Taking the Oath
 Subscribe to the Three Star Leadership Blog |
| The Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. |
| Follow me on Twitter |
| For weekly tips and resources pointers, check Wally's Three Star Leadership Letter |
| Find out more about having Wally speak to your company or convention. |
| Find out more about Wally's coaching services. |
 |
On May 29, 2009, the New York Times ran a piece with this intriguing headline: "A Promise to Be Ethical in an Era of Immorality." Here's the lead.
"When a new crop of future business leaders graduates from the Harvard Business School next week, many of them will be taking a new oath that says, in effect, greed is not good."
There is so much silliness and muddled thinking in this that it's hard to decide where to begin. So I'll start with the headline.
"Age of Immorality?" I don't think so. This age doesn't look any more or less moral to me than other ages that I've lived through or read about.
The Times trots out the usual suspects. Enron and Bernie Madoff are the poster children for an age of immorality. They ignore the thousands of companies and business people who spend their days trying to make an honest buck and do right by their employees, their customers, and their community.
This is typical of the Times. The paper has some of the finest and fairest business journalists on the planet. But when you move out of the business section you encounter a battalion of mush-heads who think profits are tainted money and a high salary is de facto proof of immorality. It shows in their reporting.
"Many of them will be taking the new oath," says the Times. That turns out to be one fifth of the class. Unless the Times uses different math than I do, that means the non-oath-takers outnumber the oath takers by four to one.
Will taking this oath make a difference in the way the oath-takers behave? Yes, for some of the people, some of the time. I just wouldn't expect anything world changing.
For one thing, there's an awful lot of wiggle room in an oath where you pledge not to advance your "own narrow ambitions." I know enough of self-deception and history to know that an awful lot of really terrible things have been done with the belief that one person was actually helping another.
And oaths like this are easy to take when you've yet to enter the fray. The graduates will be heading out into a world ripe with lush temptations of all kinds.
In the world where most people work there usually isn't a choice between good and evil. Most of life's choices involve trade-offs. Some of those trade-offs involve ethical issues.
At the end of the day, at the end of the lives of these graduates, it's not the oath they take that will make the difference. What will make the difference is what they do and what they say. When they get to those pearly gates, I'm pretty sure God won't be asking about the oath they took when they graduated from Harvard.
Boss's Bottom Line
Part of your job as a boss is to do the right things the right way. Part of your job is to treat your team members and others fairly. Anything that helps you do that more consistently is a good thing.
But don't think that oaths and reminder cards are what make the difference. What you do and say is the best testament there is to your values.
Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.
I agree with your comments Wally. I do think that taking an oath for some may be a reminder for them that as potential business leaders they have a responsibility to the community they serve and indeed their employees.
Reply to this
Reminders are important, but only if it results in behavior.
Reply to this
"Most of life's choices involve trade-offs. Some of those trade-offs involve ethical issues."
Such a powerful statement Wally. Some years ago I was with a group of colleagues and some young people who came from difficult situations/backgrounds. We took part in what was called an "ethics walk" where ethical questions were put to the group and while we walked we talked about them. We were asked to then take our places on the pro or con side of the question and then discuss again - some people changed sides at that point.
There were no rights or wrongs - only people who agreed with your own stand and others who didn't. It showed me that another person's view can be just as valid even if it was at odds with mine.
The point of the exercise was to help us to recognise and understand our own personal values and might be worth doing for all new grads just about to join the business world - or indeed ( as we were) those who are already immersed in it.
Reply to this
Great comments, Jackie. Your example really put flesh on some of the ideas in the post. Thanks.
Reply to this
Good assessment. There has to be action. With no accountability, it’s like most mission statements – just a plaque on the wall.
Reply to this
Great analogy. Yes, the oath could become that plaque on the wall that no one pays attention to.
Reply to this
Very interesting post!
In my youth I trained as nurse and at the end of that training we took an oath in the hospital chapel to express our commitment to nursing ethics - the WHO code! It meant a lot to us and continued to do so! But I suspect such vows can only ever be an extension of your own beliefs anyway! However they do have a place I think in turning the individual to the corporate!
Reply to this
Thanks for adding the perspective, Wendy. I think the oaths taken by physicians, nurses, and lawyers are qualitatively different from the current MBA oaths. In your case and the others I mentioned, you were taking the oath as a rite of passage into a group with recognized standards and values. Taking the oath signified that you agreed with them and would uphold them.
In the case of the MBA oaths, no such standards exist. Some, including Harvard faculty members, Rakesh Khurana and Nitin Nohria. Last year they published a Harvard Business Review article titled: "It’s Time to Make Management a True Profession."
