Kumbaya E-mail

This is an e-mail I may have written to someone who may have been teaching me not too long ago.

Hi

I've just finished writing the memo about KPMG and the tax shelters, it had me really thinking...

I've just read the article in the times about B-school's erroneous focus (finally).
Also, recently I've had to do cases on Disney, Tyco, I saw the documentary "Walmart the high cost of low price" and in case I want to escape all this, the news is dominated by AIG.

And when I take a look at our syllabus, I realize that we're getting ready to look at more stuff of that nature.

So I almost feel like I have to "learn between the lines". On one hand our textbooks tell us things like "oh have a noble mission and profits will follow". But on the other hand we're doing case after case that illustrate unethical behavior in the real corporate world.

"Students, there's such and such rosy theory but actually, this is what's really going on."

I am grateful to actually learn some things that are practical and that happen in the real world instead of abstract theories (I did economics in undergrad). But at the same time I am almost saddened by all this.

A part of me wants my professors to give me a bit of kumbaya. But another part of me recognizes that, that would be a bit idealistic.

I think my confusion is due to the fact that my whole business school education is giving me mixed signals about business ethics.
As in ethical behavior in business world is cool but it's also rare.

I guess I would like for us students at (...) to actually read and learn more about companies that are truly ethical and truly doing the right thing and are also making money.

If these companies actually exist...

And this is a response he may have given to my e-mail if I wrote it

Thank you so much for your e-mail - I really appreciate it. I feel
the same way much of the time. There are so few examples that we hear
about that can inspire us and encourage us to strive toward personal
and organizational excellence. I do have a book that I used in grad
school - that I would use in this course if it were a full semester
and not 7 weeks - that talks about a lot of the good new stories. In
fact, unethical behavior really is pretty rare and not the rule. If
you consider how many commercial transactions of all sorts occur on a
given day that are 100% honest and truthful and benefit both parties
you come to the conclusion that the stuff we hear about is only the
negative and only a small fraction. In the business press as in the
popular press - if it bleeds it leads. I had a professor of business
ethics once that had everyone in the class write and essay about the
most ethical act, person, or company they have directly come into
contact with. It set the tone for the whole course that there are
ethical people out there trying to make the themselves, the society,
and the world better through the way they do business. I'm thinking
about doing something similar in this class. I'll take your comments
under advisement and see if I can focus more on the positive (e.g.,
Ray Anderson at Interface carpets) - but given the very limited time
for this course it will be difficult.

These two e-mails probably cover most of what I've learnt scholastically last year....