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Personal Ethics
« Previous EntriesDon’t manage impressions
Saturday, January 7th, 2012Continuing my Friday series on keeping your business out of court, I want to touch on a subject that’s been bugging me of late. Recently, I’ve been called upon to deal with a group of professionals who didn’t handle a sensitive situation particularly well. Their behavior offers a lesson that smart businesspeople would [...]
Chicago anchorwoman’s Santa apology flopped!
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011Chicago Fox anchorwoman Robin Robinson probably wishes she could hide out at the North Pole after encouraging parents not to let their kids believe in Santa. “Stop trying to convince your kids that Santa is Santa,” Robinson said to cohost Bob Sirott during a segment on December 2nd. “That’s why they have these high [...]
Should you have to be brutal to succeed in business?
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011TheStreet.com is running a new “Fast Track” series that features high-powered women in the financial industry. They invited me to write a piece on Abby Joseph Cohen, the Goldman Sachs economist and financial analyst who’s been known for decades, and sometimes criticized, for her unfailing bullishness. Ms. Cohen rose to national prominence when [...]
We all bear some blame for The News of the World
Friday, July 8th, 2011Two days from now, The News of the World, Britain’s oldest Sunday tabloid, will publish its final edition. The tabloid’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, decided to close the paper down when it was revealed that TNoW investigators had hacked into the cellphones of a missing teenaged girl and the families of victims of the subway [...]
Don’t look at vicious idiots - it only encourages them!
Thursday, March 24th, 2011Waltz king Richard Strauss once famously quipped, “Never look at the trombones. It only encourages them.” His witticism came to mind this morning as I read news coverage of George Lopez’s attack on Kirstie Alley’s premiere performance on Dancing with the Stars.
I didn’t watch the show, but I’ve seen day-after clips [...]
Is it ethical to send workers into a nuclear meltdown?
Thursday, March 17th, 2011The situation in Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant continues to deteriorate, with explosions in several reactors and radiation levels rising. As of this writing, a mere fifty workers remain at the plant, struggling to contain the disaster. I find myself wondering if it’s right to ask anyone to stay onsite and, simultaneously, [...]
Is grade inflation ethical?
Monday, February 7th, 2011A young woman (let’s call her Cindy) who graduated from college last spring and was lucky enough to find a job got the shock of her life when she received her first year-end evaluation. Cindy’s boss came down hard, belitting both the quality and quantity of work she produced and faulting her for spending [...]
The ethics of fan-dom
Thursday, January 27th, 2011If you’re as sick as I am of the constant bad news and wrangling from the business and political sectors, it may be time for us to talk about something a little lighter. The Super Bowl is coming up, presenting a dilemma for diehard fans whose teams didn’t make the cut. If you’re [...]
How far can we trust the accounting profession?
Tuesday, December 21st, 2010The Wall Street Journal reports that, earlier today, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Ernst & Young LLP, accusing the accounting firm of helping Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. hide its precarious financial situation from investors before its ultimate collapse in 2008. Cuomo’s suit alleged that Ernst & Young [...]
Why hasn’t Hearst Corp. helped Helen Thomas apologize?
Thursday, June 10th, 2010Helen Thomas used to be one of the most powerful people in Washington. The grande dame of the White House press corps played a starring role in five decades of Presidential press conferences. She was smart, tough, and articulate, and a worthy challenger to ten different Administrations - until she made some appalling [...]
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