Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Why They Do It
Why They Do It: Inside the Mind of the White-Collar Criminal | Eugene Soltes
4 posts | 2 read
From the financial fraudsters of Enron, to the embezzlers at Tyco, to the insider traders at McKinsey, to the Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, the failings of corporate titans are regular fixtures in the news. But what drives wealthy and powerful people to white-collar crime? Harvard Business School professor Eugene Soltes draws from extensive personal interaction and correspondence with nearly fifty former executives as well as the latest research in psychology, criminology, and economics to investigate how once-celebrated executives become white-collar criminals. The product of seven years in the company of the men behind the largest corporate crimes in history, Why They Do It is a breakthrough look at the dark side of the business world. Soltes reveals how the usual explanations fail to tell the whole story of why many seemingly successful people go over the line. White-collar criminals are not merely driven by excessive greed or hubris, nor do they usually carefully calculate costs and benefits before breaking the law. Instead, Soltes shows that most of the executives who committed crimes made decisions the way we all doon the basis of their intuitions and gut feelings. The trouble is that these gut feelings are often poorly suited for the modern business world where leaders are increasingly distanced from the consequences of their decisions and the individuals they impact. The extraordinary costs of corporate misconduct are clear to its victims. Yet, never before have we been able to peer so deeply into the minds of the many prominent perpetrators of white-collar crime. With the increasing globalization of business threatening us with even more devastating corporate misconduct, the lessons Soltes draws in Why They Do It are needed more urgently than ever.
LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
review
emilycoc
post image
Pickpick

Really enjoyed this book! Even more surprising because this is not something I would have chosen to read on my own. It's very well researched and engaging. #whatiread

blurb
emilycoc
post image

Happy Saturday! I've posted many pictures like this one, of my book and a cup of tea, and I'm not going to stop doing it, because who doesn't love a hot drink and books? #morningreads

blurb
emilycoc
post image

Hi everyone - switching books up mid-read is not something I like to do, but I'm doing it now. I'm going from one school read and one pleasure read to one school read and a recommended reading for school 🙈 I have to write a paper in the end and I'm struggling to come up with a topic, so I'm hoping immersing myself in school-related reads will help. Does this go toward my 2020 book count?

Patchshank What does the topic have to be about? Maybe we can help you come up with one. 4y
emilycoc @Patchshank the class is Corporate and Financial Crimes and Compliance - mostly white collar crimes but a lot of high profile cases where there was a huge environmental or human cost. The paper has to be based on a part of our required textbook. 🤦🏼‍♀️ 4y
Patchshank Yeah that's not a topic I know anything about. Maybe someone else on litsy is familiar with it and can throw a few ideas your way. Sorry I'm not helpful. 4y
emilycoc @Patchshank no problem! I appreciate your willingness to help 😊 4y
6 likes4 comments
review
Oblomov26
post image
Pickpick

A book I picked up cheap on Audible. An investigation into why white collar criminals act the way that they do, looking at the history of such criminality, the legislation which has developed to combat this and interviews with convicted felons. The key takeaway is the frog in hot water, such action starts small but grows until the water is boiling and yet because such crimes are normally committed by this in charge no one questions their actions