Am I Responsible?

Tests for business people to determine whether, in any particular case, they are responsible for acting.

Material Type: Lecture

Are Corporate Governance Standards Different for Smaller Firms?

Kirk O. Hanson, executive director of The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, interviews John W. Noble, vice chancellor, Delaware Court of Chancery. Are there different ethical standards depending on the size of the company, and also for entrepreneurial ventures? What about a new company vs an established one? Noble responds: directors must act in an informed way and uphold the needs of the company and its shareholders first and foremost. Directors must keep these principles in mind, whatever the size of the company. But fiduciary responsibilities do vary according to the size of the enterprise. A larger enterprise can do things a smaller one can't. But the bottom line is directors' compliance.

Material Type: Lecture

Building an Ethical Business Culture: The Role of the Board Part 1

Michael L. Hackworth, chair of the Advisory Board of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University and member and chair of numerous corporate boards, talks with Lon Allen, chair of the National Association of Corporate Directors-Silicon Valley, on what boards can do to promote ethics in an organization. Doing the right thing builds trust with customers, shareholders, partners, and vendors. High efficiency and productivity result from trust. The board should ask itself about any decision: Does it optimize the bottom line, which is the duty to create value? Is it legal? Is it consistent with the contracts and obligations we have? Is it ethical?

Material Type: Lecture

Conscious Capitalism

There is a form of capitalism that actually is virtuous. Kirk Hanson, executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, interviews James O'Toole, Professor of Ethics at Daniels School of Business on conscious capitalism.

Material Type: Lecture

Corporate Board Independence and Conflicts of Interest: Part III of IV

Daniel Cooperman, Of Counsel with the Bingham McCutchen law firm, talks with Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Executive Director Kirk O. Hanson about improving board independence through training and disclosure.

Material Type: Lecture

Corporate Board Independence and Conflicts of Interest: Part II of IV

Daniel Cooperman, Of Counsel with the Bingham McCutchen law firm, talks with Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Executive Director Kirk O. Hanson about the meaning of board independence and why it is important.

Material Type: Lecture

Corporate Board Independence and Conflicts of Interest: Part IV of IV

Daniel Cooperman, Of Counsel with the Bingham McCutchen law firm, talks with Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Executive Director Kirk O. Hanson about best practices in director independence.

Material Type: Lecture

Delaware Corporate Law and Corporate Ethics

Sam Glasscock, vice chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery, talks with Kirk O. Hanson, executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, about fiduciary duty, the standard of care, and the standard of loyalty. Glasscock explains the function of a court of equity.

Material Type: Lecture

Effective Boards: Board Composition

Bob Finocchio and Lon Allan, both directors of several companies, discuss the real job of the board of directors—representing the interests of the shareholders. The characteristics of effective board members: -Financial literacy -Time -Passion for the company or industry -Independence -Courage and willingness to confront people who may have more power

Material Type: Lecture

Effective Boards: Getting the Facts

Bob Finocchio and Lon Allan, both members of the board of directors of several companies, talk about what boards can do to learn about what's really going on in a company. The board must gather data from multiple sources, including people who are not the CEO or CFO. The directors should have their nose in, but their fingers out. It's data gathering, not management of the company.

Material Type: Lecture

Ethics Risk

Measuring ethics risk and making sure management and board are paying attention. Center Director Kirk Hanson talks with Patrick McGurn, special counsel to ISS Governance Services at RiskMetrics, about the people component of risk.

Material Type: Lecture

Ethics and Pope Francis’s Encyclical Letter Laudato Si: A Teaching Module

This Teaching Note for the instructor provides background on the Encyclical and specific discussion questions which the instructor can use to guide discussion in class. After each discussion question, this note identifies key points students or the instructor should make during the discussion. The teaching note concludes with “A Summary the Instructor May Use to Conclude Discussion.”

Material Type: Lesson Plan, Student Guide

Author: Markkula Center for Applied Ethics