After reading “Why Ethical People Make Unethical Choices” by Ron Carucci, I am intrigued. The idea of business leaders who made unethical choices being good people seemed unlikely. This article reminded me of my first job. I worked at a restaurant when I was 16, for the first time. I had no idea what to expect but I was hopeful. Quickly, I began to notice the pressure of keeping the customers happy. The managers were feared by the staff so it made it impossible to admit to mistakes. They were bias to certain workers and didn’t properly to their jobs. Reading this article, led me to reflect on how their unethical choices effected the team. 

This article reminds me of another article we read this week by the Huffpost about values. To summarize this article, it mentions how leading with values maintains a positive work culture. By maintaining proper values, unethical choices can be prevented. This article differs because it doesnt show examples of corrupted values, like we are reading about.

This text applies to many real world situations. There are many seemingly normal people who make unethical decisions in a moment of stress. Some leaders create toxic environments that lead to extreme pressure. According to the article ”Why Ethical People Make Unethical Choices”, “…unfettered goal setting can encourage people to make compromising choices in order to reach targets, especially if those targets seem unrealistic” (Carrucci, p. 3). Like in the Wells Fargo disaster, mentioned in the article, the company lost millions of dollars because employees felt immense pressure to open fake accounts. This is just one example, at a larger scale, of instances that happen daily. 

Carucci, R. (2016, December 16). Why Ethical People Make Unethical Choices. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2016/12/why-ethical-people-make-unethical-choices