Posted on Tue, Jul. 1, 2008
Dear Readers,
“To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice.” -- Confucius
When the weather gets warm, I cannot resist suggesting a summer reading list. With one of the hottest new books being “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception” (PublicAffairs, 2008), Scott McClellan’s book about his stint as press secretary for president George W. Bush, it seems appropriate to focus on books that tackle the tough topic of ethics. In his bestseller, McClellan points fingers at the president for using propaganda to sell the Iraq war, and at the media for not asking enough tough questions. But in so doing the former spokesman for the President has attracted criticism for holding back his truth-telling until years after he left the administration.
Is it unethical to profit from exposing lies that you may have had a hand in creating or sustaining? This question, like most ethical quandaries, cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. Ethical quandaries require us to wrestle with competing values. In McClellan’s case, they include loyalty to one’s boss, protecting national security, personal and professional integrity and serving the needs of American people. In a less high-profile situation, they might involve balancing the needs of an organization versus the needs of its clients.
Another popular book on ethics is “Winners Never Cheat: Everyday Values We Learned as Children (But May Have Forgotten)” (Wharton School Publishing, 2005) by Jon M. Huntsman. A graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Huntsman is founder of the Huntsman Corporation, a large chemical company. “Cutting moral corners is the antithesis of the American dream,” he writes.
Huntsman’s instruction harkens back to childhood values. He calls for adherence to the Golden Rule, good sportsmanship and the prohibition against cutting in line. More compelling are some of his firsthand business experiences. During a fierce negotiation to buy a couple of divisions from Imperial Chemical Industries of Britain, he recounts, the CEO’s wife became ill with cancer and passed away, leaving the CEO distracted. Huntsman claims that rather than press for another $200 million off the price, which he believes he could have secured, he let the deal stand, instead securing the CEO as a lifelong friend.
Another popular ethics instructional guide is Stephen M.R. Covey’s book, “The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything” (Free Press, 2006), the source of the Confucius quote opening this column. Covey, the son of Stephen R. Covey, famous author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” (Free Press, 2004), relies on his dad for a Foreword, and no doubt sells a few extra copies to buyers who believe his father is the author of this volume.
Like his father’s books, the younger Covey’s text divides things into digestible parts: the four “Cores of Credibility “(integrity, intent, capabilities, results) and 13 “Behaviors,” among them, show loyalty, talk straight, and keep commitments. In the section on loyalty, in addition to resisting the urge to bad mouth people behind their backs, he wisely advises “to have the courage to go directly to the person with whom you have a concern.” That instruction raises the question: Did McClellan ever do this while a member of the Bush Administration? If you had similar concerns, what would you have done?
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