The Ethical Executive

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The Ethical Executive
(Becoming aware of the root causes of unethical behavior: 45 Psychological traps every one of us falls prey to)
2008, Stanford University Press
By Robert Hoyk and Paul Hersey

I believe, all leaders and decision-makers of a country should read this book. I have read this book years ago and sometimes after I became a public servant. This has been in my mind for a long time already given our social and political realities these days. One lingering question I could not get off my mind after I read this book was when it asked and answered: Why many good people became instruments of the holocaust? This book offered the root causes of unethical behaviors so we can recognize and avoid traps leading to them.     

This book has scientific approach, not just some philosophical, religious or business sense to ethics. One has to read the thin book of 118 pages only to understand, but let me run down the 45 traps so you can have a bird's eye view given the titles under the table of contents. Mind you too, you can get surprised how a positive feeling can even become a trap.

  
Primary Traps: Trap 1: Obedience to Authority; Trap 2: Small Steps, Sidestepping Responsibility; Trap 3: Indirect Responsibility; Trap 4: Faceless Victims; Trap 5: Lost in the Group. Trap 6: Competition.
Self-Interest
Trap 7: Tyranny of Goals; Trap 8: Money; Trap 9: Conflict of Interest
Trap 10: Conflicts of Loyalty; Trap 11 -- ; Trap 12: Conformity Pressure; Trap 13: "Dont make waves"; Trap 14: Self-enhancement; Trap 15: Time Pressure; Trap 16: Decision Schemas; Trap 17: Enacting a Role; Trap 18: Power; Trap 19: Justification; Trap 20: Obligation.

 Part II Defensive Traps
Trap 21: Anger; Trap 22: Going Numb; Trap 23: Alcohol; Trap 24: Desensitization.
Minimizing
Trap 25: Reduction Words; Trap 26: Renaming; Trap 27 and 28: Advantageous comparison and Zooming out


















Trap 29: "Everybody does it"; Trap 30: "We won't get caught"; Trap 31: We didn't hurt them that bad; Trap 32: Self-serving bias; Trap 33: Addiction; Trap 34: Coworker reactions; Trap 35: Established impressions; Trap 36: Contempt for Victim; Trap 37: Doing is believing
 
Part III Personality Traps
Trap 38: Psychopathy; Traps 39 and 40: Poverty and Neglect; Traps 41: Low self-esteem; Traps 42: Authoritarianism; Trap 43: Social Dominance Orientation; Trap 44: Need for closure; Trap 45: Empathy.
 

Jonestown, Analysis, Psychopathy; Obedience to Authority; Justification; Desentization; Conformity; Conformity to pressure; small steps; Doing is believing; Renaming.



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