The Good, the Bad, and Your Business: Choosing Right When Ethical Dilemmas Pull You Apart [Hardcover]

Jeffrey L. Seglin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471347795 | ISBN-13: 978-0471347798 | Publication Date: March 10, 2000

Does the need to make a profit outweigh the need to reward employees fairly? Should you tell your staff why you fired someone and risk being sued for defamation? Is it more important to make payroll or pay your vendors?

Business professionals face ethical decisions like these every day. Such dilemmas will keep even the most seasoned managers tossing and turning at night. You can rest assured that at some point in your career you'll be faced with making, or witness the making of, an ethical decision-and the action you take will not only define you, but also what your company stands for.

The pressure to make the right choices is incredible; indecision or one small misstep can be the kiss of death in today's highly competitive, fast-moving economy. Productivity can drop off, employee morale can plummet, dissatisfied customers can flee, and your competitor may take a large bite out of your profits-while the dilemma remains unsolved.

The Good, The Bad, and Your Business shows companies how to run more efficiently by improving their navigation of everyday moral business dilemmas. Respected writer and journalist Jeffrey Seglin reveals how otherwise decent people can make mistakes and find themselves in serious ethical trouble. His practical approach uses real-life examples to help you see the difference between a "gray area" and an outright misdeed so you can act faster when faced with such ethical decisions.

Without being preachy or theoretical, The Good, The Bad, and Your Business looks at how others have faced moral dilemmas and gives you the tools to help you reach your own decisions. You'll see firsthand how businesspeople have grappled with difficult issues, from how to draw the line between lying and posturing, to whether it's ever ethical to spy on competitors, to how to align personal beliefs with business practices.

You'll also discover the common misperceptions about ethics in business and learn how to define your "comfort" level so that you can conduct business knowing you've made thoughtful decisions with full knowledge of the possible consequences.

The Good, The Bad, and Your Business:
* Looks at how company owners and managers make difficult decisions as they try to keep cash flow strong enough to stay in business
* Examines how to deal with employee issues, from how far to go to help a troubled employee to what policy-if any-to take on romantic relationships between coworkers
* Reveals the motivations that lie behind how people decide where to "draw the line" on what they will and will not do
* Focuses on how the decisions you make can affect the common good-the larger community in which you're doing business

"Well-written and lucid, this book does not preach; it teaches the reader how to think intelligently about hard choices. Every executive who wants to build a successful business and wants to do so with integrity-should read this book."-Jim Collins, Coauthor, Built to Last

"It's a rare business book that can truly change your life, and Jeff Seglin's latest is just that. You'll find no grandstanding or buzzwords, but rather a compelling blend of research and worldly experience, written by a master. He's the perfect travel guide for the examined life we all must lead to achieve meaningful success. Don't miss this one!"-Steven Leveen, Cofounder and President, Levenger

"Finally a book about modern ethics and business that you don't have to get all dressed up to read! Writing with a sure touch, lively language, and a wonderful wit . . . Jeff Seglin has found a way to wake up his subject without once getting bogged down. He never lectures . . . he knows his stuff and he respects his readers' intelligence. This terrific book is the next best thing to talking to your smart, warm, and funny best friend about the toughest decisions you'll ever have to make. It's flat-out superb."-Nancy K. Austin, Coauthor, A Passion for Excellence

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Jeff Seglin is one of the most thoughtful writers on business ethics today. Well-written and lucid, this book does not preach; it teaches the reader how to think intelligently about hard choices. Every executive who wants to build a successful business -- and wants to do so with integrity -- should read this book."-Jim Collins, co-author Built to Last

"For any business person dealing with money, people, or society, THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND YOUR BUSINESS should be required reading."-Jim McCann, CEO, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM

"THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND YOUR BUSINESS demonstrates what we have always believed-that we do well in business only when we are also doing good." -Jeffrey B. Swartz, President and CEO, Timberland

"It's a rare business book that can truly change your life, and Jeff Seglin's latest is just that. You'll find no grandstanding or buzzwords, but rather a compelling blend of research and worldly experience, written by a master. He's the perfect travel guide for the examined life we all must lead to achieve meaningful success. Don't miss this one!" -Steven Leveen, Co-founder and President, Levenger

"Just when you thought all the angles on management had been tackled, along comes THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND YOUR BUSINESS. This is the first book to address everyday business ethics and their powerful potential for disaster or triumph. Shaped as much by Seglin's expertise as by business readers' responses to his 'Black and White' column in Inc., this book will change the way you make business decisions."-George Gendron, Editor-in-Chief, Inc. magazine

"The human imagination has always been challenged and moved through compelling stories. Jeffrey Seglin's book is brimming with real stories, provocative dilemmas, and authentic perspectives." -Pierre Ferrari, Board Member, Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc.

