Susan Liautaud has launched The Ethics Incubator : an independent, cross-sector laboratory and collaborative platform for innovative ethics. See her inaugural Ethics & The Arts interview with renowned architect Frank Gehry . Also available her interview with Novelist Sir Salman Rushdie . x

Ethics on the Edge Blog

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Nine New Rules for the World of Work

This article was first published in Susan’s Liautaud Huffington Post blog

Predicting the future of women in business is not my core business. I advise companies and non-profit organizations and their leaders on ethics matters ranging from one-off challenges to ethical leadership, strategy, and organizational culture. As we approach International Women’s Day on 8 March, the prospects for women in business look outstanding. Many experts have covered targets for women and the training, regulation, and support needed to get there. Through my forward-looking ethics lens, here are a few thoughts on how we as women will behave along the way and when we arrive.

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Badr Jafar, Chief Executive of Crescent Enterprises and Founder of the Pearl Initiative

Badr Jafar is the Chief Executive of Crescent Enterprises, a diversified conglomerate based out of the UAE, and is the Founder of the Pearl Initiative, a non-profit initiative working to create a corporate culture of transparency and transparency in the Gulf Region of the Middle East. You can follow him on Twitter @BadrJafar. Read more →

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Arbitrary Ethics

One of the biggest obstacles to ethics is arbitrariness. All kinds of behavior – both unethical and ethical – can lead to arbitrary ethics consequences. Conversely, arbitrariness in ethics oversight almost always generates unethical behavior. Let’s take a common example in organizations of all sectors and sizes: leaving enforcement of ethical guidelines up to the immediate boss in a hierarchical structure. One employee’s particularly punitive boss may deliver a career-damaging punishment. Another boss may not even read the e-mails signalling more serious unethical behavior leaving her direct report to carry on with impunity. Both occur within the same organization with the same ethics rules and same senior level oversight.

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Mining Ethics Lessons from Leadership Research… and Miners

Iterative Ethics

This blog is the first of a series of eight blogs I will write extracting ethics lessons from research and stories that are not at the start ethics-related. It is part of a deliberate effort at synthetic organizational thinking at SLAL, tying together cross-sector organizational matters to derive learning directly and indirectly relevant to ethics. The messages are gleaned from business, non-profit, and governmental organizations, and the ethics applies to all.

In a recent Harvard Business Review article entitled “Leadership Lessons from the Chilean Mining Rescue,” Harvard Business School professors Amy C. Edmondson and Herman B. Leonard, and doctoral candidate Faaiza Rashid, explore the leadership strategies and lessons from the extraordinary 2010 Chilean mining rescue. Their insightful analysis of the 69-day ordeal, involving 33 men trapped when more than 700,000 tons of rock caved in, offers many important leadership lessons. I cite their work to extend one of these lessons to ethics: the importance of iterative leadership as a model and message of the importance of iterative organizational ethics. Read more →

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Interim Government: Pakistan Inspires

About 18 months ago at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2012 I had the good fortune to walk out of a lunch meeting on global health issues with Dr. Sania Nishtar, most recently Caretaker Federal Minister in Pakistan’s interim government and Founder of the internationally renowned health NGO Heartfile. My admiration for her at the time pales in comparison to what I have had the privilege of witnessing these past two months.  Read more →

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Untangling the Confusion Over Organizational Ethics

This article was first published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review (Summer 2013). 

A wave of ethics transgressions underlines the importance of comprehensive ethics oversight for organizational success.

Last year, 2012, was in many regards a step forward for proponents of ethical action. Roger Gifford, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, one of the world’s financial capitals, declared business ethics a priority and critical to the City’s economic success. François Hollande published a Code of Ethics within 11 days of becoming president of France. And the new Chinese premier, Xi Jinping, highlighted the ongoing danger of corruption to economic and social development as a central part of his election discourse.

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Philip J. Jennings, UNI Global Union, General Secretary

Philip J. Jennings has been General Secretary of UNI Global Union since its creation. From 1997, Philip worked to create a new global union spanning skills and services. The result was the creation of UNI Global Union on 1 January 2000. [Information quoted from UNI Global Union web site. For further biographical information about Philip J. Jennings kindly consult: http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/uni.nsf/pages/aboutusEn] UNI Global Union is the voice of 20 million service sector workers around the world. Through 900 affiliated unions, UNI represents workers in 150 countries and in every region of the world. UNI represents workers in the Cleaning & Security; Commerce; Finance; Gaming; Graphical & Packaging; Hair & Beauty; ICTS; Media, Entertainment & Arts; Post & Logistics; Social Insurance; Sport; Temp & Agency Workers and Tourism industries. UNI Global Union’s mission is to grow and strengthen affiliated unions and UNI Global Union to improve the working conditions and lives of workers in the services and allied sectors. [Information quoted from UNI Global Union web site. For further information on UNI Global Union and its philosophy kindly consult: http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/uni.nsf/pages/aboutusEn] Read more →

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Ethics is Everything

Or Winning Takes Care of NOTHING Without Ethics

This week I’m going to keep it simple. Nike and Tiger Woods are appalling. It’s hard to know which is worse, although given that presumably Nike controls its advertising, the buck stops there. By now the ad “winning takes care of everything” (published immediately after regaining his position as “world number 1” following a win at Arnold Palmer Invitational) has been all over the press and social media. What does this have to do with ethics? Everything. In short, a “winning fixes all” attitude defined Lance Armstrong, the Libor banks, Lehman Brothers, Silvio Berlusconi… Read more →

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Curing the British National Health Service with Two Words?

The recent press storm detailing ethical failures within the NHS highlights the oversimplification (to two words) and under analysis (in two words) of the ethics challenge. This blog focuses on those two words: “moral purpose”. The key question is how will this “moral purpose” result in more ethical decision-making throughout the NHS but within the context of the NHS’ reality? Calling for a moral purpose is useful if it is shorthand for calling for on-going comprehensive ethics oversight and not a one-shot tagline. For the moment, the prescription is for these two words (with a code of ethics and dismissal of leaders as the over the counter add-ons). Read more →

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Carl Pascarella, Executive Advisor, TPG Capital

Carl Pascarella is Executive Advisor at TPG Capital. “Mr. Pascarella recently retired as President & Chief Executive Officer of Visa U.S.A. Inc., after twelve years of service. Before assuming that position, he was President & CEO of Visa Asia Pacific Limited Region and Director of the Asia Pacific Regional Board. Before joining Visa, Mr. Pascarella was Vice President, International Division at Crocker National Bank and Vice President, Metropolitan Banking at Bankers Trust Company. His experience also included commercial banking, corporate banking, credit review and policy, and DeNovo banking. Mr. Pascarella was also head of the California International Banking and Trade Finance organization for Crocker National Bank. Carl Pascarella received a Master of Science in Management from Stanford Sloan Program at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Buffalo.” [Quoted from TPG Growth web site (http://www.tpggrowth.com/team.php)] TPG’s website describes TPG as follows (http://www.tpg.com/): “TPG is a leading global private investment firm with $54.5 billion of capital under management. Founded in 1992, TPG specializes in recognizing value – or the potential for value – where others do not. Our contrarian philosophy, global reach, and deep investment and operational expertise set TPG apart from other firms. Our complementary asset classes offer a unique investment platform.” Read more →

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