14 D
EFINING
M
OMENTS
and right, on a complex issue of personal integrity. His question
was not whether to be ethical; it was how to be ethical. His problem
was the centrifugal pull of responsibilities to his employer, to its
shareholders, to friends and his mentor, to himself, to his parents,
and to his ideals.
It is tempting to dismiss Lewis’s dilemma as a special case or a
minor episode. Perhaps problems like this are restricted to benefici-
aries of affirmative action programs. Perhaps investment banks are
especially prone to ethical shenanigans. Perhaps the problem is
mostly in Lewis’s head, so that what he really needs to do is just
make up his mind. Business calls for decisiveness; maybe Lewis
should stop stewing in his own juice. And, in practical ...