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...

Wade Clark Roof is Director of the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life at the University of California at Santa Barbara.  Working with Clark on the poll, “The First 100 Days – Integrity, Leadership, Trust” was more than a positive experience. His sense of integrity, scholarship and clear thinking inspires my own work. ...

Jim McCann likes to make things grow.  McCann acquired the 1-800-FLOWERS number in 1986 after successfully building his own chain of 14 flower shops in the New York metropolitan area. While creating a reliable brand name, he focused on instilling a sense of trust and convenience in an industry that previously had no leader. McCann attributes much of his success...

After posting this commentary, I learned that Susan Atkins had died late last night. On September 4, I offered an ethical scenario. How Would You Decide? asked readers on both my own Web site and Huffington Post to put themselves in the place of parole commissioners for the state of California and decide whether to release Manson follower and convicted murderer Susan Atkins...