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Journal of Business Ethics (2010) 97:2133 Springer 2010 DOI 10.1007/s10551-010-0493-2
Proting with Honor: Ciceros Visionof Leadership George Bragues
ABSTRACT. This article attempts to uncover the relevance of Ciceros thought to present-day management through an analysis of his last philosophical study, On Duties. Applying a methodology grounded in Socratic skepticism, Cicero synthesizes the Stoics and Aristotle to create his own moral theory. From this theory, we derive a Ciceronian set of recommended traits that make up a model business leader. Central to this model is the recognition that there are two lodestars in life, the benecial and the honorable. The rst directs each of us to attend to our personal happiness, and the second to our moral worth. In Ciceros view, the life of leading sizable associations is what best satises this dual imperative. The honor of a business leader is secured by the practice of four virtues: wisdom, justice, greatness of spirit, and seemliness. A leader properly seeks his/her own benet by recognizing that success comes from the relationships he/she establishes and that he/she are more apt to cultivate these by being virtuous. Cicero is not so nave as to fail to see that the benecial and the honorable may come into tension, noting various examples from business to illustrate the dilemma. But he insists a businessperson can be ethical and prosper at the same time once he/she comprehends the social fellowship of humanity.
KEY WORDS: business ethics, leadership, Cicero, Aristotle, Stoics, happiness, ancients, virtue ethics
Introduction
Of all the great thinkers in the Western philosophic tradition that might conceivably offer guidance on business ethics, none brings more practical experience to the task than Cicero (10643 BC). Though it was in law and politics that the rst century B.C. Roman thinker made his mark in worldly pursuits, he was actively involved in the business of acquiring, managing, and developing properties, the chief asset class
in ancient times. Some of his ventures, to be sure, were unsavoury, as he was something of a slum lord by renting apartments in the poorer sections of Rome (Wood, 1988, p. 107). He also owned houses, lodges, and farms across nine Italian towns, acquired a villa in Tusculum, and purchased a mansion on the Palatine Hill, Romes most elite...