I am Guido Palazzo,

a professor of business ethics at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland and in my research I try to understand, why all those big corporate scandals happen that we read about in the news every day.

why do good people do bad things?

what drives epic ethical failure in organizations?

Have you ever read about a corporate scandal in the news and thought that next time, it could be you and your organization? Probably not.

We all tend to believe that bad things are done by bad people. And since we consider ourselves to be decent human beings, we don’t believe we would ever engage in similar behavior. And yet, most of the time, it is people like you and me who push organizations over the ethical edge.

We need to better understand the mechanisms behind systematic organizational misbehavior. What if there is the same repeating pattern in all those scandals? What if you could see it coming? What if you could learn to better protect your own integrity and that of your organization?

what people say

“Fantastic, real energy boost”
“I now view the world through a different prism”
“An incredible experience. Guido is a magician”

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about me

Why do good people in organizations engage in morally inappropriate, toxic, criminal, and even violent behavior?

learning

Ethics is a muscle. You need to train it, to remain strong.

book project

Unlocking the secrets of ethical failure in organizations.

stay tuned

In my Light into Darkness newsletter, I will share my thoughts on the dark and the bright side of the force.

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