Capturing the lively discussions, presentations, and other events that make up the daily activities of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.
The following postings have been filtered by category Business Ethics. clear filter
Join us Monday, Oct. 17 for a talk by Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Energy, on "Ethics, Innovation, and Running a Green Company."
Surace was listed as one of the top 15 innovators of this decade by CNBC, nominated as Innovator of the Year by PlanetForward and awarded Tech Pioneer by the World Economic Forum.
Since Yahoo! fired CEO Carol Bartz Tuesday, her no-expletives-deleted response has surprised many observers. But Center Executive Director Kirk O. Hanson told the San Jose Mercury News,that her reaction was "a sign of a failed relationship that certainly precedes the last two days. The origins of this have to be months ago, but may actually have started with the hiring."
Reporter Pete Carey writes, "CEOs typically 'resign' by saying their goals have been accomplished or it's time to 'move on.... But behind the veil is many a bitter struggle."
CFOs can be ambassadors for ethics in a corporate organization because they interface with so many different departments. That was the message of a panel of CFOs convened by the Ethics Center at a recent meeting of the Business and Organizational Ethics Partnership. (read summary)
Participants were:
John Batty, formerly CFO of Affymetrix
George de Urioste, CFO of Marvell Semiconductor
Brad Buss, CFO of Cypress Semiconductor
Ronald Pasek, CFO of Altera
Jeff Kuhn, managing partner of FLG Partners, moderator
The Ethics Center partners with Morrison & Foerster and StoneTurn Group to present this seminar on the evolution in the definition and responsibilities of corporate gatekeepers, such as general counsels, members of the Audit Committee, ethics and compliance officers, etc.
Speakers include:
Mark Fagel,
Regional Director, Securities and Exchange Commission
Randy Fons
Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP; former Regional Director, Securities and Exchange Commission
Jonny Frank
Partner, StoneTurn Group; retired Partner, PWC; former Assistant United States Attorney, Eastern District of New York
Kirk Hanson
Executive Director, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics
The Center partners with the Center for International Business Ethics in Beijing. Markkula Center Director Kirk O. Hanson serves as honorary chair of the Beijing Center, and regularly conducts reciprocal visits with Stephan Rothlin, the general secretary of the Center for International Business Ethics and a professor at the International University of Business and Economics.
If you're used to texting, e-mailing, or otherwise multi-tasking while attending important meetings, F. Daniel Siciliano and Katharine Martin have news for you: Failure to pay attention to the task at hand is not only an ethical problem, but, if you're a corporate director, it may also become a legal one.
Saracino and Martin spoke on the risks of multi-tasking at a recent meeting of the Center's Business and Organizational Ethics Partnership.
Who is responsible for the ethics of an organization? In this discussion with Center Executive Director Kirk Hanson, Craig Nordlund, former general counsel of Agilent Technologies, argues that the responsibility must finally rest with the CEO although concern for ethics must be disseminated to everyone in the organization.
A theme among the panel of general counsels that Nordlund moderated for the most recent meeting of the Center's Business and Organizational Ethics Partnership was that general counsels are responsible for compliance but not ethics, which should be more broadly shared. Nordlund suggests that whether the responsibility for ethics training resides with the general counsel's office, HR, or a separate Ethics Office, such programs will not work unless there is leadership on ethics from the company's top executives.