The idea was that one way to make management a "true profession" would be to require a code of conduct and an oath. This is rapturous nonsense. Thinking that a code of conduct will move management toward professional status is like thinking that painting your driveway green makes it your lawn.
Reply to this
Wally,
Follow up headline:
After the oath, the grad students got plowed with booze and weed, had unprotected sex, hazed their fellow business fraternity pledges, drove their parent bought BMW under the influence, went to jail, and rescinded their oath under a different oath (please raise your right hand).
Greed is not good...but gluttony is golden!
Reply to this
Scott, you are one sick puppy! Thanks for adding that note of levity.
Reply to this
There's been a lively discussion about ethics going on over at the Harvardbusiness.org blogs as well. There is much debate and wringing of hands, but much of the thinking seems to follow the idea of this Oath... That somehow you can teach students the 'right way' and that will transfer to the real world. I'm glad they are addressing ethics (I'm not sure I understand how they define Greed, but that's just details) and the idea that there is more to running a business than stock price. But once students leave the hallowed halls they have to deal with real world rewards and penalties - and if the organization they end up in does not manage those issues well, then mistakes and poor decisions will continue.
The depth of the issue has me agreeing with your comments and leaves me thinking the "oath" is not much more than a publicity stunt.
Reply to this
I don't think it's a publicity stunt, Fred. My only reason is that the students were the ones who came up with the oath. That fits my perception of the generation and it would fit with Schlesinger's analysis of a swing back from generation to generation on issues like this. The two things that disturbed me most about the article were the Times reporting and the idea that the oath would, in and of itself, cause a change. Thanks for your usual thoughtful comments.
Reply to this
Wally, I realize I'm coming late to the dance on this one. Although I agree with some of your thoughts and follow up comments from your readers, I also disagree. Here they are:
1. Why the Oath? There have been many discussions about the MBA educational system and ethics. I believe the value of the perceived value of the MBA has been severely tarnished in recent years. The students are simply coming out and stating that they want to rebuild the trust quotient with the business community. If they don't, they will feel that the value of their MBA will be diminished significantly. See blog post here: http://www.withoutwarningcoach.com/blog/2009/05/the-mba-dealership/
2.The Oath should be viewed as a first step. I refer to it as a CAP Initiative in my book Without Warning. The students have put out a solution, to engage the community at large. From this, a more robust and dynamic process could and will likely emerge.
3.The Oath has received lots of publicity from numerous directions. They have made the problem Visible, this is a good thing.
4. Here was my closing thoughts on my blog, http://www.withoutwarningcoach.com/blog/2009/05/a-mba-cap-initiative-at-work/
The initiatives now underway represent the starting point, not the end point. Now the wave needs to be spread, and similar initiatives need to be implemented across every MBA program around the globe. However I must state, if it is going to stick, its the students that must be leaders in this initiative. Not the School. Not the professors. Its the students that must lead, embrace and enforce. It will only then have a major impact on the current status of the MBA and its perception. The Harvard MBA group sums up the how and why of a CAP Initiative well. They state:
"Who We Are
We are a group of second-year students from Harvard Business School. We aren’t from the administration. We aren’t from the student government. We aren’t part of any formal group. Yet. We are a group of MBA candidates who want our degree to mean something more than it currently does. This oath is our way of laying out the principles of what we think an MBA ought to stand for."
Reply to this
Thanks for that detailed and thoughtful comment, Rodney. From my perspective, there's one key area where we differ. You see the oath as a credible and effective starting point for several kinds of change. I see it as ineffective and dangerously so because it gives the illusion of change without any change.
Reply to this
Wally, thanks for your follow-up comments. It will be an interesting story to follow and see where it goes - if anywhere. I'm certain your radar is now up.
Reply to this
There are several issues wrapped up in this one, I think. There is the subject of business ethics. There is the concept of management as a profession. And there are issues of generational difference and lifecycle. I know I'll be tracking them, and commenting, and I know that people like you will bring your insight and perspective to the discussion as well. Thanks for that.
Reply to this
"After all is said and done, a lot more will have been said than done." - unknown
Reply to this
Now that is a stellar summation. Thanks, Lynn.
Reply to this
"But don't think that oaths and reminder cards are what make the difference. What you do and say is the best testament there is to your values."
True, so true.
I have to say though, that in some cases when one is faced with a choice and one is not yet corrupt and soulless, a reminder of the oaths taken can help steer one in making the right, or at least, decent choice.
I get what you mean, though, Wally. Great post!
Reply to this
I think you're right that, if you take them seriously, oaths can be a reminder of what to do when you're facing temptation to do something else. I also think identity can do the trick. My mother's last words to me when I was young and headed out for the evening were, "Remember who you are." And I've always believed that Marines should act a certain way and I want to uphold those values and not let down the generations that have gone before.
Reply to this