Susty Dialogue Series Edition Seven

When Integrity Costs Something: A Practical Blueprint for Doing the Right Thing in Business

Imagine this. A manager is reviewing a complaint that everyone knows is valid, but the person named in it is a top performer. A board member is weighing whether to challenge a decision that is technically profitable but ethically compromised. A young employee sees misconduct, opens the reporting channel, hesitates, and closes it again. A founder tells herself she will “deal with it later,” because the business is under pressure, the targets are tight, and the timing is bad.

This is how ethics usually arrives. Not as a grand speech. Not as a framed value on a wall. Not as a polished paragraph in a sustainability report. It arrives in pressure. In ambiguity. In silence. In the private moment when something is at stake, the easier option is to rationalise, delay, protect, or look away.

That is what made the seventh edition of the RBC Susty Dialogue Series so urgent. Held under the theme “Doing The Right Thing – Ethics and Integrity in Business,” the conversation moved beyond compliance language and into the lived realities of choice, power, governance, culture, and consequence. Moderator Susan Njoroge opened the evening with a piercing truth: doing the right thing is easy to say until something is at stake. From there, the room was invited into a more difficult question: when pressure is real, what do individuals, leaders, boards, and organisations actually do?

The urgency of that question is not theoretical. According to KPMG’s 2024 Survey of Sustainability Reporting, only 25% of companies reported on SDG 6 – the goal focused on peace, justice, and strong institutions – despite how deeply ethics, accountability, and institutional strength shape business sustainability. In Kenya, the trust landscape is equally revealing: 72% of Kenyans say they trust business, yet 70% also report a moderate or higher sense of grievance, believing business and government often serve narrow interests while ordinary people struggle. The message is clear: organisations may still have credibility, but that credibility is under moral pressure.

And when it comes to speaking up, the gap between principle and practice becomes even sharper. A 2024 global EY integrity survey, reported by Reuters, found that 54% of people who used internal whistleblowing channels felt pressured not to do so. Only 26% of staff said it had become easier to speak up, even though many leaders believed progress had been made. Nearly 40% of all respondents – and about two-thirds of board members – said they would consider behaving unethically to improve their career or financial position. In other words, many systems that claim to value integrity still feel unsafe when integrity is tested. (Reuters)

Practitioners’ Guidance

Reﬂecting on the RBC Susty Dialogue Series Seven, held on 7 May 2026 at Baraza Media Lab in Nairobi, the event explored ethics and integrity not as abstract moral ideas, but as lived disciplines that shape hiring, promotions, governance, whistleblowing, public disclosure, leadership conduct, and organisational culture. The discussion brought together governance practitioners, business leaders, sustainability actors, organisational culture champions, and members of the wider responsible business ecosystem to examine what it really means to do the right thing when the pressure to compromise is real.

In her opening remarks, Susan Njoroge grounded the room in both personal reﬂection and social reality. Drawing from real-life experiences involving bribery, moral choice, and public accountability, she challenged participants to think beyond slogans and policies and confront the ways corruption, quiet handshakes, rationalisation, and silence become normalised. Her framing set the tone for an evening that was less about reputation management and more about character under pressure.

Across the panel, Dr Stefan Groschl, Nkirote Njiru, and Caroline Okong’o unpacked the subject from different but deeply connected angles. Ethics was described as the work of asking what is right or wrong and what responsibilities individuals and organisations carry. Integrity was framed as honesty, authenticity, and the alignment between values and behaviour. The conversation then moved into the places where ethics becomes visible in practice: who gets hired, who gets promoted, how complaints are handled, whether leaders confront misconduct or quietly protect it, and whether organisations truly live the values they publish.

One of the strongest threads running through the discussion was that culture is rarely accidental. It is shaped by what organisations reward, tolerate, confront, and quietly allow to continue. The panel also stressed that governance is not just about structures on paper. It is about oversight that is credible, values that are implemented consistently, and leadership that is willing to act even when the cost is uncomfortable. Audience reﬂections extended this further into questions of fraud, pressure, rationalisation, shareholder supremacy, human behaviour, and the challenge of defining expected conduct clearly enough for every person in an organisation to understand.

The breakout sessions then translated the conversation into practical action. Participants explored how companies can maintain integrity in sustainability commitments, how to build cultures rooted in ethics, and what it takes to create workplaces where people feel safe enough to speak up against unethical behaviour. The groups surfaced practical needs: clear commitments, embedded purpose, measurable KPIs, accountability mechanisms, strong systems, reporting channels, anonymity protections, transparent procedures, and deeper staff involvement in ethical processes.

When Integrity Is Expensive: How to Build an Ethical Business in Practice

So what does this mean for leaders, boards, founders, and teams trying to build organisations that can actually be trusted?

