ABSTRACT
What do power and ethics have in common? More, and less, than one may believe. The most recognized association between the two is Lord Acton’s definitive admonition that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” That statement underlies a belief that is near ubiquitous in the United States, and tends to serve as a framework for our experience. When we read of the seemingly unending instances of organizational corruption, from Enron to Tyco to Martha Stewart, each scenario seems to lend credence to the notion that power and ethics are incompatible at best, and most probably at opposite ends of a continuum. This belief is bolstered as well by martyrtinged vignettes of purportedly ethical people who fail to achieve high levels of power and widespread influence, the self-proclaimed do-gooders thwarted in their attempts to get hired/promoted/elected.
