Articles

Congratulations on an outstanding job, Osama. You masterfully pulled the strings, and the most powerful nation in the world jumped. You caused turmoil in major airports around the world on the busiest travel day of the year, cancelling and delaying thousands of flights. Now we discover that there is a new place to hide explosives as we scurry around to devise solutions. Read More

Every organization’s strategy should have a moral dimension, which brings added meaning and purpose.  Its values should have a strategic dimension, which brings focus and clarity.  This article explains how an organization can simultaneously achieve permanence and dynamic growth by aligning its purpose with its values. Read More

We have saturated our customers with material choices, but it is their hunger for more “spiritual” satisfaction and sense of wellbeing that represents the biggest business opportunity of our time.  This article describes how American business has lost its soul and recommends what we can do to get it back. Read More

Conference for “Ethics in the Financial Services after Sarbanes-Oxley”
Carlson School of Management – April 16, 2004
Attempting to address an organization’s ethics with regulations, codes of conduct, and tighter controls without first embedding a principled work ethic based on values is bound to fail.  This paper describes how organizations can create values that deliver bottom line results by focusing managers and employees on a contribution higher than their own wealth accumulation. Read More

While individual values are similar throughout the world, the thinking and actions that result from these values can differ.  Therefore, it is possible that two parties to a transaction, who are acting in accordance with their own values, could be engaging in activities that are in fact undermining trust in the relationship.  This article helps you learn to truly understand the way different cultures think and act so that you can adapt to diverse cultures and operate effectively in them. Read More

Most employees in organizations complain about too little communication, while management believes they are communicating all the time.  Why is communication so often not heard or not heard accurately?  In this article, you will learn about five frequent roadblocks to communication and how to avoid them. Read More

One individual's conduct (or a group's conduct) is not necessarily indicative of the expected conduct of other members of that same group.  This article explains the difference between using race as a descriptor and as a predictor of criminal behavior. It also shows how racial profiling based on ethnicity is not an effective strategy to combat terrorism. Read More

Professionals in Human Resources Association 47th Annual Conference & Exhibition September 1, 2004
A company that is not continuously innovative cannot consistently create wealth. Companies whose cultures do not inspire trust cannot survive turbulence and sustain growth.  Innovation and trust are two organizational values that appear to be paradoxical and it this paradox that makes resilient companies such a rarity.  This article will show you how build a culture of innovation within a trusting environment. Mastering this will set you apart of the competition. Read More

"Moral Imagination" Ethics Conference
Carlson School of Management – May 9, 2003
With unique agility, companies with moral imagination evolve their strategies and operational practices to changing market conditions while simultaneously remaining steadfastly faithful to the values and purpose that define them.  This white paper explores the concept of moral imagination and shows how companies can harness it to move them into uncontested competitive space. Read More

There is an aspect to training and motivating Casino employees that is unlike anything found in other industries.  The unique angle originates from two forces that cast the employee in competing roles: Casino management expects its employees to act as trustees of its assets, and customers expect employees to be their hosts and providers of entertainment.  This article examines the challenges presented by this dual and, at times, opposing role in the training and leadership of Casino employees. Read More

The art of service lies in the willingness to truly value and sincerely serve ordinary people who have the means to pay for your offering.  Customers want to feel valued for who they are and not merely for their money.  This article highlights the difference between customer convenience and customer service. In a break through approach to service excellence, it shows how by truly embracing customer service, a company can increase not only the quantum of customers but also the quality of relationships with them.  Read More

Financial excellence results when a corporation's values and its ethics support its strategy.  Many companies, unbeknownst to their leadership, operate with at least three separate and usually non-aligned value systems. This compromises clarity and focus and interferes with the organization’s financial success. This article will show you how to gain strategic advantage by identifying these three systems and then integrating them into one system of values that can drive organizational growth and effectiveness. Read More

Unless properly managed, mergers can break the moral contract between the corporation and its workers, creating productivity losses that more than offset any anticipated synergy gains. Most companies analyze the financial implications of mergers but they do not explore the cultural implications.  In many cases, the lack of cultural synergy is responsible for the merger not achieving its potential.  This article explores the importance of culture in considering and managing a merger to success. Read More

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