An interview by (adam.turteltaub@corporatecompliance.org), CHC, CCEP, Chief Engagement & Strategy Officer, SCCE & HCCA.
AT: Brad, you have presented at SCCE annual conferences on multiple occasions during the past few years. Please tell our readers a little bit about your background.
BA: Having taught business ethics for over 33 years at four different universities, I’m now one of the old-timers in the field. I received my PhD in the discipline of business, government, and society from the University of Washington in 1993, a wonderful field of study investigating how the institution of business interacts with the other institutions of society such as government, community, values and ethics, the natural environment, media, etc. Oddly enough, even though business cries out for understanding in these areas now more than ever, PhD programs in this area have disappeared from business schools in the United States.
After serving for two years at Emory University as the research director for what is now the Chief Executive Leadership Institute at Yale University, I spent 17 years on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh, the last seven of which I was also the inaugural director of the Berg Center for Ethics and Leadership. In 2009, I joined the faculty of the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University (BYU) and also chaired the new Ethics Initiative in the Wheatley Institution. I’ve had a front-row seat to an amazing time of change and growth in the field of business ethics.
AT: Much is often commented about the state of ethics among young people about to enter the workforce. What’s your sense from your work with students at the Marriott School of Business?