"Jeff Seglin has written a book that will instantly be the standard against which all discussions of ethics in the workplace will be compared. With the skill of a neurosurgeon and the studied neutrality of a Freudian psychoanalyst, Seglin guides readers to a spot squarely between the horns of those ethical dilemmas that are of greatest concern to business people and does just what he should....let's you sit there and struggle with the evidence and analysis by yourself. Amazingly, Seglin never moralizes, sermonizes, or imposes any judgmental guidance. Instead, he has created a page turner on a subject with a well deserved reputation for demagoguery and pedantry. No professional who has --or longs for-- a conscience can ignore this book." -Dr. Steven Berglas, Lecturer, Harvard Medical School, Instructor, Anderson School of Management, UCLA, and Inc. columnist

"The Good, the Bad and Your Business offers us something rarely found in business ethics: a presentation that pulls the reader into the reality of managerial decision-making. It is a world where ethics counts for everything but the ethical trigger points are entangled in people issues, time pressures, financial urgency and simple avoidance of uncomfortable choices. Seglin's informed and sensitive treatment leads us through these obstacles toward a path of open dialogue and honest questioning. In an increasingly complex and networked business culture, such road maps to ethics are a navigational must"-Laura Nash, Director, Institute for Values-Centered Leadership, Harvard Divinity School

From the Publisher

"The human imagination has always been challenged and moved through compelling stories. Jeffrey Seglin's book is brimming with real stories, provocative dilemmas, and authentic perspectives."
-- Pierre Ferrari, Board Member, Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc.

"Like his New York Times column, Jeff Seglin doesn't sugar coat the subject of business ethics. The Good, The Bad, and Your Business gives us a clear roadmap through the treacherous terrain of what's right, what's wrong. It's a terrific book."
-- Pierre Mornell, author of Hiring Smart

"Seglin has written a "feet on the ground" practical walk through the kind of ethical challenges that are a part of day-to-day business. Whether the issues are cash flow, personnel, or public disclosure, this is a great read for managers who want to do "the right thing"--which is rarely obvious and usually complex."
-- Dr.Sharon Daloz Parks Co-author, Common Fire: Leading Lives of Commitment in a Complex World

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (March 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471347795
• ISBN-13: 978-0471347798
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,453,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeffrey L. Seglin writes "The Right Thing," a weekly column on general ethics syndicated by the Tribune Media Services (www.jeffreyseglin.com). In the column, he regularly offers solutions to ethical dilemmas posed by readers. If you have ethical questions that you need answered, send them to [e-mail].

Seglin is the author of The Right Thing: Conscience, Profit and Personal Responsibility in Today's Business . It was named as one of the "Best Business Books of 2003" by the Library Journal. It is a collection of the first four years of "The Right Thing," which until January 2004 had been a monthly business ethics column he wrote for the Sunday New York Times Money and Business pages since 1998. From 2004 until 2010, "The Right Thing" was syndicated weekly by The New York Times Syndicate. It moved to Tribune Media in 2010. Seglin is also the author of The Good, the Bad, and Your Business: Choosing Right When Ethical Dilemmas Pull You Apart.

Seglin was an associate professor at Emerson College and director of its graduate program in publishing and writing. He is an ethics fellow at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and was a resident fellow at the Center for the Study of Values in Public Life at Harvard in 1998-99.

He lectures widely on business ethics and other topics including sessions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Virginia Commonwealth University, Duke Corporate Education, and elsewhere.

He is the author or co-author on more than a dozen books on ethics, business and writing. He has written for publications including the New York Times, Fortune, FSB, Salon.com, Time.com, Sojourners, MIT's Sloan Management Review, Harvard Management Update, Business 2.0, ForbesASAP, CIO, CFO, MBA Jungle, among others. He regularly contributes commentaries to Public Radio's Marketplace.

Prior to 1998, he was an executive editor at Inc magazine. He began working at the magazine as a senior editor in 1989.

He holds a masters degree in theological studies from The Divinity School at Harvard University.

