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Why They Do It

Audiobook
Nonfiction: Business & Economics, Nonfiction: Social Sciences
Unabridged   12 hour(s)
Publication date: 10/11/2016

Why They Do It

Inside the Mind of the White-Collar Criminal

Available from major retailers or BUY FROM AMAZON
Audio CD ISBN:9781681684253
Digital Download ISBN:9781681684260

Summary

Drawing on intimate details from personal visits, letters, and phone calls with former executives turned white-collar criminals, as well as psychological, sociological, and historical research, Why They Do It is a breakthrough look at the dark side of the business world.

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Product Description

Rarely does a week go by without a well-known executive being indicted for engaging in a white-collar crime. Perplexed as to what drives successful, wealthy people to risk it all, Harvard Business School professor Eugene Soltes spent seven years in the company of the men behind the largest corporate crimes in history—from the financial fraudsters of Enron, to the embezzlers at Tyco, to the Ponzi schemers Bernie Madoff and Allen Stanford.

Soltes refutes popular explanations of why seemingly successful executives engage in crime. White-collar criminals, he shows, are not merely driven by excessive greed or hubris, nor do they usually carefully calculate the costs and benefits before breaking the law. Instead, he shows that most of these executives make decisions the way we all do—on the basis of their intuitions and gut feelings.

Based on extensive interaction with nearly fifty former executives, Soltes provides insights into why some saw the immediate effects of misconduct as positive, why executives often don't feel the emotions most people would expect, and how acceptable norms in the business community can differ from those of the broader society.

Author Bio

Eugene Soltes is the Jakurski Family Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. His research focuses on how leaders can lose their way and "gray zone" managerial practices. His research has been cited by the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the Financial Times. Professor Soltes teaches in Harvard Business School's executive education programs and is the recipient of the Charles M. Williams Award for Outstanding Teaching. He received his PhD and MBA from the University Of Chicago Booth School Of Business and an AM in statistics, AB in economics from Harvard University.