Defining Moments

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Dirty Hands

T

HOUGHTFUL MANAGERS

sometimes face business problems

that raise difficult, deeply personal questions. In these situa-

tions, managers find themselves wondering: Do I have to

leave some of my values at home when I go to work? How much

of myself—and of what I really care about—do I have to sacrifice

to get ahead? When I get to the office, who am I?

Difficult questions like these are often matters of right versus

right, not right versus wrong. Sometimes, a manager faces a difficult

problem and must choose between two ways of resolving it. Each

alternative is the right thing to do, but there is no way to do both.

Consider, for example, the problem faced by Rebecca Dennet,

a branch manager for a major bank. Her boss, a senior executive,

told her that ...