Irresponsibility is an epidemic in our era. Too many individuals and organizations deny, ignore, or evade responsibility for their actions. In all sectors, irresponsibility is rising — blaming others, excusing oneself, and telling everyone else to buzz off. The high profile cases are troubling, of course (Presidents Nixon and Clinton, the Challenger space disaster, the …
Leading Change: The Argument for Values-Based Leadership
by James O’Toole
The Cult of Information: A Neo-Luddite Treatise on High-Tech, Artificial Intelligence, and the True Art of Thinking
by Theodore Roszak
The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail
by Clayton M. Christensen
The Victorian Internet
by Tom Standage
Most of us have been frustrated by calling a business colleague with an urgent question and getting her voice mail. Worse, is trying to reach that person through a series of voice mail prompts that leave you looking for ‘press 6’ when there are only five choices. This is one of many examples where automation …
TechWatch: Technology-Enabled Self Service—Where are the Boundaries? Read More »
Paul Song, founder and CEO of ARIS Corporation, reflects on values and challenges of managing a rapidly growing high tech company.
Openness is the companion virtue to loyalty (the subject of Benchmark Ethics 5). Openness (in individual character or organizational culture) is not the same thing as emptiness; it doesn’t mean abandoning everything. But a radical openness, anchored by loyalty to one’s core mission and values, is a critical component in a benchmark ethics. Open people …
The Winner-Take-All-Society: Why the Few at the Top Get So Much More Than the Rest of Us
by Robert H. Frank and Philip J. Cook
The Practice of Technology: Exploring Technology, Ecophilosophy, and Spiritual Disciplines for Vital Links
by Alan Drengson
Data Smog
by David Shenk
“How you gather, manage, and use information will determine whether you win or lose,” writes Bill Gates in his new book Business @ the Speed of Thought (see Book Reviews, this issue). In the age of the Internet, more information is available than ever before, and using it quickly and well is the key to …
TechWatch: Information is Not Enough for Business Read More »
Loyalty is not the only moral virtue in benchmark ethics. It can’t stand all by itself. Nevertheless, the case can be made that loyalty stands first among the virtues — both for personal character and for corporate culture. What is loyalty? Its etymology links it to “law.” Originally, “loyal” meant “lawful,” faithful to the law. …
New Rules for the New Economy
by Kevin Kelly
The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company
by David Packard
Business @ the Speed of Thought
by Bill Gates
