More than a decade ago, I went to dinner with Laurence J. Kirshbaum in New York City. At that time, he was the chairman and CEO of the Time Warner Book Group. During our conversation, he pitched an idea to me. “John, I’ve been wanting one of our authors to write a book on a particular subject, and I think you would be the perfect person to do it. What would you think about writing a book on business ethics?” “There’s no such thing,” I answered. “What?” he asked. I could tell that wasn’t the response he expected. “What do you mean?” I explained, “There’s no such thing as business ethics—there’s
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