Scandal or not? You decide. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I opened the front page of Saturday’s (Apr. 6) Wall Street Journal to learn that that noble organization, The Girl Scouts of America – an organization known for building “girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place,” is under siege from two states that collect taxes...

“Shame,” writes author Richard Reeves (Mar. 15) “is an essential ingredient of a healthy society, particularly a liberal one. It acts as a form of moral regulation, or social ‘nudge,’ encouraging good behavior while guarding individual freedom.” Just when I think that we’re going to politically correct ourselves off the cliff, along comes a breath of fresh air. Reeves asks, “Where and when shame...

Before Sheryl Sandberg there was Sister Mary Benedict. The other night, I settled back to watch an old (1945) classic and was surprised to discover a few ethical indiscretions. The Bells of St. Mary’s tells the story of kindly father O’Malley (Bing Crosby) who is sent to the run-down school of St. Mary’s in a town comprised of only fine,...

Wednesday’s New York Times (Mar. 6), offered two stories, appearing side-by-side, that present a contrast in decision-making between two high-profile executives. One uses rationalization while the other employs reason. The two company figureheads I’m talking about are Marissa Mayer, newly installed CEO of Yahoo, an Internet search engine company, and Martha Stewart, author, magazine publisher and founder of Martha Stewart...

Skimming Huffington Post, something jumped out at me. “My company is more likely to be a success because of me!” There it was, on the Business page of HuffP just belowBreaking News about Warren Buffett buying Heinz, (he must love the ketchup). “According to the hard numbers – as presented in a new study by researchers at Dow Jones VentureSource (Women at the Wheel: Do...

Spoiler Alert: The following commentary contains absolutely NO shameful or shocking ethics scandals! Every day, we open newspapers, (on iPads, Kindles, etc.) to read, principally, bad news. Cable channels assault us with every angle on all manner of fraud, corruption, deceit, bribery, and the old reliable, sex scandal. But good news is out there. The Ethisphere Institute is an international think-tank based in New York whose...

Jack Welch is “one of America’s all-time great CEOs.” Jack Welch is “one of America’s all-time dumbest former CEOs.” Q: Which statement is true? A: Both. That first quote comes from CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper; the second from me. Last Friday (Oct. 5), the Department of Labor released its monthly unemployment report. Based on data from the Bureau of Labor...

James Burke, the Johnson & Johnson CEO whose leadership during the early 80s Tylenol scare elevated ethics over profit, died last week. In giving a talk to a group in Boston, I emphasized his story as an example in ethical leadership that we need to see more of today. In 1982, when several poisonings had been linked to Tylenolcapsules, Johnson &  » Read more about: Integrity Matters...

Attending a party on the Fourth of July, I spent some time listening on the edge of conversations, much of which were about politics. “I don’t understand,” one fellow says, “how the government can send Martha Stewart to prison for insider trading when all those folks on Capitol Hill, who never had a pot to piss in, are all millionaires...

Ten years from now, historians may look back and label this period as the “reality show” era of politics. I’ve already talked about the reality show “quality” surrounding banker Jamie Dimon’s testimony before a Senate banking committee. Well, Dimon was on Capitol Hill again, this time testifying before House officials. Unlike the Senate, House lawmakers’ questions carried a much harder edge....