Why It's Hard to Be Good

"Al Gini's latest book surveys the landscape of ethical speed bumps and crash sites with his customary charm, verve and insight. Why It's Hard To Be Good is a creative exposé of the many reasons smart people do bad things." Steve Priest, Founder, Ethical Leadership Group
"Don't just read this book. Use it. Use it to challenge yourself and others with honesty, compassion, and humor, just as Gini does." John W. Dienhart, The Frank Shrontz Chair for Professional Ethics, Seattle University and author of Business, Institutions, and Ethics
"Why It's Hard To Be Good sets a new standard for clear and funny thinking. A master writer and astute observer of human behavior and culture, Gini has written yet another terrific and enriching book. You won't be able to put it down." John Eckberg, author of The Success Effect and business/workplace reporter for The Cincinnati Enquirer
It isn't easy to be good. Al Gini - at home both in philosophy and the corporate boardroom - speaks here in an engagingly direct voice about why we have so much trouble doing the right thing in life - at home, with family or strangers, and at work. Businesses struggle with ethical issues every day, and so do ordinary people. But a multinational corporation and a single thinking human being are bound together by the same dilemma: how to choose the right thing to do and then do it?Al Gini lays out ideas for 'stepping out of the shadow of the self' - an argument for stopping thinking of yourself as the center of the universe. It's hard to be good, he explains, until we realize that being good only has meaning in relation to other people. Ideas of justice, fairness, and ethical behavior are just abstract ideas until they are put into action with regard to people outside ourselves.This warm and generous book is for anyone who wants to know how to use ethical thinking as way to live, work, and be with others.

Al Gini is Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University of Chicago. Co-founder of Business Ethics Quarterly, he is a frequent commentator for NPR's Chicago affiliate WBEZ-FM and is a regular speaker on questions of corporate ethics. He is the author of The Importance of Being Lazy (0415938791) and My Job, My Self, (041592636X) both published by Routledge.

Prologue. Ethics Means What? Narcissism: Me Myself and I. Character, Integrity and Conscience. It’s so Easy to be a Bystander. Change, Choice and Culture. The Media and Morality. Ethics and the Workplace. Leisure and Play. Leadership, Money, Power. Sex (Yes, Sex). Death (Ditto). Epilogue