Check out Guy’s blog for a great interview with Jeff Pfeffer about his new book "What Were They Thinking?
I have already raved about Jeff’s new book here (and admitted I am biased, because we are friends and co-authors). But it seems I am not alone. As an example of Pfeffer’s directness, consider this exchange between Guy and Jeff about corporate ethics:
Guy’s Question: How do you stop the misdeeds (for example, Enron) in organizations?
Pfeffer’s Answer:
What is interesting is that there are few social sanctions—as
contrasted with legal or financial ones—for bad behavior. Executives
who have served jail time are back on TV and are still celebrities.
More to the point, they aren’t shunned by their colleagues.
The
prevailing mood seems to be, as long as people retain enough wealth,
they can buy their way back by donating time and money. If we are
serious about enforcing norms, then there have to be real sanctions. In
the military academies, violations of important norms are met with
expulsion or social ostracism—eating alone, for instance. Not so, not
yet, for the most part in the corporate world.
There is plenty more on Guy’s blog, and of course, in What Were They Thinking?
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