Ever Wonder Where All That Money Went?

As the financial crisis continues to unfold, headlines increasingly focus on the pain and hardship ordinary Americans are suffering. Let us not forget that the wealth accumulated by a small handful of Americans, often at the expense of others, was obscene and remains...

Why Education Belongs Back on the Agenda

The bleak economy has increasingly dominated the headlines. It’s easy to see why, given the yo-yoing stock market and through-the-roof energy prices. But the economy’s difficulties have overshadowed an equally troubling trend: since the late 1960s, U.S....

Walmart & the Sins of Our Fathers

“Judge King wrote that Ms. Braun had recounted the humiliating experience of soiling herself while at work because she had not been permitted time to use the restroom.” I hope that the recent ruling by a Minnesota state judge, who found that Walmart...

Our Compensation Principles & Beliefs

Over the years, I have frequently spoken out against companies that preach a “we’re-all-in-this-together” ethos while tolerating Austrian-Afghanistan disparities in executive-employee pay. But I have offered little in the way of a real-world solution...

Blood on Their Hands

Recently the New York Times reviewed The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, by Steven Greenhouse, a reporter for the newspaper. The book, published by Knopf last week, examines how companies like Fed Ex and Walmart bleed workers to reap hundreds of...

Monsanto: An evil company?

I have often wondered whether a company can truly be evil. Not a company run by evil people, but a place where decades of evil have seeped right into the corporate fabric. Almost ten years ago, at a Business for Social Responsibility conference in Los Angeles, I...

Responsible From the Inside Out

The most recent study from the research firm Towers Perrin showed that only 21% of employees felt engaged in their work and that fully 38% feel partially or fully disengaged. The Extra Mile, a new book by David MacLeod and Chris Brady reviewed in the Financial Times...