Mark Pastin - Make an Ethical Difference: Tools for Better Action

More Praise for Make an Ethical Difference

This book is a must-read for everyone who is involved in a leadership position at any level in an organization. An excellent self-reflection manual, it was a quick read that kept me engaged! Dr. Pastins efforts should cause readers to step back and look at the culture of their entity and the moral compass direction they have set for themselves. Its practical application is self-evident.

Michael H. Covert, FACHE, President and CEO, Palomar Health, San Diego, California

Look no further if you are truly interested in finding practical solutions for difficult and complex ethical problems affecting you within your organization! Dr. Mark Pastin has provided an easy-to-follow, practical approach to effectively deal with todays intricate, complex, and at times dilemmatic ethical situations. Speaking from decades of world-class academic and consultancy experience in ethics, his narrative style keeps your interests going and makes the reading seem more like a novel rather than a heavy-duty academic work.

Constant Cheng, Professor, George Mason University

Dr. Pastin elegantly discusses modern ethics with a unique perspective that engages the reader with humor and real-life applicability. This is an exceptional exploration of ethical challenges faced in business along with a set of effective tools for overcoming them. A must-read for individuals looking to successfully navigate corporate America with integrity.

Debra Burock, PhD, CCP, Regional Director of Program Evaluation and Practice Development, NHS Human Services

Make an Ethical Difference delivers a clear and direct message: merely talking about honesty and integrity is not enough. Every one of us routinely faces ethical challenges, whether we recognize them as such or not. Dr. Pastin calls on his forty years of experience as an ethics advisor in this thought-provoking book that provides user-friendly, common-sense tools that have been tested and proven in many challenging situations. It is an invaluable guide to the leader who wants to make a lasting difference!

James Neal, Chief Compliance Officer, Millennium Laboratories

Make an Ethical Difference is an informative and enjoyable read! I will definitely be utilizing the principles/tools that were so thoroughly and creatively explained. The case scenarios were most appreciated as they provided realistic examples that anyone can relate to.

Amber King, Chief Human Resource Officer/Chief Compliance Officer, NorthCrest Medical Center

Mark Pastins book gives a variety of stimulating situational examples of some of the ethical issues that he has personally encountered in his international consulting work. He does not just point out the problem but gives a range of workable tools for everyday consideration as we all run into ethnically challenging situations. As a result of using these tools, we all might be better off as we develop our own ethics eye/ethics sense.

Daniel C. Brenenstuhl, Managing Director, International Business Seminars

One quote from Mark Pastins book rings true for all of us: The problem in getting ethical conduct to surface in organizations is that people lack the confidence that if they do the right thing, they will succeed. With case studies and a solid easy-to-read style, Mark gives you the tools and confidence to ingrain ethical conduct in your organization. I highly recommend this book for any C-suite executive.

Lle White, CEO and Chairman, XIFIN, Inc.

Make an Ethical Difference

Tools for Better Action

Mark Pastin

Make an Ethical Difference

Copyright 2013 by Mark Pastin

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First Edition
Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-60994-911-2
PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-60994-912-9
IDPF e-book ISBN 978-1-60994-913-6

2013-1

Interior design and production by Dovetail Publishing Services

Cover design by Richard Adelson

To Christina

for her love, belief, and
patience

When the rain falls, it falls on guilty and innocent alike.

Matthew 5:45

I dont like ethics books. I find them boring, sometimes smug, and mostly uninstructive. I have earned a living giving ethical advice for 40 years and I have never once found myself reaching for an ethics book to help solve a problem. None of the many ethics books I have read are worth much when you are faced with a problem that needs to be solved in a given time and within fixed resources. That sort of problem doesnt even come up in most ethics books.

Why, then, write an ethics book?

Because all the bad ethics books cant hide the fact that many of us would like to do something about the ethical problems that surround us. And there is something we can do.

I have faith that people want to live in a world in which doing the right thing is a more common occurrenceeven an expectation. In working with organizations, large and small, I have seen this desire to do right in virtually every one of them, even those that have made critical ethical blunders. Despite this desire, neither our organizations nor our society are getting more ethical. In fact, there is a sense that ethics is spiraling downward. If I dont expect you to treat me honestly, I act defensively toward youwhich in turn gives you less reason to trust me. Before long, were suing each other.

There is a disconnect between what we want for our organizations and our society and the reality being created by our actions.