Why They Do It: Inside the Mind of the White-Collar Criminal

Author: Soltes, Eugene

Edition: Illustrated

Features:

• PublicAffairs

Number Of Pages: 464

Details:

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 took a remarkable journey deep into the minds of these white-collar criminals, spending 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. Drawing on intimate details from personal visits, letters, and phone calls with these former executives, as well as psychological, sociological, and historical research, Why They Do It is a breakthrough look at the dark side of the business world. Soltes refutes popular but simplistic 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 and see it's worth the risk. Instead, he shows that most of these executives make decisions the way we all do--on the basis of their intuitions and gut feelings. The trouble is, these gut feelings are often poorly suited for the modern business world. Based on extensive interaction with nearly fifty former executives--many of whom have never spoken about their crimes--Soltes provides insights into why some saw the immediate effects of misconduct as positive, why executives often don't feel the emotions (angst, guilt, shame) most people would expect, and how acceptable norms in the business community can differ from those of the broader society.

Reviews:

“Groundbreaking...[an] impressive debut...a forcefully developed and documented contribution to our further understanding of high-level criminality in lightly regulated free markets.”

— Kirkus Reviews

"By showing us how well-educated and well-meaning businessmen come to commit terrible crimes, Eugene Soltes has done a great service to the business community and society. This landmark study of business gone wrong should be required reading for all people in business, MBA students, business school faculty and staff, and regulators and policymakers."

— Andrew Lo, MIT Sloan School of Management

"This book is a deep and important analysis of one of the most important and least studied problems of our times: corporate crime. But it is also a page turner."

— Luigi Zingales, University of Chicago Booth School of Business and author of

A Capitalism for the People: Recapturing the Lost Genius of American Prosperity

"When you read of yet another corporate titan who has it all—money, fame, power—but who blows it all by straying across the line separating aggressive risk taking from crime, you're driven to ask, what possessed them? Soltes' book provides a rare, intimate, and fascinating glimpse into the series of decisions, each one mundane enough, that lead by steps to high crime. Leaves you wondering, could it happen to you?"

— John Coates, former trader and author of

The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: How Risk Taking Transforms Us, Body, and Mind

About the Author:

Eugene Soltes  is the Jakurski Family Associate Professor of  Business Administration at Harvard Business School. His research  on corporate malfeasance has been cited by the Wall  Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, and Bloomberg  News. 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 his AM in statistics and AB in  economics from Harvard University....

EAN: 9781610395366

Release Date: 11-10-2016

Languages: english

Item Note: Great shape- pages are unmarked and sharp.Has a remainder mark. Hardcover Used - Like New Ships fast! 2016Illustrated

Item Condition: UsedLikeNew

Binding: Hardcover