Can We Save Society from Rampant Incivility? By age sixteen, George Washington had copied out by hand, 110 Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior In Company and Conversation. They are based on a set of rules composed by French Jesuits in 1595. The first rule is: “Every Action done in Company, ought to be with Some Sign of […]
The Lost Art of Civility Revisited Read More »
Is it a Personnel Issue? Recently, a reporter from the Wall Street Journal, Mark Maurer, asked to interview me about the question: “Are companies picking a new finance chief after detecting a material weakness in their financial reporting controls, at least in part due to a shortage of skilled accounting staff?” The idea is that the two
Undetected Material Weaknesses in Financial Reporting Controls: Who is to Blame? Read More »
Integrating ESG Into the Business/Accounting Curricula: Some Thoughts and Ideas I have previously blogged about whether ESG really matters. In this blog I look at the education needed in sustainability and ESG to prepare college business school students for the increased knowledge requirements in these areas. ESG captures mainly nonfinancial information that can create risks
Sustainability is at the Forefront of Changes in Business Education Read More »
Causes, Effects, and Solutions Anyone who has read my blog over the years knows I believe that the moral values of Americans are in decline. This is an important issue to discuss, especially in light of the debate between former President Trump and President Joe Biden tomorrow night. Should we care about the perceived moral
Are the Moral Values of Americans in Decline? Read More »
How Corporate Culture Drove Decision-Making The story of Boeing is it placed profits ahead of safety and the result has been a series of crashes/mechanical problems that have led to inspections by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and litigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In this blog I will address the culture
Boeing: Putting Profits Ahead of Safety Read More »
An Example of Hubris, Incompetence, and Greed I always tell my students that the best way to learn about ethics, or the lack thereof, is through a case study. What follows is a mini-case study of the FTX fraud. Last week Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty of misappropriating and embezzling billions of dollars of his
The Story of FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried Read More »
Dealing with Age Discrimination We are facing economically turbulent times, which may include layoffs and companies downsizing. Unfortunately, older workers often bear the brunt of these cutbacks because employers use the opportunity to get rid of older workers who sometimes command the highest salaries or prevent the business from projecting a “younger” image. I have
Senior Rights and Protections in the Workplace Read More »
Who Will Defend the U.S. in Case of War? A new poll from Echelon Insights shows the alarming result that 72% of American voters would not be willing to volunteer to fight for their country if the U.S. faced a major conflict. Twenty-one percent said they are willing to volunteer. These results are staggering and raise so
Have Americans Grown Too Soft? Read More »
Harmful Effects of Bullying: A Perspective on Protected Groups Last Tuesday, I blogged about how to combat bullying, the first of a two-part blog on this important issue affecting society. In today’s blog, I look at bullying against various groups of people, including tweens, students with disabilities, students of color, and students who identify as
How to Combat Bullying Behavior Part II Read More »
I first posted this piece on my “Workplace Ethics Advice” blog and received so many comments and inquiries that I decided to post on my “Ethics Sage” blog as well. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects us from the government interfering with our speech – meaning we can typically express opinions (even if
Rules of the Road on Using Social Media Read More »