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A Better Way to Think About Business: How Personal Integrity Leads to Corporate Success
Is business ethics a contradiction in terms? Absolutely not, says Robert Solomon. In fact, he maintains that sound ethics is a necessary precondition of any long-term business enterprise, and that excellence in business must exist on the foundation of values that most of us hold dear.
Drawing on twenty years of experience consulting with major corporations on ethics, Solomon clarifies the difficult ethical choices all people in business face. He uses an "Aristotelian" approach to remind readers that a corporation--like an individual--is embedded in a community, and that corporate values such as fairness and honesty are meaningless until transformed into action. Without a base of shared values, trust and mutual benefits, today's national and international business world would fall apart. In keeping with his conviction that virtue and profit must thrive together, Solomon both examines the ways in which deficient values actually destroy businesses, and debunks the pervasive myths that encourage unethical business practices.
Complete with a working catalog of virtues designed to illustrate the importance of integrity in any business situation, this compelling handbook contains a gold mine of wisdom for either the small business manager or the corporate executive struggling with ethical issues.
Drawing on twenty years of experience consulting with major corporations on ethics, Solomon clarifies the difficult ethical choices all people in business face. He uses an "Aristotelian" approach to remind readers that a corporation--like an individual--is embedded in a community, and that corporate values such as fairness and honesty are meaningless until transformed into action. Without a base of shared values, trust and mutual benefits, today's national and international business world would fall apart. In keeping with his conviction that virtue and profit must thrive together, Solomon both examines the ways in which deficient values actually destroy businesses, and debunks the pervasive myths that encourage unethical business practices.
Complete with a working catalog of virtues designed to illustrate the importance of integrity in any business situation, this compelling handbook contains a gold mine of wisdom for either the small business manager or the corporate executive struggling with ethical issues.
- GenresPhilosophy
145 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
6 people are currently reading
54 people want to read
About the author
Robert C. Solomon
124 books173 followersRobert C. Solomon (September 14, 1942 – January 2, 2007) was a professor of continental philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin.
Early life
Solomon was born in Detroit, Michigan. His father was a lawyer, and his mother an artist. After earning a B.A. (1963) at the University of Pennsylvania, he moved to the University of Michigan to study medicine, switching to philosophy for an M.A. (1965) and Ph.D. (1967).
He held several teaching positions at such schools as Princeton University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1972 until his death, except for two years at the University of California at Riverside in the mid-1980s, he taught at University of Texas at Austin, serving as Quincy Lee Centennial Professor of Philosophy and Business. He was a member of the University of Texas Academy of Distinguished Teachers. Solomon was also a member of the inaugural class of Academic Advisors at the Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics.
His interests were in 19th-century German philosophy--especially Hegel and Nietzsche--and 20th-century Continental philosophy--especially Sartre and phenomenology, as well as ethics and the philosophy of emotions. Solomon published more than 40 books on philosophy, and was also a published songwriter. He made a cameo appearance in Richard Linklater's film Waking Life (2001), where he discussed the continuing relevance of existentialism in a postmodern world. He developed a cognitivist theory of the emotions, according to which emotions, like beliefs, were susceptible to rational appraisal and revision. Solomon was particularly interested in the idea of "love," arguing against the notion that romantic love is an inherent state of being, and maintaining, instead, that it is instead a construct of Western culture, popularized and propagated in such a way that it has achieved the status of a universal in the eyes of many. Love for Solomon is not a universal, static quality, but an emotion, subject to the same vicissitudes as other emotions like anger or sadness.
Solomon received numerous teaching awards at the University of Texas at Austin, and was a frequent lecturer in the highly regarded Plan II Honors Program. Solomon was known for his lectures on Nietzsche and other Existentialist philosophers. Solomon described in one lecture a very personal experience he had while a medical student at the University of Michigan. He recounted how he stumbled as if by chance into a crowded lecture hall. He was rather unhappy in his medical studies at the time, and was perhaps seeking something different that day. He got precisely that. The professor, Frithjof Bergmann, was lecturing that day on something that Solomon had not yet been acquainted with. The professor spoke of how Nietzsche's idea asks the fundamental question: "If given the opportunity to live your life over and over again ad infinitum, forced to go through all of the pain and the grief of existence, would you be overcome with despair? Or would you fall to your knees in gratitude?"
Solomon died on January 2, 2007 at Zurich airport. His wife, philosopher Kathleen Higgins, with whom he co-authored several of his books, is Professor of Philosophy at University of Texas at Austin.
Early life
Solomon was born in Detroit, Michigan. His father was a lawyer, and his mother an artist. After earning a B.A. (1963) at the University of Pennsylvania, he moved to the University of Michigan to study medicine, switching to philosophy for an M.A. (1965) and Ph.D. (1967).
He held several teaching positions at such schools as Princeton University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1972 until his death, except for two years at the University of California at Riverside in the mid-1980s, he taught at University of Texas at Austin, serving as Quincy Lee Centennial Professor of Philosophy and Business. He was a member of the University of Texas Academy of Distinguished Teachers. Solomon was also a member of the inaugural class of Academic Advisors at the Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics.
