The Wise Power

of
Ethics
Presentation of the course

Objectives Methods

Participants

Content

Instructor
Objectives
• Raising awareness about the role, meaning and consequences
of ethics in business decision-making;

• Raising participants’ ability to think, act and discuss ethical

values at the workplace and beyond;

• Developing knowledge about specific ethical issues of

business;

• Nurturing a spirit of ethics and responsibility among high

potential MBA students.
Method

• Propose questions, situations and phenomena which make salient

your values and their alignment or conflict with values of others

• Provide an opportunity for sharing openly personal opinions, feelings

and experiences

• Introduce conceptual frameworks to better grasp the specificity of

ethical thinking, acting and communicating
Content

1. The Science and Art of Ethical Rationality

2. The Fossil Fuel Heritage

3. The Spirit of Money

4. The Tao of Corruption

5. Technology & Humanism

6. The Ethics of Sustainability Leadership

7. The Power of Dreams

From a Climbing Life
What we think is possible is constrained by
who we think we are.

To dare to try things that are impossible is to

free oneself from these constraints.

It is to explore life,
hoping to uncover capabilities that are unknown.

It is to transcend oneself,
letting life forge our future successes.

The fear is one of being arrogant:

“who are you to dare to try things that you are not capable of?”
From a Researcher Life

We are thinking in a tiny corridor

bounded by what we take for granted.

To deconstruct our assumptions is to

bring to life an ancestral form of who we are.

It is to explore the past, revisiting choices

that were made for good but may now be questioned.

It is to start anew in the humility of being empty.

The fear is the one of knowing nothing:

“don’t you need to take some things for certain?”
 From a Teacher Life

I tend to be moralizing.

By becoming a teacher, I made a living out of it.

I can see the extraordinary in all human beings.

I can receive lessons from all my students.

The fear is the one of being alone:

“how can you meet others in the heart of your own
longing?”
Why do people talk about ethics nowadays?

Why in a MBA class?

Why would you like to talk about ethics?

First Principle of Wise Power: Thinking

A Principle for the Mind: Duality

The emotional courage to change perspective
Coming back with learning

ego Alter ego

Changing perspective is emotionally difficult

Looking at the same thing without seeing the same thing 12

Second Principle of Wise Power: Feeling

❤
A Principle for the Heart: Love
Emotional Barriers to Perspectival Agility

• Fear of losing control

• Fear of losing clarity
• Fear of confusion
• Fear of vulnerability
• Need to be part of the group
• Will to focus on the outcome
• Sense of identity
• Prisoner of our discourse
3rd Principle of Wise Power: Dreaming

A Principle for the Soul: Dream

Types of Behavior

1. Practical (i.e. Doing)

Behaviors that transform the world outside of the actor

2. Intellectual (i.e. Thinking)

Behaviors that transform the world inside the actor

3. Communicational (i.e. Talking)

Behaviors that transform the world inside other actors

Most behaviors can be analyzed with more than one type

Types of Behavior
Hello!

Who
am I? Who is
she?
Are you an ethical person?

Did you work for an ethical company?

Is Business ethical?
What makes Behavior (Un)Ethical?

1. Properties of Consequences (Consequentialism)

2. Properties of Actions themselves (Deontology)

3. Properties of the Actor (Virtue)

4. Intersubjective Properties (Communicational)

Biases in the Grey Zone
Looking at the bad Looking at the
side good side
You feel good,
You are honest full of energy

It feels bad You may not be

as credible as
Bad Good
But you are you think
more aware
and anticipate And you may
be blind to
risks
 Being perspectival, our ethical judgments are bounded and biased by our emotions, our self-interest,
our mental habits and self-image, our cultural context, our work environment and our power to act.
 This phenomenon is not necessarily intentional, but it can have significant consequences.
 We can develop, refine and structure our ethical consciousness. It requires to open our mind and be
able to think beyond the justification of your ethical opinion.
 It necessitates training and effort, outside our zone of comfort
Marc Le Menestrel, UPF & INSEAD, for
 Most Actions are both Ethical and
Unethical
Why this can be perceived as bad?
Which stakeholders can be harmed? How much?
When?
Why this can be perceived as good?
Which stakeholders can benefit? How much?
When?

Why this can be perceived as wrong? Why this can be perceived as right?
Can this be wrong? Against compliance? Against to law? Is this right? Does it comply? Is this legal? Is this respecting
Against some ethical principle? If everyone does the same? All
the time? ethical principles, code of values? Can this be universalized?

Why this can be felt negatively?
Am I having bad feelings?
A sense of discomfort?
An early warning signal inside?
Why can this remain secret?
Would this be better kept secret? Is this taboo?
Could it be publicly known?
Why this can be felt positively?
What good feelings do I have?
What virtue do I incarnate?
Why is this respecting my personal integrity?
Why can this be openly discussed?
What would I like to be known? What would I like to be
transparent? What is already transparent?

I general, we prefer the look at our ethical side and

we tend to project on others our unethical side
Exploring dualities
1. Are you an ethical manager?

2. Do you work for an ethical company? Can you see

both the ethical
3. Is Business ethical?

4. Is it ethical to close a profitable plant?

5. Is it ethical to influence a government? and the

6.

7.
Is it ethical to compromise on the safety of a product?

Is it ethical to shape customers desires?

unethical for
8. Is it ethical to disobey your boss? each of these
9. Is economic progress ethical?
questions?
10. Is it ethical to work as hard as possible?

11. Is capitalism ethical?

12. Is sustainability ethical?

13. Is ethics ethical?

 Selecting the ethical from the unethical

There is no objective criterion to separate the grey spheres in two categories.

This does not mean all greys are equally grey.

There is no objective criterion to decide which behaviors are ethical and which behaviors are not ethical.

It does not mean that all behaviors are equally (un)ethical.

Do not think that good and evil
are two, are two separate
essences, for they are one and
the same thing appearing in
different degrees and in different
guises and producing differences
of feeling in the same mind.

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902)

XLIII, Vedanta: its Theory and Practice
Pathfinder,
your footprints are the only path
And nothing more.

Pathfinder, there is no path

The path is made by walking.

By walking you make a path

And turning, you look back

At a path you will never tread again

Pathfinder, there is no path

Only wakes on the sea.”

Border of a Dream
Antonio Machado (1875-1939)
The contrary to any truth can be as true as the truth itself
Siddhartha, Herman Hesse