Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose between Right and Right by Joseph L. Badaracco

From the Publisher

How should you respond if you are offered an opportunity at work solely because of your race or gender? What should you do if a single parent on your staff is falling behind in his or her work? How do you lead the launch of a product you know will be extremely controversial? This is a book about work choices and life choices, and the critical points--or defining moments--at which the two become one. It examines the right-versus-right conflicts that every business manager faces and presents an unorthodox yet practical way for managers to think about and resolve them. When making hard professional decisions, managers often use personal values as a touchstone. According to Badaracco, however, resolving such dilemmas is not as simple as the inspirational "do the right thing" school of ethics would have you believe. Defining Moments reveals an alternative approach that helps managers tackle the more complex and troubling question of what to do when doing the right thing requires doing something else wrong, or leaving another right thing undone. Drawing on philosophy, literature, and three stories that reveal the increasing complexity today's managers face as their careers advance, Defining Moments provides tangible examples, actionable steps, and a flexible framework that managers at all levels can use to make the choices that will shape not only their careers, but their characters. Compelling, readable, and absent of ethical jargon, Defining Moments gets to the core of what makes being a manager so difficult, as it explores what it means--and whether it's even possible--to be a successful manager and a thoughtful, responsible human being. "This solid, penetrating work, obviously deeply felt by the author, is likely to be well received by boomer managers."--Library Journal "The book is well-crafted, readable and interactive."--USA Today "Offers wisdom not only for managers, as the title implies, but for anyone facing ...tough choices in life."--The Wall Street Journal "So much of making sound decisions comes from asking smart questions. Defining Moments asks all the right questions in a way that will help any manager who wants to reach judgments that are morally sensitive and professionally sensible."--George Stephanopoulos, Visiting Professor at Columbia University, political analyst for ABC, and former adviser to the Clinton Administration

Booknews

Explores the question of whether one can govern innocently in a business world where personal ethics may interfere with the needs of the organization. The author draws on three manager case studies, literature, and moral philosophers such as Machiavelli, Nietzsche, and Marcus Aurelius to discuss ways in which managers can think about ethical dilemmas in their work life. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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