56-70 Percent of Future Business Leaders Say They Cheated

Filed in archive Noteworthy on September 26, 2006

I was shocked to learn that so many young MBA students are cheaters.

Jeff Cornwall states that "we need to infuse legalistic ethics, but morality and values into business education." That is a good point Jeff, but I think what is missing (and more disturbing) is the lack of emotional intelligence and life skills in the cheaters.

A new study on cheating among MBA students conducted by the Center for Academic Integrity at Duke University is quite disheartening. From Bloomberg.com: The study found 56 percent of MBA students acknowledged cheating....The study offered two main explanations for the cheating: the pressure-cooker atmosphere of business school leaves many students willing to compete by any means available, and corporate scandals have distorted the standards of many business students. Another study found that 70% of undergraduates cheated.

If they think that business school is competitive, wait until they get out in the real world. Wait until they become entrepreneurs and they have employees with families looking to them for leadership.

We need to teach people about boundaries and making good choices. Teach that there are consequences to their actions and decisions. Tap into a sense of community, that being a leader means something and that self-respect is important. We need to teach them about passion and vision.

When people have a healthy self-respect, passion, and a vision for their life - they learn to hold themselves to a higher standard and would never cheat because they realize they are only cheating themselves.

Cheaters never win and liars never prosper.