Johnson & Johnson on the Defensive for Reputation Hits
The Week in Ethics
Johnson & Johnson on the Defensive for Reputation Hits
Update, October 1, 2010: Johnson & Johnson’s long reputation battle continues. CEO William C. Weldon admitted to a congressional committee that the company failed to maintain “our high quality standards” and is spending $100 million to fix quality problems that led to last spring’s recall, which are part of a series of recalls J&J has […]
read more »“Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me. Aren’t you?”
Today the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Committee on Standards and Privileges began an official investigation into Peter Robinson, the leader of Northern Ireland, and his wife Iris Robinson, a member of the House of Commons and Northern Ireland Assembly. Mrs. Robinson is embroiled in a scandal involving an affair she had in 2008 with a then-teenager […]
read more »Government’s Misconduct Trumps Charges Against Broadcom Executives
When last we left Broadcom’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) problems two months ago, (Broadcom’s Backdaters: The Trials of Many Tears) several former executives had pled guilty to a felony, settled with the SEC or were either on trial (former CFO William Ruehle) or awaiting trial (co-founder Henry Nicholas III). The Department of Justice was […]
read more »The Ethics of Obesity Part III: Please, Something Good to Eat
Since 1980 U.S. obesity rates have doubled for adults and tripled for children; this epidemic cannot be dismissed as a failure of willpower or exercise. Obesity can be linked to many factors including feeding practices in infancy, imprinted genes, metabolic issues, fructose, anxiety disorders, depression, “behavioral sympathy,” race, trauma, eating certain restaurant and other food […]
read more »The Ethics of Obesity Part II: Dying for Fast Food?
Obesity has a deeply emotional aspect that defies easy solutions. It remains to be seen what ethical leadership will emerge from the food, beverage, restaurant, and fast food industries in really addressing their part in the obesity crisis. The industries are being politically correct donating money and having promotions to advertise healthy life choices. They […]
read more »Tiger Woods: The Ethics of Golf vs. the Golfer
Update December 4, 2011: Tiger Woods has won his first golf tournament since the scandal this column addressed two years ago. Golfers adhere to a code of conduct unique in sports. From tee to green, they referee themselves. Expected to follow the rules, if they break any, they call penalties on themselves. It is the […]
read more »The Ethics of Obesity Part One: CPK’s Gotcha Menu
Restaurant CEOs have to determine what leadership, if any, their companies will take in America’s obesity crisis. More than two-thirds of Americans adults are categorized as obese or overweight; mounting medical research links eating habits to several preventable diseases. Estimates are that most Americans eat out at least 50% each week. Restaurants’ leaders have a […]
read more »The Congressional Record: Genentech’s House Organ?
Genentech, the biotechnology behemoth, has been caught ghostwriting and mass marketing its ideas on health care reform and putting them into the mouths of a few dozen congressmen, many of whom entered the statements into the Congressional Record as their own. The repetitiveness of the statements triggered a New York Times reporter’s investigation which found […]
read more »World Series Meltdown: McCourts Strike Out
Frank and Jamie McCourt are a classic case study in how to abdicate leadership and undermine the reputation of a franchise by trashing their own. They presented themselves to Los Angeles five years ago as a duo committed to building the Dodgers franchise into the greatest ballclub. Their timing stripping away their marriage’s veneer in […]
read more »Broadcom’s Backdaters: The Trials of Many Tears
Options backdating is about failure of ethical leadership. And, according to a study released in August 2009, the act of uncovering and disclosing stock option backdating can lead to improvements in management and financial performance. Aren’t leaders who lie about options backdating more likely to cut other corners? Even if their goals undermine their organizations’ […]
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I had the great fortune of working with Gael O’Brien as I prepared to give a Ted Talk…. Her positive reinforcement, combined with gentle redirection, allowed me to bring forth a story that even I didn’t know I could tell. The lessons she taught me ….will be carried into my career for many years to come. Importantly, Gael was committed to taking the journey with me to ensure that I put forth my very best self.