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This compelling work draws on the experiences of America's most successful business leaders to examine the issue of character in business. Based on interviews with 125 CEOs of major U.S. corporations,
Managing with Integrity shows how it is possible for the businessperson to do what is right and run a profitable company at the same time. A wealth of practical examples and anecdotes demonstrates that even today, corporate America's most powerful figures tend to place what is ethical over what is expedient and adhere to a higher standard than is generally assumed by the public. By revealing the strategies these leaders employ in the face of the myriad challenges to character encountered in the day-to-day business world, the author provides invaluable insights for executives, managers, supervisors, professionals, and entrepreneurs confronted with their own ethical dilemmas. Readers will find
Managing with Integrity both an unusually candid look at the dimensions of executive decision making and an eminently practical guide to the development of a workable moral philosophy for business.
Is it possible for a decent human being to succeed in business? How does one find meaning in the business life? These are some of the questions asked by the author as he explores the difficulties associated with ethical thinking within the context of business. Finding that those persons and organizations that aspire to serve worthwhile purposes are ultimately the most profitable, he shows how businesses can and do prosper when high ethical and moral standards underlie executive decision making. Finally, the author examines the concept of success in business and describes the various dimensions of success which are most mentioned most often by the senior executives interviewed for the book. Written in an engaging and nontechnical style and filled with hundreds of real-world examples,
Managing with Integrity offers an important counterweight to the cynicism that so often pervades popular thinking about corporate America.
List of contents
Foreword by C. William Verity
Preface
RealitiesThe Ethical Realities of Business
The Search for Significance
The Freedom to Choose
The Duty to Think
To Aspire NoblyLiving a Big Life
Standards to Shape Lives and Organizations
Serving a Worthwhile Cause
The Paradox of Profit
Setting and Living Up to High Ethical Standards
A Good Conscience
To Adventure DaringlyThe Virtue of Boldness
Integrity: Wholeness of Standards and Actions
Putting What's Right, First
Living Positively
Building Solid Relationships
Treating People the Right Way
To Serve FaithfullyRendering Useful Service
Answering Calls for Kindness
Elevating People's Thinking and Standards
Bringing Out the Best in Employees
Crusading for Quality
Serving the Customer
Serving to Improve Communities
PerspectivesMeasures of Success
Appendix
Bibliography
Indexes
About the author
CHARLES E. WATSON is Professor of Management at Miami University in Ohio. He is the author of six books, including
What Smart People Do When Dumb Things Happen at Work and
Managing with Integrity (Praeger, 1991).
