# Can You Teach Businessmen to Be Ethical?

1 Opinion January 13, 2014 The Washington Post ![](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/con_037597.gif?itok=k1v6HAU_) By Jonathan Haidt > Designing an ethical organization isn’t just about “nudging” individuals. You also have to think about the culture that emerges, how you as a leader can shape that culture, and how your organization can hire and fire to protect that culture

Business has gotten a bad rap for thousands of years. “The more men value money-making, the less they value virtue,” Socrates wrote. The Bible warned that a camel would sooner pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man through the gates of heaven.

Americans have traditionally had a more positive view of commerce, but two waves of scandals—Enron in 2001 and the global financial crisis in 2008—have decimated that trust. As a result, Americans are more ambivalent about business than they were in the 1990s, and many students entering business school today are eager to revive the focus on virtue.

A survey by the Aspen Institute showed an increase between 2002 and 2007 in MBA students’ desires to have their careers make a contribution to society. The survey also found a decline in the belief that a company’s primary responsibility is to maximize shareholder value.

Read full article as published in [The Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-leadership/wp/2014/01/13/can-you-teach-businessmen-to-be-ethical/)

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*Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership.*## More Opinions from Jonathan Haidt

- [What the World Should Learn from Australia’s Social Media Law.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/opinion/what-world-should-learn-australias-social-media-law)
- [Why the World Is Drawing a Line on Social Media for Kids.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/why-world-drawing-line-social-media-kids)
- [Universities Can’t Pursue Truth Without Viewpoint Diversity.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/universities-cant-pursue-truth-without-viewpoint-diversity)
- [What Kids Told Us About How to Get Them Off Their Phones.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/what-kids-told-us-about-how-get-them-their-phones)
- [We Don’t Have to Give In to the Smartphones.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/we-dont-have-give-smartphones)