He is married to Nancy Seglin, a therapist, and is the father of two adult children and four grandchildren. He serves as chair on the board of trustees at the South Shore Charter Public School in Norwell, Massachusetts, a school that two of his grandchildren attend. He is also on the board of advocates for Bay Cove Human Services.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Right action is smart business, April 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Good, the Bad, and Your Business: Choosing Right When Ethical Dilemmas Pull You Apart (Hardcover)

Amazingly helpful in providing a common-sense framework for working out answers to the most difficult kinds of business problems--the ones that can eat at you for a long time after. Packed with great case studies that make it clear that all managers in all sorts of businesses face ethical dilemmas all the time, whether they want to admit to themselves or not. The real trick this book pulls off is keeping things at a concrete, practical, hands-on business level without shrugging off the bigger view. No one's lecturing you here; this is about real business, not abstractions. I got something hugely important out of it that will always stay with me: In the long run, doing the right thing is not only admirable in and of itself, but it's usually good business. I always wanted to believe that, but suspected it wasn't so. Now I'm confident that it is.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A sound practical guide, February 24, 2003

By 

Bill Godfrey (Mt Stuart, TAS Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Good, the Bad, and Your Business: Choosing Right When Ethical Dilemmas Pull You Apart (Hardcover)

Written well before the Enron affair focused people's minds on the ethical behaviour of large business, this book seeks to provide a simple and approachable guide to recognizing and thinking through the ethical dilemmas that everyone in business faces - the first step in which is to recognize that there is an ethical issue in a particular situation.

It is likely to appeal to people who are interested in these questions and want a practical rather than a theoretical or philosophical treatment of the subject.

A major part of the author's thesis is that ethical issues tend to be 'fuzzy', often present themselves as a complication to a difficult and even financially dangerous situation, and there is a mythology that ethics necessarily involves pain and suffering - and is damaging to business profitability. As a result these issues are often not recognized, discussed or addressed.

The book is written in the context of the explosion in litigation, which both confuses the distinction between ethics and legality and can also constrain ethical behaviour through fear of litigation - as recent experience with various churches has demonstrated. Its three parts - Money, People, and The Common Good - take common examples from each arena in order to help the business reader find ways of addressing these issues and continue to operate with due regard for profit but do so 'with an understanding of what we stand for in the way we make choices and decisions'.

In covering money, the author deals with issues such as the limits to monetary fiddling to ensure you can pay your payroll, the ethics of bankruptcy in the context of US law, what and when to disclose when a threatening situation arises. Chapter 4, How to Make a Decision When You Don't Know Enough, also contains some simple, even folksy, advice on how to check whether your decision is ethical.

The chapters on People include some extended discussion on the ethical failures of omission and commission that flow from fear of litigation - and the side effect of allowing ethical issues to be treated as purely legal questions to be decided by the lawyers rather than the managers. They also discuss the establishment of an ethical working environment and the limits to the help to be given when an employee encounters personal problems

The chapters on The Common Good go into the murky dividing line between (arguably legitimate) posturing, spin-doctoring and concealment and outright lying and spying. This is written from the point of view of the individual in business. It is a valid perspective, but does not provide coverage of the systemic impact on business - and indeed politics and governance - of the progressive debasement of the ethical coinage that flows from acceptance of these not quite dishonest practices.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creating an Ethical Legacy, October 26, 2004

By 

Shel Horowitz "Shel Horowitz, author, Guerril... (Hadley, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Good, the Bad, and Your Business: Choosing Right When Ethical Dilemmas Pull You Apart (Hardcover)

This is a general business book, rather than one about marketing (though there are some great examples from the marketing world, like the oil pipeline company that, as part of a court settlement, had to run ads acknowledging culpability in a pipeline rupture that polluted 23 miles of river; the company went well beyond its legal requirement to top the ad with a huge headline declaring, "We Apologize.")

Seglin's main point is that ethics have to be a part of all our working lives, of every decision, and that workers at all levels must be trained to wrestle with the tough decisions and to stand up for honest, ethical responses.

He sees a dangerous trend, though: instead of taking responsibility for their own and their subordinates' actions, too many managers simply kick the problem upstairs to the legal department. But just because something is within the law doesn't mean it's right, and managers get ever more rusty in making these decisions if they don't get to practice ethical decision making because the lawyers have already stepped in.

One of my favorite parts is a four-question "sniff test" taken from Lockheed Martin's former CEO, Norman R. Augustine (these four questions are a direct quote form the book):
1. Is it legal?
2. If someone else did "this" to you, would you think it was fair?
3. Would you be content if this were to appear on the front page of your hometown newspaper?
4. Would you like your mother to see you do this?

If you get a yes on all four, you're probably pretty safe, ethically.

Among many other tests, Seglin also suggests these: will you be ashamed to look in the mirror, and what kind of a legacy do you want to be remembered for?