The Ethical Challenge

The Enron debacle, the demise of Arthur Andersen, questionable practices at Tyco, Qwest, WorldCom, and a seemingly endless list of others have pushed public regard for business and business leaders to new lows. The need for smart leaders with vision and integrity has never been greater. Things need to change—and it will not be easy.

We can take a first step toward producing better business leaders by changing some of our own ideas about what it means to "win." Noel M. Tichy and Andrew R. McGill have brought together a stellar group of contributors from a variety of perspectives—including General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, and renowned management gurus Robert Quinn and C. K. Prahalad, among others—to offer insights that will help build better leaders, communities, and organizations. They show how to present a "Teachable Point of View" about business ethics that will help all leaders within an organization:

• Internalize core values
• Build a values-based culture across the organization
• Become engaged to teach the same values lessons to their staff
• Take action and raise the ethical bar

Successful business leaders must be able to articulate their own unique Teachable Point of View on business ethics and drive it through their organization to ensure that everyone knows the ethical line and is neither shy nor silent if others risk crossing it.