Honesty Making a Comeback?

In light of our recession and all its fallout, business executives, particularly those on Wall Street, have been vilified for their failure to put customers, shareholders, employees and the public ahead of making money. Some have argued that the driver of our economic downturn is greed, pure and simple.

There was a lot of money being made during the past decade, and when that occurs, greed often trumps honesty. Business schools and their M.B.A. students fear they’ve been branded with these past sins and don’t like it.

Thus, at top business schools, there’s been a renewed interest in business ethics. At Harvard, for example, some members of the graduating class have signed “The M.B.A. Oath,” a voluntary pledge to “serve the greater good.” Columbia and Penn’s Wharton School are also on the honesty comeback trail.

According to the New York Times, business professors and M.B.A. students say this isn’t a passing fancy. The new business school generation has taken a permanent interest in social ethics and responsibility. It’s okay to make money, but the principal purpose of new M.B.A.s will be to do their work in a way that benefits the whole of society.

We should all applaud this effort, this new interest in honesty. In my opinion, however, business schools can’t teach their students to be honest. Honesty is a trait or quality formed in the early part of one’s life and nurtured for an entire lifetime. It’s become an increasingly uncommon trait in our society as people at the upper end of society have made unimaginable amounts of money year after year. It’s not just greed that takes over; it’s rationalization as well.

Harvard will graduate 800 M.B.A.s this year. Around 160 of them have signed “The M.B.A. Oath.” So much for a new generation of honesty.

1. 

   E. says:

   June 1, 2009 at 3:08 pm

   That percentage is VERY telling: 20%

   Lookout world!

   Thanks John.
2. 

   NaeNae55 says:

   June 2, 2009 at 12:15 pm

   The trait of honesty isn’t just formed early in life. The world around you tells you on a day to day basis that it is becoming more and more acceptable to ‘fudge’ a little. Even if your parents teach you early on to be honest, it is difficult to continue that way when your friends, teachers, and employers tell little white lies as a matter of course. When the number one television shows (i.e. Sienfield and Friends) show popular stars behaving dishonestly (even on a small scale) as a matter of course, people come to consider it the ‘normal’ thing to do. I have increasingly noticed people telling little white lies, even when it is unnecessary. When our mentors lie and cheat without repercussions, we can expect little else from those exposed to it on a daily basis. We can HOPE for more, but we can’t expect it.
3. 

   John Phillips says:

   June 3, 2009 at 10:07 am

   E. and NaeNae,

   Thanks to both of you for your comments. To E’s point, I thought it was funny that such a big deal was made of this new day in business schools only to learn that just 20% of the grads were willing to sign a non-binding document saying they’d try to do the right thing.

   NaeNae, your points are quite good. Though I continue to believe that the groundwork for lasting honesty is laid early in life, what you said about how we’re ultimately influenced by friends, teachers, employers, co-workers, TV shows, etc. is right on.

   John