Troy, N.Y. — In an ever-changing world of increased turbulence, uncertainty, and global competition, how can today’s business leaders learn, grow, adapt, and lead through unknown business challenges?  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lally School of Management & Technology today hosted an inaugural program titled “Forum on Business, Technology, and Ethics.” The program focused on the theme of leadership in controversy.

“In the classrooms, we explain theories and teach students about the intricacies of how business decisions are made,” says David Gautschi, dean of the Lally School. “The forum provides a meaningful way for us to discuss ethical issues found especially in entrepreneurial environments. Most importantly, we want to prepare students to compete in the global marketplace so that they can address dilemmas that they may confront as future corporate leaders in today’s business world.”

The discussion featured former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace, USMC (Ret.), the first Marine to serve in the position; Albert Erisman, founder and director of the Institute for Business, Technology, and Ethics, and director of the Center for Integrity in Business at the School of Business and Economics, Seattle Pacific University; and Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson.

General Pace brings to bear his years as a Marine and as a military leader in providing insight on the “notion of leading with a moral compass.” He shared his personal experiences and discussed why ethics, integrity, and checking one’s moral compass when making decisions can spare an individual heartache and tragedy. 

Erisman, a noted business ethics expert, served as the program moderator. He teaches courses in business ethics and serves as the editor for Ethix. The publication provides illustrations of business ethics challenges through positive examples of best practices and exemplary leadership. Erisman discussed “mission-oriented leadership” as his solution to preventing ethics breakdowns in light of issues associated with Enron and the subprime lending industry.

President Jackson discussed the importance of ethical leadership in the context of a comprehensive academic and research curriculum that challenges students to think nimbly and creatively, as they pursue innovation within a globally sustainable framework. 

“Today’s business schools struggle with finding ways to teach ethics education,” said Gautschi. “Ethics is a natural element of human behavior and choice, and those in leadership positions are thrust into situations that force them to make trade-offs that influence the lives of others. So, raising a leader’s consciousness of the ethical dimension of decision-making is important especially as leaders face controversy or strong differences of opinion about choices that they make.” 

Gautschi noted that in the last few years, there have been many high-profile examples of ethical lapses dealing with business leaders and their companies. 

“Some of the lapses are induced by the exploitation of advancing technology which naturally alienates people in organizations large and small, and the uncertainly that technology exploitation often presents the decision-maker at any level in an enterprise with novel choices,” added Gautschi. “These are compelling reasons for making ethics education an integral part of the business school program.” 

“As a business school that is located within the oldest technological university in the U.S., our goal in developing this forum is to encourage and educate the Rensselaer campus community and others to think holistically about the implications of addressing leadership issues, ethical decision-making, and technology with global reach and global impact.” 

The annual event is sponsored by the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship at the Lally School, and is designed to promote engagement among students, faculty, scholars, and business practitioners.

About Rensselaer’s Lally School
Rensselaer’s Lally School of Management & Technology was founded in 1963 as an integral part of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the nation’s oldest degree-granting technological university. Building on Rensselaer’s heritage of more than 175 years of leadership in science and engineering, the Lally School is dedicated to advancing business through innovation. The Lally School’s curriculum is designed to produce leaders who combine creative passion with the ability to integrate technology across business functions. The faculty emphasizes the value of hands-on experience available through campus resources such as the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship and the nation’s first on-campus business incubator. Rensselaer’s Lally School offers graduate and undergraduate degree programs in management, doctoral programs in management and technology, an Executive MBA program, and an expanding portfolio of collaborative programs with enterprises and academic institutions in the Indian sub-continent, China, Europe, and the Middle East.. For more information on the Lally School, go to www.lallyschool.rpi.edu.