Entrepreneur

The Ethics Coach on Dealing With Backstabbing

What to do when someone you trust betrays you and how to address a competitor who cops to unethical behavior.
Do you have an ethical dilemma?
Write to The Ethics Coach at ethics@entrepreneur.com.

Q: How do you deal with a person who moves in on your clients or opportunities after you invited him into your inner circle? Worst of all, he did it by bad-mouthing me.

That's the danger of giving a potential competitor a seat at your table before you know how he or, with no loyalty owed--and that he saw your clients and prospects as fair game, with smack talk as his go-to marketing strategy.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Entrepreneur

Entrepreneur3 min read
Sunco Industries Co., Ltd
Following a record-breaking performance by its stock market, Japan topped off 2023 with a third straight quarter of improving business sentiment as its largest firms continued to grow more optimistic. In the Bank of Japan’s final ‘tankan’ survey of t
Entrepreneur2 min read
The Loss That Changed My Company
When I was 17, I founded a company to save police officers’ lives. We distribute and manufacture body armor and other protective equipment. And yet, I will admit: For the first eight years, this work felt abstract—like watching war unfold on the nigh
Entrepreneur2 min read
3 Ways to Build Real Businesses on the Side
If you have marketable skills, but you aren’t sure how to spin them into a business, try teaming up with someone from an entirely different industry. Together, you could pinpoint opportunities for innovation. That’s what Gene Caballero did. Back in 2

Related Books & Audiobooks