Making Goodness Profitable
Michael Lewis, the articulate and visionary author of Moneyball (among other great books) has a provocative piece in the NYTimes magazine this week. It's entitled the "Irresponsible Investor," but its really more about how the extreme pressure on public corporations to show short term profits has tainted the teaching of corporate ethics in unfortunate ways.

In the wake of shameful investor scandals from the past decade or so, b-schools have understandably (and laudably) upgraded their corporate responsibility offerings. But the profit motive is apparently so pervasive that teaching on the subject focuses relentlessly on making goodness profitable. The result, Lewis argues, is a loss of authenticity, though he finds that term difficult to define.

I think some of what Lewis is getting at is that the profit motive has distorted the norms of corporate goodness. When you do something that is charitable but also in your financial interest, it's unclear to whether you're motivated by goodness or profit. It's similar to why the law doesn't generally enforce promises to give gifts. To do otherwise would distort the norms of gift giving by making it unclear whether the giver followed through out of genuine generosity or merely fear of legal sanction.
- posted by bigmouth @ 3:20 PM