Entrepreneurial Resilience in New Orleans Hurricanes, oil spills, and Louisiana politics — the latest issue of Kaizen features my interview with entrepreneur Jay Lapeyre, CEO of The Laitram Corporation. I met with Lapeyre in New Orleans to discuss natural disasters and corrupt politics, leadership, and the state of American manufacturing in our global economy. Also […]
Kaizen 20 — the Jay Lapeyre interview Read More »
Check out Rocket Singh, Salesman of the Year, an engaging movie with a healthy business ethics kick. The main character is a young college graduate with mediocre grades who lands a job at a computer sales company. He is soon confronted with corrupt-but-usual practices in the company, and his naïveté puts him on the fast
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In this third Socratic seminar on the Best Arguments against Free-market Capitalism, we take up three arguments: a) the paternalist argument that human beings are incapable of living freely, b) the collectivist argument that wealth is a social creation (at 11 minutes), and c) the religious argument that value is not of this world (at
Three more anti-free-market arguments (UFM seminar) Read More »
At Francisco Marroquín University, I led a series of seminars on the Best Arguments against Free-market Capitalism. The format is Socratic, with lively back-and-forth between me and an impressive group of UFM professors. In first session, we take up the argument that Free-market capitalism is dog-eat-dog. The video’s editor, Luis Barrueto, provides a useful thematic
“Capitalism is dog-eat-dog” — UFM seminar Read More »
I am neither Catholic nor Protestant, so I do not have a dog in that fight but rather a cultural history question about the financially bankrupt PIGS or PIIGS countries in Europe. With the exception of Ireland, all are in southern Europe. Including Ireland, all of them are traditionally Catholic [except Greece, which is mostly
PIGS, Catholicism, and Protestantism Read More »
Here is a simplified flowchart, developed for my business ethics courses, reflecting my understanding of subprime mortgages’ contribution to the crisis. Let me emphasize that this is only about the subprime contribution of the overall crisis. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac enabled much spillover into non-subprime mortgage sectors, government-set capital requirements and other regulations enabled
Subprime mortgage crisis — history flowchart Read More »
During my visit to Francisco Marroquín University, I led a one-hour seminar on entrepreneurial ethics. Subtopics: * Three moral types: Carly, Tonya, and Jane. * Six questions in ethics. * Egoism, Altruism, and Predation. * Entrepreneurial ethics: entrepreneurial success and virtue. * Why hasn’t the case for liberty convinced everyone? * Entrepreneurial ethics in contrast
Seminar on entrepreneurial ethics Read More »
I was video-interviewed by Luis Figueroa at Francisco Marroquín University on the topic of business ethics. In the twelve-minute discussion, I respond to the following questions: * What do you think of “corporate social responsibility”? * Why do you believe business ethics should begin with entrepreneurship? * Are there differences between ethics in family and
UFM interview on business ethics Read More »