A634.3.4.RB_LeeDarrell - The Harder They Fall

In early 2012, my brother-in-law was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, a rare and terminal form of brain cancer. Fortunately, he was very financially wise and had adequate life insurance. We had a family conversation (“we” being the extended family) urging my sister to not make any emotional decisions with the finances immediately after his passing. Though she was going to be a widow with two young boys, she was going to be a millionaire and the temptation would exist to lavishly spend that money. Instead, my mother urged and convinced her to just sit on the money for at least six months without spending a dime of it. There was enough in savings to maintain their lifestyle for about a year so six months should be reasonable.

As tragic as the loss of a family member (especially a spouse) is, the lavish spending of life insurance is a common tale. Of course, lavish spending isn’t limited to just insurance claims. I am sure that we have all heard the stories about how people win the lottery and are broke and miserable and their lives are ruined within just a few years or perhaps someone inherits a trust fund and everything spirals out of control. My friend, Chris Wilkins, recently mentioned something about this in a conversation. He works in wealth management and he loves using these stories of ruin to encourage new clients to just let him manage their new wealth so that it will still be there when they are ready for the responsibility.

There is cover story titled “The Harder They Fall” (Kramer, 2003) featured in the Harvard Business Review that reminded me of situations like these. The article isn’t about windfall gains but rather about business professionals that have risen to the top and then engage in unethical acts in the pursuit of money and power. Several examples, both real and hypothetical, were used to illustrate how the quest for increased success can blur our ethical decision-making processes as well as advice given to avoid this. In these stories, the thirst for more resulted in tragedies such as broken families and public humiliation. But why does being at the top bring about so much temptation? Perhaps it is because “being there was a lot more fun than getting there” (Kramer, 2003, p. 63). Furthermore, “the pleasures that accompany power and prominence are particularly distorting for the person experiencing them for the first time” (p. 63). That is how this goes hand-in-hand with those in windfall gain situations.

This week in our class, we have been discussing ethical relativity. As I was reflecting on this article, I tried to view it through that lens. Is it possible for someone at “the top” to perform acts that others may consider to be unethical yet still actually be ethical? Based on what I have learned about ethical relativity, the answer is yes, it surely is. Boiling it down to its basic elements, ethical relativity means that different people can have different ethical values. Morality, however, is constant (LaFollette, 2007). As an example, the act of cheating is wrong but what we consider cheating may actual vary from situation to situation based on the individual. As a sci-fi lover, the best was I can relate to this is to think of the Star Trek story of Cpatain Kirk when he cheated at Starfleet Academy by altering the computer program to allow him to win. He didn’t view it as cheating but rather as his duty to find a winning solution. Others, however, did view it as cheating. All involved agreed that cheating is wrong but due to ethical relativity they didn’t all classify it as cheating. Now let me relate that to the quest for more power.

Is it wrong to want more power and to do things that you may not have otherwise done to get it? The answer it – it depends. The other night, I was at my American Legion Change of Command meeting. One of the new officers is very influential with the NYPD and used to be the commandant for the aviation element. We were all sitting out on the balcony having cocktails and he wanted to show off a little, I guess, and called in a fly-by from a helicopter. It was quite a site to see this helicopter flying over Central Park at 200’! Was it unethical for him to call that in? Was it an abuse of power? This is where ethical relativity comes in to play. If he had done that just to impress a potential client or to woo a woman, yes, that would have been wrong. However, his motivation was to bring credit and recognition to the American Legion post. The exact same act based on the motivation can be ethical or unethical. We can only know for sure through self-evaluation. “This puts a burden on each of us to carefully and critically evaluate inherited moral wisdom, as well as our own actions. And it demands that we govern our behavior by what we find” (LaFollette, 2007, p. 66-67).

I live pretty close to Columbia University so most of my local coffee shops and bars are patronized by Columbia students. In fact, there are a couple of MBA students sitting next to me now as I write this (I’m in a coffee shop now, not a bar!). I have spoken with this duo before and they are both excited to be at Columbia because of the prominence of the school and the fact that an average MBA has a starting salary somewhere around the $140K mark. Most of us would probably say that it is wrong to just chase a salary. It is very self-serving and as these stories have highlighted can lead to demise. “Does the human being pursue his own interest? The answer is yes, but that same human being also pursues multiple interests. Some of these are contradictory to the person's own interests, some are above individual interest, and some relate to the good of the society, the environment, and fellow humans” (Reilly & Kyj, 1990, para. 3). It is okay to be a little self-serving sometimes if there is a greater good being served. It is okay to enjoy the luxuries and glamour of success. It is even okay to chase the success. However, when the motivation shifts from serving a greater good to only serving the self, that is when the actions may become indefensible. As Kramer (2003) states, when people get to the top, sometimes “they get distracted by all the temptations – and often abandon the practices that helped them capture the crown” (p. 63-64). When are at the top, must remember why we wanted to be there in the first place and how we got there. If we only wanted to be in the spotlight, there is a good chance that we will make compromises that will have extreme consequences.

Kramer, R.M. (2003). The Harder They Fall. Harvard Business Review, 81(10), 58-66

LaFollette, H. (2007). The Practice of Ethics. Walden, MA: Blackwell Publishing

Reilly, B. J., & Kyj, M. J. (1990). Ethical Business and the Ethical Person. Greenwich: Elsevier

Inc. doi:10.1016/S0007-6813(05)80174-0