Presented by Sherron Watkins and Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr.
Today, companies must pay closer attention to the human and ethical aspects of their activities—not just because it is the right thing to do—but because it is essential to long-term success. Today’s headlines are strewn with organizations whose credibility and revenues have tumbled on the heels of revelations of unethical behavior on the part of managers and leaders. The effects of this behavior are far reaching—from talent recruitment and retention to customer retention and everything in between.
In this program, two widely-recognized experts in the field of ethical leadership, from dramatically different backgrounds, share their perspective, insights, and practical ideas. Sherron Watkins, the former Enron vice president who alerted then CEO Kenneth Lay to accounting irregularities within Enron, will share her personal experiences and resulting insights. Using years of research in the field, Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr., a professor of Business Ethics at Harvard University, will discuss the complex ethical issues confronting today’s leaders and managers and offer practical ideas to guide behavior and decisions.
Participants in this program will learn:
- That ethical behavior and a profitable bottom line are not mutually exclusive
- What to do when the choice is between right and right
- How corporations can operate in a global economy while meeting economic and social demands
- The criteria and process of making ethical decisions when it goes against the grain
___________________________________
Sherron Watkins is the former vice president of Enron Corporation who alerted then-CEO Ken Lay in August 2001 to accounting irregularities within the company, warning him that Enron ‘might implode in a wave of accounting scandals.’ She has testified before Congressional Committees in both the House and Senate investigating Enron’s demise. Ms. Watkins has been lauded in the press for her courageous actions. Time magazine named Sherron “Person of the Year”, along with two others, for being “people who did right just by doing their jobs rightly.” Ms. Watkins co-authored Power Failure: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron with prize-winning journalist Mimi Swartz.
Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr. is the John Shad Professor of Business Ethics at Harvard Business School where he teaches courses on business ethics, strategy and management in the School’s MBA and Executive Programs. Badaracco is an Oxford Rhodes Scholar, and holds both an MBA and DBA from Harvard Business School. He is chair of the MBA Elective Curriculum and serves on the faculty committee of the Harvard Center for Ethics and the Professions. He is also the faculty chair of the Nomura School of Advanced Management in Tokyo. Badaracco has authored several books, including: Loading the Dice, which compared business-government relations in five countries.