Protection of individual rights, including property rights, is the requirement of harmony of people’s interests and everyone’s well-being, with the added benefit of goodwill and benevolence among all.
Jaana Woiceshyn
Jaana Woiceshyn taught business ethics and competitive strategy for over 30 years at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary, Canada, where she is now an emerita professor.How to Be Profitable and Moral” is her first solo-authored book.
Visit her website at profitableandmoral.com.
Why Humility is Not a Virtue
According to conventional morality, humility is a virtue. We are taught to think not too highly of ourselves or not to take credit for our achievements. Whatever we accomplish is due to collective effort or the grace of a higher power. A group of Executive MBA...
Envy is Bad For Us
I am writing this post in Finland where I am working for a month. Last week the Finns marked their annual unofficial “National Envy Day” when the Finnish Revenue Service publicized the income taxes and income of every tax-paying citizen. That in itself is a shocking...
Teamwork and the Virtue of Independence
If we are to believe people like President Obama who famously said: “You didn’t build that”, individual accomplishment is insignificant; only as a group we can build something. While collaboration, trade, and learning are great benefits of living in a society and we...
Altruism is Not a Guide for Living—or for Business
Most of us pursue self-interest every day: we eat nutritious food, engage in productive work (to have a purpose and to make a living), look after our health, enjoy recreation and entertainment, spend time with friends and loved ones, and go to the mall to buy things...
Why Governments Should not Interfere in the Sale of Publicly Traded Companies
This is an issue mostly in countries with abundant natural resources and governments bent on economic nationalism, but it nevertheless poses an interesting ethical dilemma. Canada’s economy is dominated by resource companies: in oil and gas, minerals, the forest...
What Drives Innovation, the Engine of Economic Growth?
Many economists today are arguing that the unprecedented era of innovation—the last 250 years or so since the industrial revolution—is going to be over soon, ending economic growth. Why should we care about economic growth? Because our well-being depends on it—the...
Ethics of Energy Companies
Energy companies, particularly those producing fossil fuels—oil, natural gas, coal—are under attack by the environmentalists and their sympathizers in the media. It is one thing to criticize companies such as BP, deservedly, for lax safety procedures or lacking...
Art, Business, and First-Handed Productiveness
I recently heard a panel discussion by some accomplished professional artists about a variety of topics, ranging from the motivation to paint to the creative process to commercial success. It made me think of parallels between art and business and the role of...
Business Success: A source of guilt or a source of pride?
One of the points of contention among the commentators on the U.S. presidential campaign is whether Mitt Romney’s business experience and success is an advantage, as those on the Republican side think or a source of guilt, as his critics argue. The Democratic critics...
Why business (and the rest of us) needs limited government
Many people take government involvement in the economy for granted. They agree that government should, among other things, determine who business should hire (equal opportunity/affirmative action legislation), what and how to pay employees (minimum wage laws, insider...
Stealing Food To Feed The Poor
Two weeks ago, the mayor of a Spanish town in Andalusia was orchestrating raids to local supermarkets for the purpose of stealing food to feed the poor. He was quoted as saying: “Someone has to do something so families can eat.” Mr. Sanchez Gordillo, an avowed...
Sam Harris is Wrong On Free Will
Harris’ erroneous assertions are easy to refute.
Is Buying for Others the Secret to Consistent Happiness?
Freedom (our own and that of others) to choose values, including the level of wealth to which we aspire and what we want to do with it, is the first requirement of happiness. Any proposals for limiting our freedom—by imposing limits on income or a duty to share it with others—should be rejected as anti-human and anti-happiness.
Which is more Important: Creating Wealth or “Giving Back”?
Last week I attended an awards gala called “Rising Stars.” It was organized by Canada’s Oilweek magazine to recognize up-and-coming leaders in the oil industry in Calgary. Having done a study on oil company CEOs with “good minds” and being interested in innovation in...
Can a Business Be “Happy”?
A friend once gave me a T-shirt with “Happiness Is Positive Cash Flow” printed in the front. While I agree that positive cash flow is one of the necessary conditions of happiness in a civilized society, it is not in itself sufficient. What is happiness? It is a...
Business and “Price Fixing”
“As soon as two businessmen get together, they start discussing how to fix prices” This is what I heard a leftist public radio talk show host say on Sunday morning. My ears naturally perked up upon hearing something that ludicrous. He said he was quoting some...
Why should business defend itself—even if it is for the right to sell super-sized sodas?
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced recently a plan to ban large sodas (16 oz. or more) from New York City’s restaurants, movie theaters, and street carts, in an effort to combat obesity.It has created a wide-spread backlash among businesses—rightly so—led by...
The Common Denominator Between Riots Against Austerity Measures, Protests Against Tuition Hikes, And “No Zeros” High School Grading Policy
I have resisted commenting on political issues—such as the riots in Greece against the austerity measures by the government and the more than three-month long student protests in Montreal against the small tuition hikes introduced by the Quebec government—because I...
Business Ethics: Who Should Get Bonuses?
This story was shared by an MBA student who was trying to assess a personal business experience. A small technology start-up has started to see some financial success after two years of hard work. The three main shareholders, the CEO and two vice presidents, had made...
JP Morgan Loses $2 billion: Why the Government Should Not Intervene
When JP Morgan Chase & Co. announced a two billion dollar loss in its main investment office earlier this month, there were increased calls for the U.S. federal government to regulate trading by big banks and to ban speculative trading. Why should we reject such...
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