The Dark Pattern: The Hidden Dynamics of Corporate Scandals

This penetrating debut study from Palazzo and Hoffrage, both business professors at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, argues that corporate malfeasance stems from dangerous combinations of “toxic leadership,” “manipulative language,” and seven other factors. Examining how each played into major scandals, the authors suggest that “rigid ideology” and “destructive incentives” precipitated two fatal Boeing 737 Max crashes in 2018 and ’19, positing that executives’ unwavering conviction that everyone would benefit from a single-minded focus on maximizing shareholder value pushed engineers to prioritize profits over safety. The authors’ analysis is bolstered by their perceptive understanding of human psychology, as when they pull from psychologist Albert Bandura’s research on moral disengagement to show how executives hide the ill consequences of their actions behind euphemistic language (“ ‘Creative accounting’ not only sounds better than tax evasion, but it also makes it easier to engage in it”). Additionally, Palazzo and Hoffrage detail informative examples of companies that have established more ethical practices, describing, for instance, how Zappos (prior to its acquisition by Amazon) cultivated a collaborative culture by replacing competitive annual review metrics with frequent coaching sessions assisting employees with how to meet their self-directed goals. It’s a vital resource on fostering a more ethical workplace. Agent: Connor Eck, Eck Agency. (June)