When a new crop of future business leaders graduates from the Harvard Business School next week, many of them will be taking a new oath that says, in effect, greed is not good.

Nearly 20 percent of the graduating class have signed “The M.B.A. Oath,” a voluntary student-led pledge that the goal of a business manager is to “serve the greater good.” It promises that Harvard M.B.A.’s will act responsibly, ethically and refrain from advancing their “own narrow ambitions” at the expense of others.

What happened to making money?

That, of course, is still at the heart of the Harvard curriculum. But at Harvard and other top business schools, there has been an explosion of interest in ethics courses and in student activities — clubs, lectures, conferences — about personal and corporate responsibility and on how to view business as more than a money-making enterprise, but part of a large social community.

I much prefer "the common good," yet appreciate the effort. Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

1. Katherine wrote: The primary goal of a business manager is to make money.  If they’re saying that they want managers to also be ethical and honest while making money, I’m all for that.  It can be done, and many have made money and kept their ethics straight. May 31, 6:05 am | [comment link]

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