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Lance Armstrong’s interview with Oprah Winfrey this week reinforced his driving objective of “win at all costs”. However, the question that Oprah never directly asked during her provocative discussion was whether he ever thought he had really won when accepting the trophies after so intentionally and consistently cheating. There was not a single Tour de France race that he actually won clean. (more…)

As initially posted on the Heartfile blog. Heartfile is a non-profit NGO think tank with a focus on policy analysis and innovative solutions for improving health systems in Pakistan. It is a great privilege to contribute to Heartfile’s blog, particularly on a day when the only possible first words must honour the Pakistani aid workers brutally shot and killed only a few hours ago. They were leaving a community center with a primary school and medical clinic that press reports note took part in the polio vaccination campaign. (more…)

(As first published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review on November 16, 2012) The New England Compounding Center meningitis case spotlights the tragic consequences of failed organizational ethics. The news is rife with stories of natural disasters (the tsunami, Haiti, Hurricane Sandy) and human tragedy (cancer, poverty). These problems are beyond our control despite best practices and best efforts. The news is also rife with silence. Silent rapes in India, decades of hidden abuse by knighted BBC star Jimmy Savile, and the surreptitious collection of user data by the ubiquitous Angry Birds app all demonstrate this. But the 32 deaths from meningitis...

Recent press reminds us that in addition to systemic unethical behavior (African dictators siphoning oil revenue or tax evasion networks), more specific pressure points create enormous and contagious ethical challenges. Whether reporting quarterly revenue at 11:59 pm on the last day of the expecting a signed contract the next morning, a weakness in processing bank transfers involving Iran, or failure to react vigorously to governmental threats to withdraw business privileges unless a Swiss bank account balance rises, pressure points should be a key element of ethics oversight for every board and senior management team. (more…)

(As first published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review on October 23, 2012) The dangers of the Lance Armstrong doping scandal reach far beyond performance-enhancing drugs. When the news of Lance Armstrong’s doping allegations hit what we thought was the media and judicial nadir this summer, a friend of mine’s upstanding, informed, college-bound son irritably commented that he didn’t see the point of “all of this.” If everyone does it—and everyone does, according to him—why not legalize it? What he was saying, as many others have, is that taking performance-enhancing drugs has become normalized within our ethics framework—even though it...