To
My Dear Students,
I
noted with interest that over 400 students graduating
from Harvard’s Business School declared an “MBA
Oath.” The students promised they would “serve
the greater good,” “act with the utmost integrity,”
and guard against “decisions and behavior that
advance my own narrow ambitions but harm the enterprise
and societies it serves.” In other words, “Greed
is not good.”
What
a welcome development in a business world obsessed
with profit, power, and indulgence, where right
is what you can get away with and wrong is defined
as getting caught.
I
do not believe that most people are unethical.
It is just that most are ethically incompetent.
Recently, a large volume of ethical guidelines
was published for government workers. Conflict
of interest, gifts, influence, meals, and privileges
were covered over hundreds of pages. One government
official remarked, "I wonder what was wrong
with that one-page list called the Ten Commandments?”
Martin
Luther King said:
Cowardice
asks: “Is it safe?”
Expediency
asks: “Is it easy?”
Vanity asks:
“Is it popular?”
Conscience
asks: “Is it right?
There
come times when we must take positions not because
they are safe, easy, or popular, but because they
are right. We must not surrender our ethical core
to the lure of temptation.
May
you be true to the truth and constant in your
convictions!
Shabbat
Shalom,
Your
Rabbi
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