January 2016

Marcia’s post about the importance of teaching ethics reminded me of a Bloomberg story from a little while ago.

It’s been widely reported that today’s students have been shunning investment banks and instead have been seeking careers in Silicon Valley.  Well, according to William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, that’s not just because Silicon Valley pays more and has an aura of excitement.  In fact, it’s at least partly due to the fact that Wall Street strikes students as an unethical place to work – prompting students to seek alternative opportunities.

Obviously, that’s a problem: If the most ethical students shun Wall Street, it can only make matters worse, not better; and there is at least some evidence that the perception of corruption in finance may lead women away from those jobs, contributing to ongoing gender disparities  (not that Silicon Valley is all that much better in this regard).

There’s obviously no easy fix, but it does occur to me that one thing we need to teach students is not simply how to think ethically or make ethical choices, but also the concrete, practical skill of saying “no,” even when that means going against…

Happy New Year!

Last year I wrote a bit about New Year’s resolutions.

As some of you know, I wasn’t able to go the full year without checking my e-mail on Saturdays. In fact, that resolution was toast a few weeks into 2015.

One of the problems, I think, was that I had 20 resolutions in 2015. We all have limited self-control, and we can experience overload in January.

I have been doing New Year’s resolutions for as long as I can remember, with varied amounts of success, but I am going to try something a bit different this year.

The Cass Sunstein article I included last year gave me the idea. In the article, he states “But how can we ensure that our resolutions actually stick? Behavioral economists have three answers: Make them easy and automatic, make them a matter of habit, and make them fun. A resolution is more likely to work if it is concrete and can be translated into a simple routine.”

This year, instead of a long list of resolutions, I plan to focus on forming one habit each month. I hope the habits will continue after that month, but after one month of intense focus…