cover image The Ethical Executive: Becoming Aware of the Root Causes of Unethical Behavior: 45 Psychological Traps That Every One of Us Falls Prey to

The Ethical Executive: Becoming Aware of the Root Causes of Unethical Behavior: 45 Psychological Traps That Every One of Us Falls Prey to

Robert Hoyk, Paul Hersey. Stanford University Press, $24.95 (152pp) ISBN 978-0-8047-5965-6

Examining the headline-making moral lapses at Enron, Tyco International, Adelphia, World Com and other less-than-ethical business locales in the light of numerous psychological experiments, clinical psychologist Hoyk and professor Hersey illustrate in 45 breezy but beneficial lessons how we all face and fall victim to ""day-to-day ethical traps."" Divided into three types, the first batch are ""Primary Traps"" that can ""provoke us or trick us into illegal or unethical transgressions""; trap number one, ""obedience to authority,"" is illustrated by the WorldCom controller who obeyed his CFO's order to hide $800 million in expenses, and Stanley Milgram's famous 1960 experiment in which student volunteers were told to administer seemingly dangerous electrical shocks to others. Next are ""Defensive Traps,"" which allow us to ""sidestep our guilt and shame,"" like ""contempt for the victim"" (Salomon Brothers traders treating customers like moving targets) and ""self serving bias"" (Ford and Firestone blaming each other for tire safety issues). Third is ""Personality Traps,"" the ways we increase our vulnerability: ""low self esteem,"" ""need for closure,"" too much or too little empathy. As the authors note, ""good intentions are not enough,"" and this guide provides a useful, easy-to-read antidote for our unwitting corruptibility.