His interests were in 19th-century German philosophy--especially Hegel and Nietzsche--and 20th-century Continental philosophy--especially Sartre and phenomenology, as well as ethics and the philosophy of emotions. Solomon published more than 40 books on philosophy, and was also a published songwriter. He made a cameo appearance in Richard Linklater's film Waking Life (2001), where he discussed the continuing relevance of existentialism in a postmodern world. He developed a cognitivist theory of the emotions, according to which emotions, like beliefs, were susceptible to rational appraisal and revision. Solomon was particularly interested in the idea of "love," arguing against the notion that romantic love is an inherent state of being, and maintaining, instead, that it is instead a construct of Western culture, popularized and propagated in such a way that it has achieved the status of a universal in the eyes of many. Love for Solomon is not a universal, static quality, but an emotion, subject to the same vicissitudes as other emotions like anger or sadness.
Solomon received numerous teaching awards at the University of Texas at Austin, and was a frequent lecturer in the highly regarded Plan II Honors Program. Solomon was known for his lectures on Nietzsche and other Existentialist philosophers. Solomon described in one lecture a very personal experience he had while a medical student at the University of Michigan. He recounted how he stumbled as if by chance into a crowded lecture hall. He was rather unhappy in his medical studies at the time, and was perhaps seeking something different that day. He got precisely that. The professor, Frithjof Bergmann, was lecturing that day on something that Solomon had not yet been acquainted with. The professor spoke of how Nietzsche's idea asks the fundamental question: "If given the opportunity to live your life over and over again ad infinitum, forced to go through all of the pain and the grief of existence, would you be overcome with despair? Or would you fall to your knees in gratitude?"
Solomon died on January 2, 2007 at Zurich airport. His wife, philosopher Kathleen Higgins, with whom he co-authored several of his books, is Professor of Philosophy at University of Texas at Austin.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 3, 2016
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this slim book. I've read any number of articles and books on business ethics and on how to think differently about business, so finding something new in this genre is always a pleasant surprise. And author Robert Solomon does take a different approach to this topic than most; as an ethicist he uses this volume as an opportunity to demonstrate that Aristotelian virtue ethics still have relevance today. In fact, Solomon claims, if we are attentive to virtue ethics at the individual level, much of what is wrong in business would be righted.
One of Solomon's main themes is that words - and therefore, ideas - matter. The way we talk about business is important. So in the first section of the book, he tells us how not to think about business. He unpackages several of the more common metaphors that are often used to describe business - that it's a game, that's it's a jungle or even that it's warfare - and explains the dehumanizing aspects of each one and the damage that such descriptions ultimately cause. I found this section very insightful. He then lays out the case for virtue in business. By focusing on what's right - by being aspirational instead of corrective or punitive - we more readily rise above bad behaviors and bad outcomes to a more holistic approach. It is a kinder, gentler, more humane view of business, at both the personal and corporate level and one that Solomon believes can still lead to successful business outcomes (e.g. financial success).
The latter half of the book is a catalog of virtues, laid out in alphabetical order from Ability to Zeal, with descriptions of how they might be applied in the context of business. Solomon includes the strengths and weaknesses of each virtue (i.e. what it looks like when there is a dearth or an excess of this virtue), role models or myths surrounding said virtue and an acid-test "case" for each virtue. It's a fun, interesting and enlightening exercise. Although I read it straight through, I can quite easily imaging this being kept on a shelf as a reference book.
If the book has any weakness, it's probably just that it deals with business primarily from the personal level, and doesn't really address the corporate or organizational level all that much. But perhaps Solomon will write a sequel and talk about corporate virtues. We could certainly use a sense of shared values and goals in our country today.
One of Solomon's main themes is that words - and therefore, ideas - matter. The way we talk about business is important. So in the first section of the book, he tells us how not to think about business. He unpackages several of the more common metaphors that are often used to describe business - that it's a game, that's it's a jungle or even that it's warfare - and explains the dehumanizing aspects of each one and the damage that such descriptions ultimately cause. I found this section very insightful. He then lays out the case for virtue in business. By focusing on what's right - by being aspirational instead of corrective or punitive - we more readily rise above bad behaviors and bad outcomes to a more holistic approach. It is a kinder, gentler, more humane view of business, at both the personal and corporate level and one that Solomon believes can still lead to successful business outcomes (e.g. financial success).
The latter half of the book is a catalog of virtues, laid out in alphabetical order from Ability to Zeal, with descriptions of how they might be applied in the context of business. Solomon includes the strengths and weaknesses of each virtue (i.e. what it looks like when there is a dearth or an excess of this virtue), role models or myths surrounding said virtue and an acid-test "case" for each virtue. It's a fun, interesting and enlightening exercise. Although I read it straight through, I can quite easily imaging this being kept on a shelf as a reference book.
If the book has any weakness, it's probably just that it deals with business primarily from the personal level, and doesn't really address the corporate or organizational level all that much. But perhaps Solomon will write a sequel and talk about corporate virtues. We could certainly use a sense of shared values and goals in our country today.
June 14, 2012
In this book Solomon presents a short and succinct account of business as an ethical enterprise in terms of virtue and community. Although the author was a fine philosopher, I wouldn't rate this very highly as a work of philosophy. It is, however, quite interesting and valuable as a textbook and as a piece of rhetoric.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews