Summer Reading For Babson Students Challenges Assumptions About Business Ethics

WELLESLEY, Mass., Aug. 13, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Babson College's 2013 New Student Reading Program selection is Giving Voice to Values: How to Speak Your Mind When You Know What's Right, by Babson's Mary Gentile.

Drawing on actual business experiences as well as social science research, Gentile offers advice, practical exercises, and scripts for handling a wide range of ethical dilemmas.

Every year the books that are chosen as part of the Babson College Student Reading Program tie into the values and mission of the College - entrepreneurship, social innovation, global perspective, community, sustainability, leadership, and more. The selection is read by new students in preparation for a special presentation related to the book in the fall semester.

This year's book selection aims to empower business leaders with the skills to voice and act on their values, and align their professional path with their principles. Challenging the assumptions about business ethics at companies and business schools, Gentile argues that often the issue isn't distinguishing what is right or wrong, but knowing how to act on your values despite opposing pressure.

"Giving Voice to Values heralds a revolution in ethics education. Gentile...wants to help you practice what to do when you know something is unethical. It's like a self-defense class for your soul," said Dan and Chip Heath, authors of Switch and Made to Stick.

Published by Yale University Press, Giving Voice to Values is an engaging, innovative, and useful guide for anyone in business. The book was originally inspired by the curriculum Gentile launched at the Aspen Institute with Yale School of Management (now housed at Babson College) which has been piloted in over 400 schools and organizations on all seven continents.

"Mary Gentile's Giving Voice to Values is a clarion call to the new generation of leaders to put their values into practice in the workplace. Its timely and thoughtful message is precisely what the corporate world needs now," said Bill George, Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business School and former CEO, Medtronic.

In a letter addressed to students Babson President Kerry Healey said, "Giving Voice to Values will provide students with a fresh perspective on how to approach their college experience."

Gentile will speak to the Class of 2017 about her book on Tuesday, September 17, 2013.

To find out more about Giving Voice to Values: How to Speak Your Mind When You Know What's Right please visit: www.givingvoicetovaluesthebook.com.

About the Author

MARY C. GENTILE, Ph.D. consults on management education and values-driven leadership. In her ten-year tenure at Harvard Business School, she developed and taught the school's first course on managing diversity, and helped design and taught its first required module on ethical decision-making. Currently she is director of the Giving Voice to Values curriculum and senior research scholar at Babson College. Her articles have appeared in Harvard Business Review, strategy+business, BizEd, CFO Magazine, and Risk Management, and she has written several books on ethics and diversity. In January 2013, Mary C. Gentile was been named one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior 2013 by Trust Across America.

About Babson College

Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds(tm). The College is a dynamic living and learning laboratory, where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society -- while at the same time evolving our methods and advancing our programs. We shape the leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to create economic and social value. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought and Action(r) as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value. For information, visit www.babson.edu.

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SOURCE Babson College