1. Define what “doing the right thing” means in behavioural terms.

Many organisations have values. Far fewer have translated those values into clear, operational expectations. If integrity is not defined in practical language, it becomes too vague to guide real decisions. People need to know not just what the organisation says it believes, but what behaviour is expected when pressure rises, when trade-offs appear, and when reporting wrongdoing becomes uncomfortable.

2. Build ethics into purpose, not just policy.

The May dialogue repeatedly returned to the question of purpose: why does an organisation exist, and what does the individual live for? When profit becomes the only meaningful end, it begins to justify almost any means. But when the purpose is wider – involving people, stewardship, community, fairness, and long-term value – ethics becomes part of the direction, not an afterthought.

3. Treat culture as a system, not a mood.

Culture is not built through town hall speeches alone. It is designed through recruitment, onboarding, performance scorecards, incentives, investigations, governance structures, and consequences. The report showed clearly that ethical culture grows or collapses in the gap between what an organisation says and what it repeatedly allows. If high performers are protected at the expense of principle, employees notice. If leaders say one thing and reward another, culture learns the truth quickly.

4. Make speak-up systems safe, credible, and usable.

A reporting channel that people do not trust is not a safeguard; it is a symbol. The breakout groups stressed that employees need clear standards, multiple reporting avenues, protections from victimisation, options for anonymity where appropriate, and transparent follow-through once a concern is raised. The wider evidence supports that urgency. If more than half of whistleblowers feel pressured not to report, then ethical organisations must treat psychological safety as an operational priority, not a communications exercise. (Reuters)

5. Reward the right behaviour, not just the visible result.

One of the clearest insights from the panel was that ethics is shaped by what organisations reward. If only numbers matter, people will learn to protect numbers. If organisational health, fairness, and values-aligned conduct also matter, then people begin to understand that how results are achieved is just as important as what is achieved. Ethical organisations do not merely punish misconduct; they reward courage, consistency, transparency, and principled leadership.

6. Remember that ethics is not private.

Perhaps the most enduring message of the evening was that integrity is a form of capital. It is reputation capital, social capital, leadership capital, and institutional capital. It may not always show its value immediately, but sooner or later, it is tested publicly. In a trust environment where Kenyans still place significant confidence in business yet simultaneously express deep grievance about narrow interests and inequality, organisations cannot afford to treat ethics as internal optics alone. Integrity travels. It shapes trust, legitimacy, and long-term resilience. (Edelman)

The real challenge, then, is not whether organisations know the language of ethics. Most do. The challenge is whether they are willing to build systems, cultures, and leadership habits strong enough to carry that language when it becomes inconvenient. That is what this dialogue made unmistakably clear. Doing the right thing is not a slogan. It is a repeated choice – in governance, in reporting, in accountability, in reward structures, in culture, and in the quiet personal decisions made when no one is watching. And if organisations want to be trusted not just for what they produce, but for how they behave, that choice can no longer remain optional.

From Values to Systems: Practical Pathways for Building Ethical, Accountable, and Speak-Up Organisations

Ethics and integrity do not become real simply because they are named in policies, values statements, or leadership speeches. They become real when they are translated into clear commitments, visible behaviours, practical systems, and credible processes that can hold under pressure. In any organisation, the true test lies in whether people know what is expected, whether structures support what is right, whether accountability is active, and whether employees feel protected enough to raise concerns when something is wrong. The practical considerations below speak directly to what it takes to sustain integrity in commitments, build an ethical organisational culture, and create workplaces where speaking up is not only encouraged, but genuinely possible.

How can companies maintain integrity in their sustainability commitments while dealing with the reality of rising complexity and competing demands?

