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Rating: 
Summary: May Be Well Intentioned, But Doesn't Cut The Mustard
Review: Business is my bag. From one who runs a company, I can only say that this book is trying to teach what it knows very little about from first hand experience. Anecdotal business stories are fine for the spectator. But, to then take these stories and presume to have the experience and expertise to write a book? That's questionable (and that's sugarcoating my full opinion). Jack Welch on big business, and almost any one of thousands of ethical and successful small business people, would have earned the right to be listened to. A book written by a journalist who evidently has little if any first hand experience with running a business in the trenches has not. As one who has spent my business life, so far, in the trenches of rough-and-tumble competition, I felt ethically compelled to opine that this book may be well intentioned, but doesn't cut the mustard.
Rating: 
Summary: Business Ethics Made Readable, & Doable!
Review: Every day, businessmen are faced with tough ethical decisions that keep even the most seasoned managers tossing and turning at night. You can rest assured that at some point in your career you'll be faced with making, or witness the making of, an ethical decision-and the action you take will not only define you, but also what your company stands for.The pressure to make the right choices is incredible; indecision or one small misstep can be the kiss of death in today's highly competitive, fast-moving economy. Productivity can drop off, employee morale can plummet, dissatisfied customers can flee, and your competitor may take a large bite out of your profits-while the dilemma remains unresolved. Without being preachy or theoretical, The Good, The Bad and Your Business shows companies how to run more efficiently by improving their navigation of everyday moral business dilemmas. Author and journalist Jeffrey L. Seglin reveals how otherwise decent people can make mistakes and find themselves in serious ethical trouble. His practical approach uses real-life examples to help you see the difference between a "grey area" and outright misdeed so you can act faster when faced with such ethical decisions. He also gives you the tools to help you reach your own decisions. You'll also discover the common misperceptions about ethics in business and learn how to define your "comfort" level-so that you can conduct business knowing you've made thoughtful decisions with full knowledge of the possible consequences. Jeffrey L. Seglin (1956- ) is an Editor-at-Large at Inc. magazine and a columnist of the Sunday New York Times business section. He is also an assistant professor at Emerson College.
Rating:
Summary: Running a Business Is One Thing; Learning to Think Another
Review: If the past several years have taught us anything, it's that one of the serious shortages among some people touting themselves as industrialists and in-the-trenches businesspeople is the ability to think and make decisions. One of the most striking aspects of The Good, the Bad, and Your Business is that it not only shows an understanding of various experiences of being in the trenches, it also does a wonderful job of helping the reader realize the importance of weighing through decisions and the implications of their actions -- even when those decisions must be made at rapid speed. To dismiss a book written by a journalist (albeit one who seems from the jacket flap to have experience in business) is silly, particularly when the message is as strong as this: For businesses to regain the trust of the consuming public, integrity is required. And try as you might, you can't fake integrity...at least not for long. Business needs fewer silly thinkers and more explorations like this one that get businesspeople to really think about what it is they do and why they do it.
Rating:
Summary: Right action is smart business
Review: Jeffrey Seglin is an eccentric person in the best sense of the word--different, original, sly in a friendly way, witty, and undoubtedly very bright. When he applies this eccentricity to the potentially lethally dull-sounding subject of business ethics, the result is a surprisingly entertaining as well as a useful read. Just what one would expect from someone who has gone to Harvard Divinity School, written for Inc. magazine as well as the New York Times Business section, and who has authored a book about Irreverent Business jokes. Seglin has perfect credentials for his ambitious subject and he has applied them exceedingly well. If we all expended as much energy as he does thinking about these Big Picture subjects, the world, at least the business one, would be a better place.
Rating:
Summary: Wrestling with the Balance Between Ethics and Self-Interest
Review: The Good, The Bad, and Your Business is a generous gift to readers: articulate, thought provoking and lucid. The writing style is congruent with the author's message. Seglin gives the reader a flexible, yet coherent language to structure discussion and contemplation of ethical dilemmas.
The examples in the book foster identification with business executives who face brutal decisions and lure the reader into sympathizing with their behavior. Only later when the author shifts to the divergent view of the victim, does the reader clearly acknowledge the executive's behavior-with a shock-as being unethical.
The book awakens us to the process of how we can let legal parameters and legal experts shut down our awareness of good ethics. It highlights the importance of breaking the bonds of legal fear to create greater employee satisfaction that in turn leads to better employee performance.
Seglin takes a realistic view of how success is affected by dishonesty and astutely concludes that overall, it "just isn't worth the risk."
The Good, The Bad, and Your Business, displays a compassion for being human in an imperfect world while maintaining laser alertness and wrestling with the balance between altruism and self-interest. Seglin is not hesitant about diving into the trenches but can also climb with conviction to the pinnacle of "Postconventional Morality."
