
If you need to invest $1,000-$2,000 for a lawyer to write a legal opinion, and this will make it likely to safely get a deal worth $15,000, it may be the right decision.
Good luck!
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Thank you for sharing your experiences. They gave me some very useful perspective.
Glad to hear that. Sometimes these situations are ambiguous, and confusing. In some cultures, this would be a normal part of doing business and it's commonly accepted. In some places, you can even claim these 'bribes' against tax...! Generally it comes down to being comfortable with your choices, and ensuring that everything you do is completely legal. If you need to invest $1,000-$2,000 for a lawyer to write a legal…
I've never been in the situation where there was the illusion that what was talking place was ok. It's dirty, cloak and dagger (making gifts or payments is always an exercise in creativity) and heads generally roll if it's exposed.
Running an IT service business for 7 years, I've run into a number of dubious situations. Heres a couple. A client introduced me to a salesperson who works for a competitor company. We sat down for coffee, and his opening line was that he has a million dollars of deals in the pipeline (which would have been a very welcome addition to the bottom line), and he was interested in bringing all these customers to my busine…
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Do the country a service and stand up for what is right. You may lose this sale, but you will have your honor and integrity.
Let's outlaw corporate lobbying before we worry about some small-fry with a few-thousand dollar software contract.
They typically do you a "favour" that you didn't even ask for, one that is executed in such a way as to break some rules/laws however petty. Having preemptively performed a favour for you, they have you on their books for when they want to call on you for a return favour. Even though you don't think you owe them one, the shady nature of that first favour is always a dark cloud hanging over your head. They're master manipulators and blackmailers with a balance sheet of favours. It's simply warped.
You shouldn't be afraid that he'll sabotage your bid. You should be afraid that he'll give you the bid anyway, then call you up later saying, "look I did this favour for you, now I need you to do X for me." From there it's a slippery slope. The only way I've found to deal with these folks is not to deal with them at all and deny any favours from them. I wouldn't accept a glass of water from them if I were dying of thirst.
Then I read all your comments and realized just how different the US is from India and how far we still have to go.
Sigh
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Do not tip off the supervisor. Go to the FBI.
The FBI does not care if some low level bureaucrat at (say) the New York City Department of Education offered a pay-for-play deal. Better advice is to take five minutes to Google up the department which handles internal ethics issues in whichever organization it is and contact them. Granted, you don't go to the guy's supervisor.... but you also don't leap immediately to the feds.