Define Sustainability Commitments Clearly
Companies should begin by clearly defining what their sustainability commitments actually are. If commitments are vague, it becomes difficult to uphold them with integrity or hold anyone accountable for them.
Embed Sustainability in the Purpose of the Business
Sustainability should not sit on the side as a separate idea. It needs to be embedded in the purpose of the company so that it shapes decisions more naturally, even when demands are competing.
Comply with Basic Legal Requirements
Companies must at the very least comply with the law. Legal compliance is a basic starting point and forms part of maintaining integrity in sustainability practice.
Communicate Commitments Clearly Internally and Externally
There is a need to communicate sustainability commitments clearly within the organization and also to stakeholders. Everyone should understand what the company has committed to and what those commitments mean in practice.
Communicate Values Across All Levels
Values should be communicated just as clearly to the board as to the lowest level of the organisation. Integrity is harder to maintain when expectations are only understood at the top and not throughout the institution.
Role Modelling Matters
Leaders and decision-makers need to model the commitments they expect others to follow. Sustainability commitments gain credibility when they are visibly lived out, not only stated.
Set Clear KPIs on the Commitments
Setting measurable KPIs around sustainability commitments is important. For example, if a company says it will reduce its carbon footprint, it should state by how much and within what period.
Know Which Frameworks and Metrics Apply to the Business
Companies need to understand which sustainability frameworks and metrics are relevant to their own business. This helps avoid vague reporting and ensures that progress is being assessed in a way that fits the nature of the organization.
Put in Place Accountability Mechanisms
Have accountability mechanisms. These help companies deal with the reality of complexity and keep sustainability commitments from becoming empty statements.
Monitor Commitments and Progress
The accountability mechanisms should help monitor the commitments and track progress toward them. This allows the company to see whether it is moving in the right direction or falling behind.
Track and Evaluate Implementation
There is a need to track and evaluate implementation continuously. This includes assessing whether the commitments are actually being carried through in practice.
Take into Account Both Positive and Negative Feedback
In tracking implementation, companies should consider both the positive and the negative. Honest evaluation is important if integrity is to be maintained.
Gauge Progress and Engage With It
Gauge the progress being made and actively engage with what the findings are showing, rather than collecting information and leaving it unused.
Give Reasons for Failure and Success
Where targets are met or missed, companies should be able to explain why. Giving reasons for both failure and success helps strengthen transparency and learning.
Ensure the Results Hold Integrity
The results themselves must hold integrity. In other words, companies should not only produce results, but ensure those results are credible, honest, and aligned with what was actually committed.
Be More Transparent
Transparency is an important part of sustaining integrity. Being more transparent helps build trust, stronger bonds, and a sense of shared ownership or shared stake in the commitments.
Have Clearly Defined Consequences and Corrective Actions
There must be clearly defined consequences and corrective actions where commitments are breached. Without consequences, there is a real risk that those commitments will simply sit on a shelf, and nobody will care about them.

What is needed to create an organisational culture that is ethical and based on integrity?

Start from the Top and Cascade Down
An ethical culture must start from the board and leadership level and ﬂow through to the rest of the organisation. The tone set at the top inﬂuences what is normalised, what is rewarded, and what becomes part of everyday practice at every other level.
Leadership Must Model the Culture
Leaders at the highest level must model what they expect others to practice at the lowest level. Ethical culture is strengthened when people see that leadership is living out the same standards it is asking others to uphold.
Leadership Should Be Living According to the Vision and Purpose
Leaders must be seen to live according to the organisation’s intended vision and purpose. Integrity becomes difficult to sustain if those entrusted with leadership are not aligned with what the organisation says it stands for.
Communication Is Essential
Communication is a critical requirement. Ethical culture cannot be built where values, expectations, and standards are not clearly and consistently communicated across the organisation.
Create Space for Freedom of Expression and Discussion
Where culture is weak or not clearly established, there needs to be freedom of expression and discussion. People should be able to speak, raise concerns, and engage openly if ethical culture is to take root meaningfully.
Be Clear on What the Organisation Stands For
Decide clearly what the organisation requires and stands for. Clarity on what is expected helps shape culture and can also inﬂuence performance positively.
Have Strong Systems, Charters, and Policies
Systems, charters, and policies need to be very clear. The group described this as being of utmost necessity, because ethical culture needs structures that guide behaviour and support consistency.
Use Clear Mechanisms to Support the Culture
Have mechanisms that reinforce the culture in practical ways. These mechanisms help translate ethical expectations from principle into day-to-day organisational practice.
Consider Whether Values Can Be Taught and Reinforced
This reﬂected the view that ethical culture may require deliberate learning, reinforcement, and continuous shaping, rather than assuming people automatically embody the desired values.
Establish Ethics and Values at the Recruitment Stage
Ethics and value systems should begin to be established at the interview and recruitment stage. This means organisations should not wait until after hiring to begin addressing integrity and ethical expectations.
Carry Out Due Diligence in Recruitment
There is a need for due diligence. Careful screening at the entry level helps organisations bring in people who are more likely to align with the culture they want to build.
Put Controls in Place
There is a need for controls. Ethical culture is supported by practical safeguards that guide conduct and reduce room for compromise.
Address Conﬂict of Interest with Integrity
Conﬂict of interest must be managed with integrity. This means not only recognising such situations, but handling them transparently and responsibly.
Require Declaration of Conﬂicts
People should be required to declare conﬂicts of interest so that these can be addressed early.
Use Checks and Balances to Eliminate Conﬂicts Early
There is a need for checks and balances to identify and deal with conﬂicts early on. These systems help prevent issues from growing and help protect the organisation’s integrity.
Work Within Proper Reporting Frameworks
Proper reporting frameworks are necessary. These provide structure, strengthen accountability, and help ensure that concerns and issues are handled appropriately.
Make Transparency a Standard
Transparency must be standard rather than optional. A culture based on integrity requires openness in how decisions are made, how issues are handled, and how people are held accountable.
Support Security Within the System
This suggests the need for systems that make people feel protected within the organisational environment as ethical standards are implemented and maintained.

