800px-Michael_Posner,_Assistant_Secretary_of_State_for_Democracy_and_Human_Rights,_speaking_at_a_press_conference

Risk assessment: law, economics, morality science…and liquor

[This essay was originally posted on the Conflict of Interest Blog] Many years ago a client who was in the compliance department of a pharma company told me his strategy for conducting risk assessments.  He would schedule the…
800px-Michael_Posner,_Assistant_Secretary_of_State_for_Democracy_and_Human_Rights,_speaking_at_a_press_conference

Profits should be a result of excellence–not the main goal

I recently received an email from Bill Budinger, the founder of Rodel Inc. Bill expressed a core idea of about great leadership: that if you put people and mission before profits, then the profits will flow. Bill went on to explain…
800px-Michael_Posner,_Assistant_Secretary_of_State_for_Democracy_and_Human_Rights,_speaking_at_a_press_conference

The Operating System (OS) of Ethical Business

Bryan Johnson recently made a $100 million gift to launch the OS Fund. The OS Fund invests in bold, high-return ideas that “promise to reinvent the operating systems of life.” Why is this relevant to ethical systems design? Because we’re…
800px-Michael_Posner,_Assistant_Secretary_of_State_for_Democracy_and_Human_Rights,_speaking_at_a_press_conference

Ethical Systems is hiring

We're hiring an intern and a communications consultant.  Details below.  Is it you or someone you know?  Communications Consultant Do you believe that business can be a much greater force for good in the world? …
800px-Michael_Posner,_Assistant_Secretary_of_State_for_Democracy_and_Human_Rights,_speaking_at_a_press_conference

Collaborators in the news for October

COLLABORATORS IN THE NEWS David Mayer was featured in The trouble with diversity initiatives in the Wall Street Journal and Why workplace diversity efforts struggle in Fortune, both of which site one of his forthcoming papers.  He…

Featured Collaborator of the Month: Nicholas Epley

Featured Collaborator of the Month: Professor Nicholas Epley, author of Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want is the featured collaborator of the month for November.  This section includes: An…
800px-Michael_Posner,_Assistant_Secretary_of_State_for_Democracy_and_Human_Rights,_speaking_at_a_press_conference

Why all of us could face UNC’s problem

[This article was originally posted on Max Bazerman's Linkedin page]  The recent revelations that at least 3,100 students at the University of North Carolina, many of them athletes, took fake “paper classes” over the…
800px-Michael_Posner,_Assistant_Secretary_of_State_for_Democracy_and_Human_Rights,_speaking_at_a_press_conference

A powerful ethical intervention is just one pet story away

The natural conditions of the business world are breeding grounds for what psychologists call moral disengagement.  The psychology of moral disengagement allows us to do bad stuff and still feel okay about ourselves.  We morally disengage…
800px-Michael_Posner,_Assistant_Secretary_of_State_for_Democracy_and_Human_Rights,_speaking_at_a_press_conference

Effective C&E Programs: The Justice Department Speaks

[This essay was originally posted on the Conflict of Interest Blog] Last week, together with David Wilkins of SNC-Lavalin, I chaired the Practising Law Institute’s Advanced Compliance & Ethics Workshop.  Marshall Miller, the number…
800px-Michael_Posner,_Assistant_Secretary_of_State_for_Democracy_and_Human_Rights,_speaking_at_a_press_conference

#EthSys Insights 7: Michael Posner

#EthSys Insights is a video series where we have experts answer questions about ethical systems design. For our seventh installment, we had the honor of talking with our Human Rights contributor Michael Posner, a professor at the NYU…