Capitalists Of Little Faith

The New York Times ran an irritating piece about a new trend at American business schools. It appears that b-school students are pledging to behave ethically when they're launched into the waiting arms of the world's companies, many of which will presumably still be struggling to survive by the time these little geniuses arrive to create flow charts and say stuff like "highest and best use."

At Columbia, the students promise not to "lie, cheat, steal or tolerate those who do." Apparently, coveting thy neighbor's oxen is still permitted. Wharton, doing its part to create jobs, has seen its number of ethics professors multiply from 2 to 7. And at Harvard, one-fifth of students have signed a pledge promising not to act on behalf of "their own narrow ambitions."

What makes this story extra annoying are the self-satisfied looks on the faces of each pledge signer in the Times photo. But one wonders what might those evil "narrow ambitions" include? Making piles of money, of course. Money that goes toward hairdressers and waiters and carmakers and pilots and homebuilders and gardeners and teachers and countless others. Doesn't seem all that narrow.

It will be very interesting, ten years down the road, to compare the track records of those who signed the voluntary pledges with those who didn't. Have they lived more ethical lives? Have they been kinder to their neighbors and more faithful to their spouses and more generous to those in need? I doubt it. But if I were hiring, and two b-school candidates stood before me, identical in every respect except one had signed this pledge, I'd hire the one who hadn't. I like employees who believe that their narrow ambitions, properly aligned with the company's success, serves everyone's interests.