I promised myself to stop reading books on cognitive biases but there is always that one last fascinating book. Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What's Right and What to Do About it by Max H Bazerman and Ann E Tenbrunse is luring to break that promise. Good reviews on Guardian and Neuroskeptic:
Books about our cognitive deficits and psychological quirks are hardly thin on the ground, but this benefits from a close focus: on our "ethical blind spots", which result in our failure to act as well as we think we do. People are bad at predicting what they will do, and bad at remembering what they did if it conflicts with their self-image. Though the illustrations from individuals are interesting enough, the book zooms out regularly to the field of "business ethics" – not quite the oxymoron more cynical readers might assume, but troublesome enough. The message: if we are not careful, our "want" self will generally overrule our "should" self. I eyed a packet of crisps thoughtfully.
"This is not the same as saying that 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions'. That old phrase warns against trying to be good and, as a result, causing evil, because your plans go wrong. Blind Spots is saying, even if all of your attempts to be good work out just fine, you might still cause evil despite that.For example, you could be a good employee, who never calls in sick unnecessarily, kind to your friends and colleagues, and a generous charity donor.
Unfortunately, you're an accountant connected to Enron, and your work - ultimately - consists of defrauding innocent people. But of course, you don't think of it like that, because we don't tend to think about things "ultimately".
Five Barriers to an Ethical Organization
Books about our cognitive deficits and psychological quirks are hardly thin on the ground, but this benefits from a close focus: on our "ethical blind spots", which result in our failure to act as well as we think we do. People are bad at predicting what they will do, and bad at remembering what they did if it conflicts with their self-image. Though the illustrations from individuals are interesting enough, the book zooms out regularly to the field of "business ethics" – not quite the oxymoron more cynical readers might assume, but troublesome enough. The message: if we are not careful, our "want" self will generally overrule our "should" self. I eyed a packet of crisps thoughtfully.
"This is not the same as saying that 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions'. That old phrase warns against trying to be good and, as a result, causing evil, because your plans go wrong. Blind Spots is saying, even if all of your attempts to be good work out just fine, you might still cause evil despite that.For example, you could be a good employee, who never calls in sick unnecessarily, kind to your friends and colleagues, and a generous charity donor.
Unfortunately, you're an accountant connected to Enron, and your work - ultimately - consists of defrauding innocent people. But of course, you don't think of it like that, because we don't tend to think about things "ultimately".
Five Barriers to an Ethical Organization
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