On January 15, 2009, Captain Chesley Sullenberger had to make a series of critical decisions in 208 seconds.  As a result of his actions, he saved the lives of all 155 individuals on a crippled US Airways flight that had to ditch in New York’s Hudson River. In an interview (washingtonpost.com) conducted by Doug Feaver, Sullenberger talks about the qualities...

Okay, boys and girls, it’s time for this week’s dilemma. You invite a friend to lunch.  Great conversation, terrific food, the check comes and the person you invited grabs the check first. Who should pay, the inviter or the person who grabs the check first? That’s just one of a plethora of ethical dilemmas “Larry David” faces on the HBO...

Last Monday (Oct. 12) I brought up the ethical issue facing Charles Rangel, the House Democrat from New York. Mr. Rangel has been under investigation for the past year regarding some questionable financial reporting. Recently, The House Ethics Committee has expanded their investigation into Mr. Rangel’s failure to “…report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income and assets from 2002 through 2006,” The...

Rationalizations, I collect ‘em like baseball cards. “Everybody does it”; “They owe it to me,” two of my All Stars. Here’s what one client told me in a pre-talk interview justifying his company unethically obtaining inside information on a bid to get the jump on the competition:  “You don’t understand, Jim. We don’t want to do these things, but if we...

Whenever I’ve had a question about health care, or check up on President Obama’s progress; whenever I want to get the straight dope about people, pundits and policy issues, I pay a visit to PolitiFact.com. Who is PolitiFact? PolitiFact is a site owned and operated by The St. Petersburg Times  whose purpose is to help anyone,  » Read more about: Who is PolitiFact and Can They...

New York’s Democratic Representative Charles B. Rangel, chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, has a bit of an ethical issue. The House Ethics Committee has expanded their investigation into Mr. Rangel’s failure to “…report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income and assets from 2002 through 2006,” The New York Times wrote (Oct. 9). The good news:  Last Wednesday, House Democrats blocked efforts...

When I woke my wife Friday morning to tell her the news that President Obama had won the Nobel Prize for Peace, her first reaction mirrored that of many: “For what?” In an early morning speech Friday, Mr. Obama made clear, “I do not view [receiving this Prize] as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather an affirmation of American...

In honor of the baseball playoffs, I offer this story, as it appeared in May, 2008. In the early 1940’s, Norman Corwin was nearly as well known as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and much admired. Author Ray Bradbury calls Corwin, “…the greatest director, the greatest writer and the greatest producer in the history of radio.  His brilliant dramas, fantasies, and documentaries...

A good friend of mine owns an art gallery with a peaceful and immensely satisfying restaurant currently serving lunch. “I would like you and your wife to have dinner on me,” Frank says.  “We’re trying out a new menu.  Just tell me what you think of the food and service.” My first reaction – great a free dinner and all for...

When it comes to apologia, creative people have the edge on most of us regarding imaginative rationalizations.  However, sometimes the more creative they are, the more cockamamie the reasoning. Thirty-one years after he fled the United States after pleading guilty to having had sex with a 13-year-old girl, Roman Polanski has been arrested in Switzerland and is being held for...