Embracing the nanny state vs. valuing freedom
Everyone knows that freedom is an essential requirement of human survival and happiness. Correct? Apparently not.
Recently I was listening to a morning radio show...
What is business ethics for?
A new semester, and a new class of business ethics, has begun. In my class, we initially discuss concrete examples of ethical dilemmas in...
Why business requires moral clarity and courage
Why would a practical endeavor such as business—creating wealth through production and trade of goods and services—require moral clarity and courage, you may ask....
How business improves lives
I have just returned from the world’s biggest gathering of business school academics who study management and organizations, the annual meeting of the Academy...
Persistent egoism: Why pursue self-interest?
Many people balk at the idea of ‘persistent egoism’ that I addressed in a recent post. They do so because they have absorbed the...
Why Jeff Bezos should say no to the Billionaires’ Pledge
Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, recently became the richest person in the history of the world, as his net worth climbed...
Three errors about business ethics
In an ideal world, everyone understands that long-term profitability in business requires acting morally (and what that moral action involves). However, that knowledge is...
We need more selfishness, not less
Contrary to conventional wisdom, selfishness is a virtue--and we need more of it. For most people being called selfish is an accusation, not praise....
The moral case against universal basic income
Finland, my native country, has decided to end its experiment with universal basic income. This is good news.
At the beginning of last year, 2,000...
Why isn’t there more rational selfishness?
I am teaching business ethics to a class of MBA students. The course covers the main alternative moral codes:
altruism—the most widely adopted code...
Are there right answers in ethics?
Ethics education is blossoming in business schools (see a Financial Post article). Yet, the scandals don’t seem to go away: corruption at Canadian construction...
Ethics of energy
Energy companies, particularly those producing fossil fuels—oil, natural gas, coal—are under attack by the environmentalists and their sympathizers in the media. It is one...