Law And More

Cupid in Workplace: Preventing lawsuits, brand meltdown

The International Monetary Fund, and before that HP and American Apparel.  Love and lust in the workplace have become hotspots for organizations around the world.   To prevent lawsuits and brand meltdowns, they are contacting ethics expert Mark Matousek to parachute in to establish bullet-proof codes of conduct.  Matousek's new book "Ethical Wisdom: What Makes Us Good" is selling briskly.

 
 Based on the research for his book, Matousek provides organizations with a four-step approach.  Here you can read about that Download Pressreleasesexualharassment.  He has been a guest columnist on ethics for Law And More for several weeks.

Matousek provides a free download of an excerpt from "Ethical Wisdom" Download PagesfromMato_9780385527897_5p_all_r1-1.

Disclosure: Matousek has recently become a client of my communications boutique Genova Writing, Coaching, and More [mgenova981@aol.com.]

Truck Bandits: Pharma's new worry

Instead of being hauled into court, now Pharma will be the one prosecuting others.  The industry is being hit with a $10 to $30 billion problem.  And that's, reports Daniel Grushkin in BLOOMBERG BUSINESS WEEK, bandits are making off with the trucks shipping the medications.  The crime is low-tech, easy, and creates upheaval in the drug supply.

After the truck carrying 21 different kinds of medications from Astellas Pharma was disappeared while the driver took a shower at a rest stop, the company withdrew from the market all the drugs from the same lots.

Clearly this type of crime calls for a systems approach, likely high-tech, to stop.  Aaron Hotchner and his team on "Criminal Minds" could provide plenty of input for that.

Fatal E.coli in Germany: Regulating global food supply chain

Contamination of the global food supply chain doesn't only happen in China.  Here was a PowerPoint presentation which Bill Marler, expert on food-borne diseases, provided in China after the tainted infant-formula crisis Download 2007ChinaFoodSafety-Bill.  Those sources of contamination did make their way into the U.S. food system as well as that of other nations. Brand China took a major hit.

Now, in Germany, there have been 14 fatal cases of E.coli.  The source, reports William Pentland in FORBES, are cucumbers imported from Spain.  The total number sickened has reached about 1200.  But the epidemic isn't confined to Germany.  Those in Britain, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands have also been affected.  

However, and this is bad for tourism, the lion's share of E.coli illness from the imported cucumbers has occurred among travelers to and from Germany.  Brand Germany could also take a hit. 

 
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control might have to think systems-approach.  That was the way the U.S. Government essentially eradicated contamination of the meat supply after the Jack-in-the-Box burger fatalities.  Here is Marler's testimony on the success of that kind of intervention Download TestimonyEnergy.

Moral Certitude: They are here to help us

Our ethics expert Mark Matousek is author of the just-published book "Ethical Wisdom: What Makes Us Good."  Here is an excerpt from "Ethical Wisdom" you can download for free Download PagesfromMato_9780385527897_5p_all_r1-1. 

From the brisk sales and all the ordinary people and influentials contacting Matousek, there seems to be a hunger for discussion of the right thing to do. 

This week Matousek looks at the scary underbelly of those people and institutions which claim, explicitly or implicitly, moral certitude. 

From primitive times, there have been dominant individuals who appointed themselves - or were selected by the tribe - to lead. 

 

Among other key survival duties, they reinforced the laws and social customs of the group.  It was verboten to sleep with your fellow caveman's woman when he was out hunting for madodons.  The females at home were obliged to help the woman who was giving birth.  Wasting any part of the kill such as the teeth or horns would get you driven from the cave.  Disobedience of these rules could get an unruly caveman banished.  In fact, the words "testament," "testify," and "testimony" come from the same root as "testicles," since ancient humans put their hands over their genitals to swear oaths of obedience.

However, that was then - and this is now.  Our tribes today are dispersed all over the world.  Still, there often remains that assumption of moral certitude.  It can spill over to the legal system.  The classic example is for the court system, perhaps in violation of constitutional rights, to impose a sentence of attending Alcoholics Anonymous on someone convicted of DUI or even just weird behavior.  Since the alternative is jail, the choice seems not to constitute an authentic choice.

The irony is that our justice system does not reflect what science is now telling us about mirror neurons.   Those mirror neurons are in the brain and actually affect behavior.  We learn by imitation. Place a person already having difficulty with navigating life with others experiencing the same, or worse than he is, and the odds do not point toward moral or behavioral improvement.  More likely, that person will end up stuck in a dead-end prison term, learning nothing and doing more harm.

As for the legal community, you members of it might file test cases to question the nature of what's framed as help in America.

You are invited to visit my blog http://ethicsguerrilla.typepad.com, Facebook wall http://facebook.com/mark.matousek, and where I tweet http://twitter.com/markmatousek. 

I'm all ears for your thoughts about ethics markmatousek@gmail.com or please leave a comment.

 

Influence: It's gone soft and pastel

Influence has gone soft and pastel.  Brittle is 20th century.   That's how former head of the New York City school system Cathie Black had been described: Brittle.  Also 20th century is that organizational and personal navy blue, along with all the hard angles.

That's the reason for the fresh color and layout for Law And More.  We want to keep reaching all the key constituencies who have plenty to say about litigation, regulation, legislation, and ethics.

Look around you.  Those Mommy Blogs are out there in yellows, pinks, powder blues, and light greens, with a background of ginger-man brown.  AARP's new television commercial, with Betty White as spokesperson, is framed in pink, with that same ginger-bread background.  And, bestselling "Ethical Wisdom: What Makes Us Good" is also in the pastel family.
[Mark Matousek, author of "Ethical Wisdom" is now a client of Genova Writing, Coaching, and More.]

