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Bookshelf Everyday Heroes Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.'s new book, Leading Quietly, is subtitled An Unorthodox Guide to Doing the Right Thing. This proves to be an apt title for an unusual book that follows ordinary people who negotiate the difficult and morally ambiguous territory of the modern workplace. Badaracco's main premise is that the high-profile heroism of whistle-blowers and ethi- cal crusaders is misplaced—or cer- tainly overvalued—in the real world, and that managers who deal careful- ly and efficiently with everyday problems practice an even more valuable brand of leadership. Badaracco walks the reader through various situations that occurred to actual people and details the unsenti- mental and practical ways that they dealt with their problems. The new hospital CEO doesn't fire the high-ranking execu- tive accused of sexual harassment; instead, she induces him to motives are often mixed, even when they're doing a good deed like exposing a company's unethical practices. He notes that just know- ing the difference between right and wrong is not enough to motivate most of us to act: "Before begin- ning the difficult effort to change the world, even in a small way, men and women must assess how much they care. …The critical question is whether someone takes a problem personally enough to act, persist, endure, and soldier on." He explains how important it is for individual players to be able to assess their own political capital within an organization—and when they are wise to spend or hoard it. The book is an interesting read, tal. It merely lays out situations that can cause trouble for organizations and encourages students, managers, and CEOs to think through the implications of their decisions. The authors trace the history of look at what constitutes an ethical business climate is nei- ther preachy nor judgmen- resign and take a generous severance package. The salesman trying to cut a deal with his best client figures out a way to work around company rules. The bank manager stalls with creative roadblocks when his superi- ors push him to clean house quickly at his new post, hoping to save the jobs of employees who might be worthwhile. None of these strategies is particularly heroic, Badaracco admits—but all of them help keep companies functioning smoothly while allowing middle managers and top executives to secure their jobs. If the tactics are unglamorous, that's because Badaracco is a realist. He acknowledges that people's 58 BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2002 not just because its tenets and examples are so unexpected, but because Badaracco peppers the text with quotes from everyone from Machiavelli to Arthur Miller. And while some of his conclusions might be surprising, most of the dramas he recreates will be familiar to anyone who's ever held a managerial posi- tion—and wondered if he handled a sticky situation as well as he could have. If he acted behind the scenes with quiet determination, it's very possible that, by Badaracco's stan- dards, he did. (Harvard Business Press, $25.95) Ethical Dilemmas Just as the Enron scandal has caused businesses large and small to re- examine their own ethical standards, Houghton Mifflin has helped busi- ness school professors to bring the topic into the classroom by issuing the fifth edition of Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases by O.C. Ferrell, John Fraedrich, and Linda Ferrell. This detailed, dispassionate the study of business ethics from the '60s through the early 21st century and note how changing consumer attitudes have affected social responsi- bility for corporations. They also dis- cuss various types of moral codes and how they might be applied in per- sonal and business situations. Each chapter begins and ends with a situa- tion in which a manager or employee is faced with a difficult choice. No easy answers are given, but readers are left to ponder what the best deci- sion might be and how various fac- tors might influence that decision. This thoughtful book does not boil down ethical situations to sim- ple questions of right and wrong. "The study of business ethics does not mean simply moralizing about what should or should not be done in a particular situation," the authors write. "Rather, it systemati- cally links the concepts of ethical responsibility and decision making within the organization. … The cur- rent trend is away from legally based ethical initiatives in organizations to cultural or integrity-based initiatives that make ethics a part of core orga- nizational values." Readers who are business owners might want to consult the appen- dices, which contain the codes of ethics posted by real companies and organizations. The most comprehen-