HBR On Leadership Where to Look for Ethical Risk Inside a Company
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Jan 28, 2026 Eugene Soltes, Harvard Business School professor who studies white-collar crime, shares where integrity lapses hide in organizations. He describes how ordinary misconduct can escalate and why pressures, norms, and distance of consequences matter. He outlines a simple survey to spot hotspots and how to target compliance and fix root causes before problems grow.
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Researching White-Collar Offenders
- Eugene Soltes visited prisons to interview nearly 50 people convicted of white-collar crime to understand their motives.
- He found many were smart, successful leaders who drifted into misconduct over time due to circumstances.
Distance Makes Misconduct Easier
- Consequences for white-collar misconduct often feel psychologically distant to managers at the time of the act.
- That distance makes it easier for capable leaders to commit harmful actions without immediate remorse.
Ethics Vary By Geography And Function
- Ethics and compliance vary widely across geographies and functions within the same firm.
- Cultural and legal differences make some regions far more prone to aggressive conduct like paying to win contracts.
