Professor J S Nelson on What Everyone Needs To Know About Business Ethics

How can we manage the ethical challenges faced in business?

On this special episode of the show, I’m speaking to Professor Josephine Nelson, the co-author of a brand new book called ‘Business Ethics: What Everyone Needs To Know’. Josephine — who publishes as JS Nelson — is a Professor of Business Ethics (Law) at Villanova Law School and is currently a visiting professor at Harvard business school.

The episode is special because I’m releasing it just a few days after recording as an extra episode between the regular schedule. That usually only happens when I’ve recorded an episode about something topical in the news. Ethics is something I’ve covered before (links to relevant episodes below).

The reason I’m rushing this episode out is personal. Not because I have to resolve many ethical issues in my business — though, as you’ll hear, we all have to deal with them on an ongoing basis and if you think you don’t, watch out! Instead, because of the considerable number of times I’ve found myself talking about the ideas shared by my guest since recording. The insights provided by Josephine have come up so many times, in such a short period, that I wanted to get the episode out asap. In part, so the clients I’ve already spoken to about them — and those I undoubtedly will — can hear it directly from her. That hopefully also means it’s highly relevant to you.

Josephine’s insights in the book and on the show aren’t just relevant to our work environments. They can also help us to think about the decisions made by companies we engage with — or choose not to — politicians we vote for - or don’t — and those with whom we surround ourselves — or don’t.

The episode contains some very simple observations about ethics. But don’t let the simplicity fool you. They’re astonishingly insightful and practical. I can’t recommend the book enough, and I’m really excited to bring you this episode because what Josephine has to say is incredibly important. And if you think that means an overly serious episode, think again. As you’ll hear, Josephine is a lot of fun, and there’s lots of laughter.

To find out more about Josephine’s work at Harvard Business School - https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=876714

To learn more about the book she co-authored with Lynn Stout, “Business Ethics: What Everyone Needs to Know” and to explore her areas of research, visit Josephine’s website - https://www.jsnelson.net/

During our discussion, we talk about

Josephine’s previous appearance on the show, a cross cast of Alison Taylor & Jerome Tagger’s Breaking The Fever Podcast on Workplace Surveillance: https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/professor-j-s-nelson-on/

Professor Yuval Feldman’s work on writing rules for ‘Good People’ - https://www.law.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/upload_documents/Feldman%20The%20Law%20of%20Good%20People.pdf

The Boeing 737 Max Scandal - https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/cold-call-what-went-wrong-with-the-boeing-737-max

The Wells Fargo Cross-Selling Scandal - https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2019/02/06/the-wells-fargo-cross-selling-scandal-2/

The Wells Fargo Fake Account Scandal - https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/02/21/business/wells-fargo-settlement.amp.html

The Volkswagen Diesel Scandal - https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34324772.amp

The Johnson Johnson Baby Powder Scandal - https://www.forbes.com/sites/korihale/2022/03/02/johnson--johnson-attempts-to-side-step-100-million-baby-powder-settlement/

Her co-author Lynn Stout — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_A._Stout

Mary Gentile’s system called ‘Giving voice to Values’ which Josephine describes as “how to speak truth to power, without getting fired” — https://givingvoicetovaluesthebook.com/

‘Ethics Unwrapped’ from the McComb School of Business at the University of Texas — https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/

How Swiss Bank Credit Suisse tried to track down a whistleblower — https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/39731/credit-suisse-calls-in-expert-help-to-hunt-down-whistleblower

Some of the other ethics-related episodes of the show:

Ruth Steinholtz on Ethical Cultures - https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/ruth-steinholtz-on-ethical-cultures/

Dr Sarah Eaton on Ethics in Academia - https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/dr-sarah-eaton-on-ethics/

Dr Todd Haugh on the Behavioural Aspects of Ethics & Compliance - https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/dr-todd-haugh-on-the/

Rob Chestnut on how companies can help their employees to work with integrity - https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/rob-chesnut-on-how-companies/

Rabbi Yonason Goldson on a Rabbi’s View of Ethics -https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/rabbi-yonason-goldson-on-a/

Maarten Hoekstra on Ethics: ‘making the good doable’ -https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/maarten-hoekstra-on-ethics-making/