We have all watched movies where a good but flawed individual gives in to some impulse and commits a crime that causes his or her life to spiral out of control. Most of us think that we are moral individuals that will make the right decision and stop ourselves from crossing the line. But will we?
Eugene Soltes takes an interesting look at white collar crime. He interviewed many executives convicted of white collar crime with his academic lens. He does not try to cast moral judgement on them but examines what led them to make that fateful decision to commit a crime. And the reasons are things that you and I could be subjected to : meeting investor expectations ahead of a quarterly earnings call, trying to keep a company afloat in the face of the better-funded establishment. And he made me think :- what is the difference between an executive exaggerating or not being clear about the impact of a clinical trial vs Steve Jobs' reality distortion field everytime he stepped on stage to introduce a new Apple product.
Most importantly, this book made me more aware of the situations where I could make an immoral decision and what I could do to stop myself crossing the line. For that reason, this book deserves to be on the Book Judge,