Chapter 43. Don’t let power or ego sway you from your course

It’s easy to make ethical decisions in a vacuum. In a hypothetical world, we would never bend the rules or cheat. But what if the second-most powerful man in America asks you to do something that doesn’t sit right? How do you say no?

This was the challenge faced by billionaire industrialist Jon Huntsman as a member of the Nixon White House. Nixon’s Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman asked Huntsman to send someone from his company to spy on a political rival. Huntsman got as far as picking up the phone and calling one of his managers, but he caught himself in time. It was the beginning of the end of Huntsman’s career in the Nixon White House, but he was virtually the only top staff member of ...

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