In a recent Weekly Ethics Thought, Christopher Bauer has suggested taking a look at four books that aren't about ethics. But each has something important to say, about ethics.
In no particular order, here are his suggestions:
1) "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" by Robert Cialdini. "This is one of the popular press classics in the area of persuasion and is written by one of the first to clearly write about it outside of the social psychology journals. How we influence and are influenced by others is a key component in if/how ethical thinking and practices are transmitted. The more you know about persuasion, the more you can take conscious control of that process. Plus, for those of you interested in ethical marketing and advertising, greenwashing, etc., this book will speak even more directly to you," Mr. Bauer said.
2) "Covert Persuasion: Psychological Tactics and Tricks To Win The Game" by Kevin Hogan and James Speakman. "Recommended for all the same reasons as the Cialdini book. The focus however, as the title says, is more specifically on covert persuasion tactics. It also provides a much higher percentage of technical specifics than does Cialdini's book. Regardless of whether you find it intriguing or chilling, it seems to me that this is a great example of a type of process we can all benefit from knowing and thinking about," he stated.
3) "Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go To Work" by Paul Babiak and Robert Hare. "Even before Bernie Madoff, we have long thrown around the idea of corporate psychopaths, even if we've used the term in a conversational rather than a clinical sense. This book takes an interesting look at what psychopathy looks and feels like in the workplace. It's an enjoyable read about often highly un-enjoyable and, certainly, frequently highly unethical people. (And, of course, one of the points of the book is that truly psychopathic folks are often highly enjoyable people until you discover the havoc they've created...)" declared Mr. Bauer.
4) "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield. He said, "Of the four books suggested here, this one is perhaps the most easily seen as 'off-topic'. However, one of the points Pressfield makes is that every single day we have the opportunity to re-create who we are, regardless of who we chose to be yesterday. It seems to me that this message is both intimately and profoundly connected to how we define ourselves and our organizations as far as our ethics and all the behavioral choices flowing both to and from that."
Christopher Bauer helps companies create and implement high-impact, high-ROI ethics and values training programs. In addition to keynotes and seminars on professional ethics, he also provides consultation on ethics program development and implementation. Information on Bauer Ethics Seminars is available at
