S2E13 | Transforming Corporate Culture through Behavioral Ethics: A Conversation with Alexandre di Miceli

“Our decisions, to a large extent, are predictable but not rational. Research has also shown that, when faced with ethical dilemmas, people behave virtuously not when they are moved by reason but by their intuition, emotion, and empathy. … If the rational was enough for ethical decision-making, then ethics professors would probably behave better than the rest of the population, right? Curiously, though, there is scientific evidence showing that now even ethics professors behave systematically better than the rest of the population.”

“My key finding was companies that score higher on unethical culture are less profitable. … Companies with lower unethical scores--which is the say, the best ones--exhibit an average return on equity of 14 percent, about twice as much as the worst ones with the highest unethical scores.”

This episode of the Principled podcast is hosted by Ben DiPietro, editor of LRN’s E&C Pulse newsletter, sits down to talk with Alexandre di Miceli, a professor, consultant, researcher, and expert on corporate governance and business ethics. Di MIceli is a founding partner of Direzione Management Consulting in Brazil and has authored several books, including “The Virtuous Barrel: How To Transform Corporate Scandals into Good Business via Behavioral Ethics.”

Behavioral ethics is a new and multi-disciplinary field, which addresses two questions: How do people actually behave when exposed to ethical dilemmas and why do good people do bad things? Because behavioral ethics addresses the inner psychological factors and the contextual pressures that influence a person’s transgressions, di Miceli explains how it has greatly changed how companies address ethics and compliance issues. 

What You’ll Learn on This Episode 
[1:12] How did he develop an interest in behavioral ethics, and what led him down this career path? 
[4:17] Are companies understanding the importance of developing an ethical corporate culture, or is there still some way to go? 
[6:49] What role does emotion play in the study of behavioral ethics? 
[8:52] Is there an economic case to be made for using behavioral ethics? 
[11:00] What are two challenges companies face when they try to use behavioral ethics and what would you suggest they do to overcome those challenges? 
[13:45] Are there ethical considerations to companies using behavioral ethics on their employees, in light of things like artificial intelligence and technology? 

Find this episode of Principled on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, SoundCloud, Podyssey, or anywhere you listen to podcasts.