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Bookshelf Notions of ethics vary widely among individuals and cultures. It's no wonder, then, that a perennial ques- tion in the business school classroom is how to teach students an ethical framework that will help them func- tion in the working world. Ronald A. Howard, a Stanford professor, and Clinton D. Korver, a specialist in decision making, attempt to pro- vide the answer in Ethics for the Real World. They explore common ethics violations, such as lying, stealing, and harming; examine the personal and cultural institutions that provide our own ethical touchstones; and offer what amounts to a worksheet to help readers determine their own personal ethical codes. Seen in that light, they admit, "This book is a self-help guide, assisting each person in avoiding everyday compromises through bet- ter thinking habits." It's a remark- ably clear and well-reasoned guide, filled with historical examples and what-if scenarios tailored both to students and professionals. Readers will find it virtually impossible to fin- ish the book without thinking about their own ethical beliefs—and how well they live up to them. (Harvard Business School Press, $24.95) The management education community was excited in 2000 when George W. Bush was elected as the first president with an MBA. But the failures of his presidency—and some Americans believe there have been many—can be ascribed as much to his personal flaws as to the Harvard Business School education that helped him develop faulty ideas on 64 BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2008 what it means to be a leader. That's the premise behind Hail to the CEO, James Hoopes' detailed and damn- ing deconstruction of Bush's term in the Oval Office. Hoopes, a Babson professor, takes the position that the prevailing "cult of moral leader- ship" is at least partially to blame for Bush's mistakes—indeed, for the downfall of leaders such as Ken Lay and Bernie Ebbers, as well. Hoopes doesn't pull any punches. "The lead- More and more countries—and more and more corporations—are subscrib- ing to the notion that sweeping environmental and social issues are global problems that will take the efforts of the whole world to solve. Not only that, the problems themselves are so interrelated that a holistic approach to the crises of drought, poverty, and climate change is the only way to alleviate them. In The Necessary Revolu- tion, MIT professor Peter Senge joins with co-authors Bryan Smith, Nina Kruschwitz, Joe Laur, and Sara Schley to examine alarming global ills and how dedicated entrepre- neurs are working to overcome them. "With nature and ership cult endangers executives not only morally, but also practically by encouraging them to devalue com- petence and knowledge," he writes. "Trying to use values to lead, execu- tives may be tempted to substitute values and vision for hands-on man- agement." Harvard's 1970s b-school curriculum would have emphasized a CEO's duty to lead through moral influence, Hoopes believes. What effect did such teaching have on a young man of privilege? the author wonders. "What if he were also con- fident but careless, resentful of moral arrogance in others but indulgent of it in himself, possessed of some personal integrity but uneducated in ethics?" Hoopes spends the rest of the book addressing those ques- tions—though many of his readers will already have strong opinions about the answers. (Praeger Publish- ers, $34.95) not machines as their inspiration, today's innovators are showing how to create a different future by learning how to see the larger sys- tems of which they are a part and to foster collaboration across every imaginable boundary," the authors write. They detail the conservation work being done by mammoth corporations such as Coca-Cola and Alcoa; they also describe impressive efforts by individuals and small groups, such as the coali- tion that produced the U.S. Green Building Council and its now widely used system for certifying environmentally friendly buildings. While the potential future they outline is truly dire, their tales of individuals who have made a dif- ference are downright inspiring. It's a cautionary book that carries a bright message of hope. (Double- day, $29.95)