Today's New York Times includes a report by Floyd Norris on a paper that links a CEO's off-the-job rule-flouting behavior with an increase in the likelihood that the CEO's company is going to have to restate earnings or that it might engage in fraud.
I'm looking forward to reading the paper. My gut tells me that people who routinely break some rules make it easier for them to break others (a la classic cognitive dissonance theory). It's not a huge leap from that conclusion to the conclusion that people who report to rule-flouting CEOs will likewise be tempted to bend the rules.
I am in the middle of The Willpower Instinct. http://www.amazon.com/The-Willpower-Instinct-Self-Control-Matters/dp/1583334386/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374866661&sr=8-1&keywords=willpower+instinct According to that book, there is a "halo effect" that makes a CEO more likely to break rules if he is on a diet, regularly exercising, donating to charity, etc. The subconscious apparently wants to balance out good with bad.
ReplyDelete--Shannon Powers