Gordon Massie was your average, guy-next-door, high-yield bond and investment manager who happened to work at… American International Group (AIG). (Whoa, wait-a-second, Jim!  Don’t tell me you’re making one of those high-finance, me-first, Wall Street types Ethical Hero of the Month?) Six months ago I received a call from Gordon and what he told me over the next hour of...

At the lowest point in America’s war for independence from Great Britain, General George Washington read an inspiring essay written by British-born sympathizer Thomas Paine.  Entitled, The American Crisis, it began like this – “These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but...

Although faith is not an ethical value, its importance in driving ethical conduct should not be underestimated. In fact, the word faith comes from the Latin fidere meaning ‘to trust.’ According to the Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion, “Faith is an attitude or belief which goes beyond the available evidence.” Trusting can sometimes be difficult, but it can uplift and strengthen our resolve...

In August 2009, Specialist Michael Crawford tried to commit suicide by way of a handful of painkillers with a chaser of whiskey.  “It is just a dark place. Being in the W.T.U. is worse than being in Iraq.” The W.T.U. is the Warrior Transition Battalion, “a special unit,” the NY Times writes, “created to provide closely managed care for soldiers with physical wounds...

“Just because the microphone in front of you amplifies your voice around the world is no reason to think we have any more wisdom than we had when our voices could reach only from one end of the bar to the other.” —Edward R. Murrow During the pioneering days of broadcast journalism, Ed Murrow was the gold standard of journalists. Known...

HBO and Comedy Central are missing a Golden Opportunity. Rather than pair boxing champ Floyd Mayweather against… whoever’s left, they should match political, social satirist Jon Stewart against social, political satirist-commentator Bill Maher. Billed as The Grumble in the Jungle (hey, it’s marketing), it just might score major pay-per-view dollars. Let’s look at the stats – Maher ranks 38th on Comedy Central’s list...

I have this friend, Amanda.  She’s smart, funny, young and passionate about a great many things, but… at the top of the list would have to be human rights. Amanda is so fervent about the rights of others that she started her own non-profit devoted to creating an awareness of, connection to and action for a variety of human rights issues.  » Read more about: This One’s...

You’d look like this too, if you had to sit before Chairman Carl Levin and the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations looking into alleged improprieties of investments and investment procedures by Wall Street banking and investment giant Goldman Sachs.  Get a load of the document bundle sitting in front of (self-named) “Fabulous Fab” Fabrice Tourre, the architect of the investment vehicle under SEC...

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  – Matthew 7:12, (King James) The Bible “I won’t tolerate racial profiling… We must enforce the law evenly, and without regard to skin color, accent, or social status. We must prove the alarmists and the cynics wrong.”  – Jan Brewer, Arizona state governor Since signing Senate Bill 1070 into law last...

No, those aren’t the Cartwrights and we’re not on the Ponderosa. This is what I wrote concerning Honesty and Trust in America on March 28, 2008: When it comes to corruption, the Four Horsemen of the Ethical Apocalypse remain:  Money, Power, Influence and Arrogance. In a 2006 survey that I conducted with Zogby International and the Center for Cultural Studies and Analysis,  » Read more about: Still Riding High...