What would it take, practically, to build a workplace where people feel safe and genuinely empowered to speak up against unethical behaviour? What is one thing your organisation could do tomorrow?

Have Leadership Speak Transparently About Decisions
Leadership should speak openly and transparently about decisions. When leaders model openness, it creates trust and helps employees feel that concerns can be raised in a workplace where issues are not hidden or dismissed.
Put Clear Policies and Standards in Place
Organisations need clear policies about the standards expected. This helps ensure that when someone raises an issue, they are not seen as speaking against a person, but rather speaking in reference to an already established standard.
Anchor Reporting in Existing Standards
Employees should be able to raise concerns because there is already a known standard in place. This makes reporting more objective and helps reduce the idea that a report is merely personal or targeted.
Have a Clear Reporting Structure
There is a need for a structure through which concerns can be communicated. A workplace cannot expect people to speak up confidently if there is no clear process showing where, how, and through whom issues should be raised.
Create Different Reporting Avenues for Different Types of Incidents
Have avenues suited to different kinds of incidents. Not all matters are the same, so organizations should design reporting channels that respond appropriately to the nature and sensitivity of each case.
Ensure Reporting Mechanisms Do Not Victimize People
The reporting process must not victimize the person who comes forward. If people believe they will suffer for reporting unethical behaviour, they are far less likely to speak up.
Allow Anonymous Reporting Where Appropriate
There is value in anonymous reporting. Giving people the option to report anonymously can help reduce fear, lower bias around the report, and make it easier for individuals to come forward, especially in sensitive situations.
Communicate When Open Reporting Is Necessary
Organizations should also communicate why some matters may need to be raised openly. Where open reporting is necessary, employees should understand why that is the case and how it will be handled.
Elaborate on the Procedures That Follow a Report
Clearly elaborate the procedures that will be applied once an issue is reported. People are more likely to speak up when they know what will happen next and when the process does not feel uncertain or arbitrary.
Make the Process Considerate to the Person Reporting
The system should be considerate of the person who wants to report. The organization should think through the experience of the reporter and ensure that the process is not intimidating, confusing, or unfair.
Think Through How the Process Will Be Handled
Think carefully about how the reporting process itself will be handled from beginning to end. A safe speaking-up culture depends not only on encouraging people to report, but also on having a fair, thoughtful, and credible process for receiving, reviewing, and acting on what is raised.
Involve Staff More in the Process
One practical step organizations could take immediately is to involve staff more intentionally in the process. Creating a safe and ethical workplace cannot remain only at the policy or leadership level; staff need to feel included in how systems, communication, and reporting processes are shaped. Greater staff involvement can help build trust, improve clarity, and make people feel that the structures in place are not being imposed on them, but are being built with them in mind.

As we reﬂect on the questions, tensions, and practical responses that shaped this dialogue, one truth stands out: ethics and integrity are not optional extras in business – they are foundational. They shape trust, culture, credibility, and the long-term health of institutions. From boardrooms and leadership teams to reporting channels, onboarding processes, and everyday employee decisions, doing the right thing is not sustained by intention alone, but by the systems, behaviours, and standards that organisations choose to build and protect. When integrity is clear, visible, and consistently upheld, organisations do more than avoid risk – they build legitimacy, confidence, and resilience.

The evening also reminded us that ethics is never only about policies on paper. It is about how people are treated, what leaders model, what organisations reward, what they tolerate, and whether individuals feel safe enough to speak when something is wrong. Practical action matters just as much as principle. Whether it is defining values clearly, embedding ethics into purpose, creating safe reporting mechanisms, strengthening governance, or involving staff more intentionally in organisational processes, progress is made when organisations move from aspiration to practice. Every thoughtful decision, every transparent process, and every act of accountability helps shape a culture where integrity can hold even under pressure.

Looking ahead, this dialogue is only the beginning. We encourage leaders, boards, practitioners, and teams across sectors to continue reﬂecting deeply on what they are building, what they are rewarding, and what doing the right thing must look like in practice. The invitation is not merely to talk about ethics, but to design for it, lead with it, and live it consistently. As the RBC Susty Dialogue Series continues, the hope is that these conversations will keep moving organisations from awareness to action, and from stated values to cultures, systems, and choices that can truly be trusted.