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The initial response to Sony’s rootkit embedded in its music CD’s has been characterized as “fierce” but this reaction was largely at the personal consumer level. Now, as my colleague, Al Lunsford, points out “the corporate implications are being discussed. And Sony may not have just shot themselves in the foot, but perhaps the whole music industry.”

How? Ingrid Marson and Grame Weardon in a CNet post reports that corporate IT departments are reacting to the threat of Trojan horse viruses coming in via the rootkits, realizing that employees are bringing music CDs to work and installing them on their computers. This has the potential for infecting an entire corporate computer system. Some companies are reviewing their CD installation policy. Do they forbid the installation of personal CDs? Do they disengage the autorun features of CDs? Whatever the outcome, companies are watching the situation closely. If this is only a Sony issue, then the solution is straightforward. If it is a widespread industry issue, then companies will probably resort to more strenuous measures.

Systems thinkers call this the “law of intended consequences.” In the agrarian world of the Scriptures, this was one of the laws of the harvest. Many are aware of the phrase, “You reap what you sow.” (Galatians 6:7) A corollary of this principle is that you always reap more than you sow. Our actions will always have wider consequences than we imagined and in ways that we didn’t imagine. Sony is now realizing this.

We can’t predict what the precise consequences of our actions, but we can affect the character of what happens. Yet another law of the harvest is that you always reap the same kind as you sow. Apple seeds don’t produce oranges. Bad seed will produce bad fruit. If your actions flow from a core of exemplary character, noble purpose, and good values the consequences that spread will reflect that good DNA.

This fiasco with Sony demonstrates that the opposite is true as well.

What is the lesson for business leadership? Pay attention to your personal and corporate character. Decisions made out of strategic cleverness without regard to character will come back to haunt you.