I think the real question is how much are you risking if you stay silent. The worst case scenario if you speak up is the losing of your job, but the worst case from accepting an ethically dubious task is maybe even going to prison. Still I don’t think the phrase “speak up” is appropriate, but rather ask. So how does one ask?
In the reading, the intern, Susan, is asked to hide information from competitors to glean competitive information. She fears that addressing her trepidations to her boss may have her internship revoked. First of all, I do not think this would happen. This is the worst case scenario, but she was hired not for her ability to snoop but for her industry knowledge. And if she poses her questions as clarifications, if she is fired for that, perhaps this company was not a fit in the long run, but the chances of that are close to nil. So Susan has to recognize that she needs to ask for herself and that it can be done. She should recognize, though, that going behind her boss’s back to other executives might not be the right move. So she should make a plan to talk to Mr. Moon. The way to do that is to pose her worries as a question. Something around the lines of, “Hey Mr. Moon, thanks for sending me the prompts. I am almost ready to start talking to market players. I had a quick question before I do. I took a market research class, and in it we learned that being honest and upfront produces the best results in interviews. I wonder about the optics of withholding my association with Zantech. If the competitors find out (it is on my LinkedIn), it could be bad for us,” would do. This and other clarifications should easily be accepted by Mr. Moon.
This is a tough scenario since so much seems at stake, but in reality so little actually is. Recognizing that is helpful to speak up and lessening the threat of speaking up by making a plan should serve to calm the waters every time.
