Malfeasance

“Malfeasance” is basically another term for “bad behavior,” but when we talk about malfeasance in the corporate world, we’re usually referring to behavior that is so bad—either ethically or legally—that it causes serious damage.

For example, embezzling is considered malfeasance. So is falsifying financial documents, lying about earnings, leaking or selling proprietary information, misrepresenting stock performance, etc. Basically, if our organization or anyone in it willfully and intentionally does something shady or illegal that results in damage to another person, another organization, or even our own organization, it’s malfeasance. And if it can be proven, it can be prosecuted.

So unless we’re looking to turn our company into the next Enron, which hopefully we’re not, it’s probably a good idea to stay away from any type of behavior that could be seen as malfeasant.