What Diana Nyad and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Teach Us About the Ethics of Heroism
The Week in Ethics
What Diana Nyad and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Teach Us About the Ethics of Heroism
Heroes inspire. Maybe that is why we keep looking for them in all the wrong places. A recent Newsweek column, “The League of Fallen Idols,” references Roger Clemens’s perjury mistrial. We celebrate superhuman performance on the playing field, the mountains of the Tour de France, the court, and on the green. And the reality is […]
read more »What The Economist Got Wrong About Promoting Women
“The wrong way to promote women,” in a recent issue of The Economist, dismisses the serious inequity of women holding 1 out of 10 corporate board seats in Europe, and 1.5 out of 10 in U.S. companies by saying nurture, not a glass ceiling, holds women back. Therefore, quotas — action many governments in Europe […]
read more »Programs Like Panera Cares and the Implications for Corporate Responsibility
When I heard Ronald Shaich, Executive Chairman of Panera Bread, say “bring your humanity to work” recently, it suggested a way of operating that could make corporate crises a thing of the past. That comment has rich implications for ethical leadership and building corporate culture so that an organization flourishes. It also speaks to the […]
read more »The Ethics of Compartmentalization and the Undoing of Rep. Anthony Weiner
The resignation June 16, 2011 of former Rep. Anthony D. Weiner (D-NY) sounded more like a political stump speech than an understanding of what happens when a leader loses trust. He commented that “the middle class story of New York is my story,” and expressed appreciation to his parents “who instilled values that have carried […]
read more »Memorial Day: Veterans, Natural Disaster Victims, and Massey’s Victims
Memorial Day in the United States honors those we have lost, who have fought for their country – and whether they died in battle or decades later – we honor their service. I think of the flag moving in the breeze beside my dad’s grave, and those of millions of other men and women. But, […]
read more »Ethical Leadership and How it Mitigates Risk
Problems are inevitable. Crises aren’t. The best way to prevent problems from escalating into a crisis? Ethical Leadership; it is one of the most effective risk mitigation strategies. Ethical leadership draws on a high level of emotional intelligence (EQ) and the capacity to own an organization’s values as well as one’s own, linking the means […]
read more »Deutsche Bank Sued as a Slumlord
Deutsche, was sued this week by the City of Los Angeles who called the world’s fourth largest bank one of the city’s largest slumlords. Deutsche foreclosed on more than 2,000 properties throughout Los Angeles in a four-year period; the suit alleges that many tenants were evicted illegally, water and power shut off, and the bank […]
read more »The Ethics of Being Wrong: Ghosn, Greenspan, and Dodger Owners
A recent short video of a TED conference presentation by Kathryn Schulz talked about being wrong. Schulz, who wrote Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error, said at TED that we hate to be wrong; we do all we can to avoid thinking about our being wrong. We think that getting something wrong means […]
read more »The Ethics of Willful Blindness
Corporate meltdowns, says Princeton psychologist John Darley, require thousands of people all failing to see the moral implications of their work. “You become blind…to yourself…to your better self.” As long as everything is framed as an economic argument, we don’t have to confront the moral and social effects of our decisions, according to Stanford psychologist […]
read more »Alexandra Wallace, UCLA, and the Ethics of “American Manners”
Social media has the capacity to hold us accountable globally in seconds for our biases, poor judgment, racist comments, and stereotypic generalities; the consequences of which can change lives as dramatically as plowing through a crowded sidewalk in a speeding Ford F-150 truck. But once racism is thrust out of the closet in such a […]
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Gael developed a very effective research-based professional development program using creative real-life scenarios to help business coaches better understand when to recognize potential ethical conflicts. Her program energized and enlightened both new and “seasoned” coaches. The event was recognized as the highlight of the year.