Rating:
Summary: Wrestling with the Balance Between Ethics and Self-Interest
Review: The Good, The Bad, and Your Business is a generous gift to readers: articulate, thought provoking and lucid. The writing style is congruent with the author's message. Seglin gives the reader a flexible, yet coherent language to structure discussion and contemplation of ethical dilemmas.
The examples in the book foster identification with business executives who face brutal decisions and lure the reader into sympathizing with their behavior. Only later when the author shifts to the divergent view of the victim, does the reader clearly acknowledge the executive's behavior-with a shock-as being unethical.
The book awakens us to the process of how we can let legal parameters and legal experts shut down our awareness of good ethics. It highlights the importance of breaking the bonds of legal fear to create greater employee satisfaction that in turn leads to better employee performance.
Seglin takes a realistic view of how success is affected by dishonesty and astutely concludes that overall, it "just isn't worth the risk."
The Good, The Bad, and Your Business, displays a compassion for being human in an imperfect world while maintaining laser alertness and wrestling with the balance between altruism and self-interest. Seglin is not hesitant about diving into the trenches but can also climb with conviction to the pinnacle of "Postconventional Morality."
Rating:
Summary: Creating an Ethical Legacy
Review: This is a general business book, rather than one about marketing (though there are some great examples from the marketing world, like the oil pipeline company that, as part of a court settlement, had to run ads acknowledging culpability in a pipeline rupture that polluted 23 miles of river; the company went well beyond its legal requirement to top the ad with a huge headline declaring, "We Apologize.")
Seglin's main point is that ethics have to be a part of all our working lives, of every decision, and that workers at all levels must be trained to wrestle with the tough decisions and to stand up for honest, ethical responses.
He sees a dangerous trend, though: instead of taking responsibility for their own and their subordinates' actions, too many managers simply kick the problem upstairs to the legal department. But just because something is within the law doesn't mean it's right, and managers get ever more rusty in making these decisions if they don't get to practice ethical decision making because the lawyers have already stepped in.
One of my favorite parts is a four-question "sniff test" taken from Lockheed Martin's former CEO, Norman R. Augustine (these four questions are a direct quote form the book):
1. Is it legal?
2. If someone else did "this" to you, would you think it was fair?
3. Would you be content if this were to appear on the front page of your hometown newspaper?
4. Would you like your mother to see you do this?
If you get a yes on all four, you're probably pretty safe, ethically.
Among many other tests, Seglin also suggests these: will you be ashamed to look in the mirror, and what kind of a legacy do you want to be remembered for?
Rating:
Summary: Running a Business Is One Thing; Learning to Think Another
Review: Written well before the Enron affair focused people's minds on the ethical behaviour of large business, this book seeks to provide a simple and approachable guide to recognizing and thinking through the ethical dilemmas that everyone in business faces - the first step in which is to recognize that there is an ethical issue in a particular situation. It is likely to appeal to people who are interested in these questions and want a practical rather than a theoretical or philosophical treatment of the subject. A major part of the author's thesis is that ethical issues tend to be 'fuzzy', often present themselves as a complication to a difficult and even financially dangerous situation, and there is a mythology that ethics necessarily involves pain and suffering - and is damaging to business profitability. As a result these issues are often not recognized, discussed or addressed. The book is written in the context of the explosion in litigation, which both confuses the distinction between ethics and legality and can also constrain ethical behaviour through fear of litigation - as recent experience with various churches has demonstrated. Its three parts - Money, People, and The Common Good - take common examples from each arena in order to help the business reader find ways of addressing these issues and continue to operate with due regard for profit but do so 'with an understanding of what we stand for in the way we make choices and decisions'. In covering money, the author deals with issues such as the limits to monetary fiddling to ensure you can pay your payroll, the ethics of bankruptcy in the context of US law, what and when to disclose when a threatening situation arises. Chapter 4, How to Make a Decision When You Don't Know Enough, also contains some simple, even folksy, advice on how to check whether your decision is ethical. The chapters on People include some extended discussion on the ethical failures of omission and commission that flow from fear of litigation - and the side effect of allowing ethical issues to be treated as purely legal questions to be decided by the lawyers rather than the managers. They also discuss the establishment of an ethical working environment and the limits to the help to be given when an employee encounters personal problems The chapters on The Common Good go into the murky dividing line between (arguably legitimate) posturing, spin-doctoring and concealment and outright lying and spying. This is written from the point of view of the individual in business. It is a valid perspective, but does not provide coverage of the systemic impact on business - and indeed politics and governance - of the progressive debasement of the ethical coinage that flows from acceptance of these not quite dishonest practices.
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