Last week I had the opportunity to participate in a discussion about Nigeria's post-colonial impoverishment, and its evolution since it became independent in 1960. I learned many things about the country, and I though it might be interesting to share some of these insights with you. The discussion was led by Professor Catherine Duggan from Harvard Business…

Daily life in Lagos – and for that matter, I guess in most of Nigeria and Africa – offers certain small excitements. One of them is the blackout excitement: some time(s) during the day, the light and/or the power goes off. Nobody gets disturbed; they just go about their business. There are generators both at…

The first time I heard the term “corporate compliance,” I must confess it didn’t sit well with me.  The term seemed to transform social responsibility – or worse yet, ethics – into mere compliance with policy, norms and rules as dictated by law and regulation or corporate self-regulation. (An example of the latter would be…

Today many recognize the importance of ethics in management, and particularly in leadership, although some others remain unconvinced. This post presents some insights from Chester I. Barnard (1886-1961), one of the pioneers of management thinking. He wrote The Functions of the Executive (Boston: Harvard University Press, 1938), a book which for decades was widely read…