Just In Time? Ethics Hot In Biz School Training
Comments:
According to what we hear, Wall Street and other businesses in "leading" finance and insurance companies badly need some ethical and capable leaders to help resolve the huge worldwide problems they have created. Greed at the top and an overwhelming desire to hit income and profit expectations set by them or analysts seem to have become the priorities in many companies. Conveniently, those tactics usually ensured that their boards and stockholders didn't ask any probing questions.
Other major factors in the U.S. appear to have been lack of leadership in both government and private sector organizations created to regulate business enough to maintain basic stability and capitalization, and execs focused primarily on their compensation packages, knowing they could float out of any trouble on their golden parachutes.
The good news, "if you build it they will come." Excellent business professors in a number of countries have begun to train students, usually in MBA programs, that ethics are important. They also emphasize leadership at all levels, which does more than increase productivity and retain workers, though those are major benefits. Ethics can also make employees less afraid to bring problems to the attention of their supervisors.
"We have seen a lot of unethical leadership, and all of a sudden devoting your career to just making money isn't looking so attractive," says Allan R. Cohen, professor of global leadership and interim dean at Babson College in Boston.
One of the best known gurus training business students in leadership and ethical practices is Stewart D. Friedman, a management professor at the prestigious Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. You'll find a link to an excellent interview with him at the end of this article. His philosophy is easy to understand, according to a recent New York Times article by Marci Alboher. She wrote:
"Mr. Friedman's philosophy is fairly straightforward. The fundamental premise is that leadership can exist in every person, whether at the top, middle or bottom of any group. Mr. Friedman also teaches that leadership should not be confined to work, but extended to one's personal life, community involvement and family life."
"In his class, Mr. Friedman guides students through exercises to identify their core values and to express ways that they are feeling out of sync with those values. Students then develop experiments intended to create what Mr. Friedman calls 'four-way wins,' changes that will have positive effects in all aspects of their lives."
Wharton says returning MBA students in their 40s seem to be especially ready to adopt this kind of training. One alum, Brett Hurt, found Friedman's Total Leadership course so valuable that he decided to redefine his business, Bazaarvoice Inc. in Austin, Tex. He had Friedman do a half-day workshop for more than 100 employees, then provided a copy of one of Friedman's books - "Work and Family - Allies or Enemies?: What Happens When Business Professionals Confront Life Choices" which came out in 2000, and "Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life" published in 2008 - for employees who attended. Following that, he led the company in a four-month immersion program to implement Friedman's principles.
Many business schools are establishing training similar to Friedman's, and some private consultants offer similar training. One of his best-known counterparts is Srikumar Rao at the London Business School in the UK. His books include "Are You Ready to Succeed? Unconventional Strategies to Achieving Personal Mastery in Business and Life," and he conducts training for businesses including McDonald's.
You can get a great taste of Friedman's philosophy and training tips in a 19-minute interview about his course and new book on Knowledge Wharton.