Ethics Challenge: Strengthening Your Integrity in a Greedy World Book

Dedication ix

Acknowledgements xiii

Closing the Integrity Gap xv

Part 1 Got Ethics? xix

1 The Ethics Challenge: Why is it that so many of the nicest people aren't as ethical as they think they are? 1

2 Obey Your Unenforceables: What rules of ethical behavior do you have, and how can you put them into practice? 9

Cheaters Never Win: Why do people think they can win by cheating, and why can't they? 17

Part 2 Strengthening Your Integrity in a Greedy World 23

4 Six Actions for Meeting the Ethics Challenge: How to strengthen your ethical behavior and grow as an ethical individual and leader 25

Part 3 Ethics at Work 39

5 Ethics for Bosses: How should bosses balance their own needs against those of their people and their organization? 41

6 Telling Truth to Power: How should one handle unwise or hurtful behavior by the boss or a friend? 49

7 Impartiality: How impartial can we really be, and what to do about it? 57

8 Giving and Receiving: What are the ethical issues around exchanging gifts with people who are neither friends nor family? 63

9 How Would it Look in the Paper? What is the relationship between appearances and ethics? 67

10 Breaking Rules: When is it ethical to break rules? 73

11 What's Fair?: Should organizations treat people all the same, or should they try to meet the special needs of each person? 77

12 Lies, White Lies, and Shiny Shoes: When are we being deceptive, and when is it OK? 83

Part 4 Ethics Around Us 89

13 Ethics in Politics: Do we put ethics aside when we think about politics? 91

14 How You Play the Game: Is winning or losing more important than how you play the game? 101

15Other People's Money: When is it legitimate to gain benefits from other people's property? 107

16 Ethics and the Media: How does an ethical person deal with sometimes unethical media, and what is his obligation to be informed? 117

17 Ethics and the Clergy: What should we do when our religious leaders preach the inferiority of others? 123

Appendix: The Three Theories of Ethics 129

Index 131

About the Authors 137

Notes 141