Those of you who might be confused by the rapid changes in digital communications can contact me - Jane Genova - for a complimentary consultation [mgenova981@aol.com].  If we work together, fees are custom-made for your budget.

"The Killing" - What would have been the right thing to do?

AMC's "The Killing" has replaced "Mad Men" and "The Sopranos" in raising questions about the right thing to do. 

As in all great performance art, "The Killing" leverages conflict.  In the series, the clash is between what the characters actually do and what would have been the right thing to do.  Because of this misalignment tragedy is born.  These issues resonate in this era when we are forcing ethical questions on law enforcement, the legal system, families in crisis, political leaders, and friends.  Campaign 2012, for example, could provide some interesting confrontations.

So far, on "The Killing," homicide detective Sarah Linden sets in motion what leads to the near-fatal beating of suspect Bennet Ahmed who is later ruled out.  That puts the murder victim Rosie's father Stan Larsen in jail and unable to support the family.  Larsen's wife Mitch dared Stan to do that when she jumped to the conclusion that the teacher had done it. 

Sarah, a flawed human being unable to navigate human relationships, has nothing but her work.  Her son Jack, who's acting out, is trying to add himself on her radar. Her boyfriend, who she was supposed to marry, gave up in this episode.  Without boundaries, Sarah got too close to Mitch. 

The rest was predictable, of course.  The police's internal affairs department should review her behavior. Meanwhile, we ask why didn't family such as Mitch's sister and mother demand she get professional help.  She almost accidentally killed her two sons when she left the car running in the closed garage.  Does doing the right thing not happen when human beings are scared off by the profound pain? Harvard psychiatrist Srinivasan Phillay looks at the raw entity in his new book "Life Unlocked: 7 Revolutionary Lessons to Overcome Fear."

Politico Darren Richmond fluctuates between ethical courage and being trapped in a private emotional hell.  When the teacher is flagged as the suspect, Richmond refuses to join in the vilification, even though Bennet is attached to his campaign and had access to the car in which Rosie had been found.  On the other hand, he can't break open to the possibility that the woman who killed his wife in a drunk driving accident could have changed enough to be granted parole.  In addition, we witness some hardening around the edges as his brave ethical stance had been used against him.  He will cut the salaries of those who didn't stand by him.

On a secondary level, there is a layer of minor characters who don't consider the right thing to do when the going gets tough.  The school official forbids Bennet to teach when he's under investigation.  She is ambitious. No, Bennet had not been charged yet. There's lost soul Belko who could have fixed himself.  If he had he might have talked Stan out of the attack on Bennet.  There's the head of the police who should have suspended Sarah for violations of ethics.

The one character who seems to be developing a moral compass is former substance abuser turned detective Stephen Holder.  At his NA meeting he bears witness to his previous unethical behavior.  He is capable of growth, learning from his mistakes and then applying that to what's next. Although he too bungled parts of the murder investigation, he tells Sarah he's not going to lose sleep over it.  With each lesson learned, he becomes stronger.

There are three more episodes left in the series.  

Why is the right thing to do such a puzzle?

Ethics expert Mark Matousek is a guest columnist on this blog.  Here is a complimentary excerpt from his new book "Ethical Wisdom: What Makes Us Good" Download PagesfromMato_9780385527897_5p_all_r1-1.  You can also visit Matousek's blog http://ethicsguerrilla.typeapd.com.  Recently, he has become a client for my messaging/marketing services. 

Class action lawsuit against Huffington Post - Contract Dispute

That class action lawsuit filed by Jonathan Tasini against HuffingtonPost may be framed as a contract dispute and that will be the end of it. Tasini contends in a novel legal claim that there was unjust enrichment of HuffingtonPost through the labor of 9000 unpaid bloggers.

Huffington Post lawyers, reports PaidContent.org, pushed back with the terms and conditions associated with the digital site.  Tasini had agreed to them.  There's more.  He had contributed 200 blog posts in search of fame, not money, argued HuffingtonPost lawyers.

Lawyers have said from the get-go that this lawsuit didn't seem to have merit.

 

DSK Scandal Makes for Strange Bedfellows

Not long before he was arrested for alleged sexual mischief, Dominique Strauss-Khan [DSK] had badmouthed Vladimir Putin.  DSK opined that Putin, reports the NEW YORK POST, "was plotting to undermine his [DSK's] position as head of the International Monetary Fund."

Now, for reasons we have to work at figuring out, Putin has gone on record as the first world leader to raise the question that DSK might have been framed.

Jared Loughner: Better off not mentally competent

That frayed brain wiring which manifests itself as what we label "mental illness" can cause great internal suffering. Alleged Arizona shooter Jared Loughner believes, among a number of things, that his defense team has formed a conspiracy to convict him, reports POLITICO.

However to relieve Loughner of that delusional state means getting him ready to be convicted of some or all 49 felony counts he faces.  At the end of all that could be the death penalty.

No fools, his defense team, notes POLITICO, ask notification before medical doctors employed by the government give Loughner medication to attempt to restore mental competency.  The humane solution is to have Loughner live out the rest of his natural life believing what he now believes, in protective custody.  That's not the legal solution, though.

Big-hearted John Edwards Visits Old Lady

The visit was just a social call. That's what John Edwards contended about his recent meeting with 100-year-old Bunny Mellon, reports POLITICO.  A big contributor to Edwards's presidential campaign, Mellon's testimony could be key in the case the federal government is trying to build against Edwards.  The core of that is the allegation his campaign misused contributions such as that from Mellon.

The grapevine has it that the feds could indict Edwards within days.  So, it's no surprise he hightailed it to visit Mellon in Virginia.  What watchers are focusing on is whether Edwards will go for a plea deal or his lawyers will request a trial.

 
"isn't life beautiful, John Boy."