Oath News
Business School News: Goldman Harvard Recruit Commits to the MBA Oath
 Business School News: Goldman Harvard Recruit Commits to the MBA Oath Harvard Business School MBA Larry Estrada isn’t accepting his Goldman Sachs job offer without making a serious commitment. The 30-year-old joined 150 fellow business students and faculty worldwide to campaign for the acceptance of the MBA Oath, created last year by Harvard Business students to counter growing public mistrust of business. The aim of the pledge is to get as many as 6,000 graduates of MBA programs to swear they won’t put personal ambitio...Read More
Business School News: Ethics Specialist Named New Harvard Dean
Business School News: Ethics Specialist Named New Harvard Dean
The world’s 3rd best business school will have its 10th dean. Harvard University yesterday announced Nitin Nohria, a professor of management, will ...Read More
Are MBAs An Unethical Bunch?
Are MBAs An Unethical Bunch?
Business schools have received a battering from the media for causing the economic downturn with their loose interpretation of business ethics. Students have...Read More
The “Wealth Care” Industry Needs the Transparency of the Health Care Industry
The “Wealth Care” Industry Needs the Transparency of the Heal...
  Rehan Syed, head of portfolio management at ABN AMRO Private Banking in Dubai, recently wrote that the “wealth care” industry ...Read More
Michael Lewis’ New Book On the Financial Crisis: “The Big Short”
Michael Lewis’ New Book On the Financial Crisis: “The Big Short”

Joe Flood, writing for Asset International, has a review of Michael Lewis’ new book on the financial crisis, “The Big Short.” Lewis is ...Read More
“The Road from Ruin” and Professionalizing Business
“The Road from Ruin” and Professionalizing Business

  Another post, another book to add to the list. This time it is The Road from Ruin by Matthew Bishop and Michael Green. It is a highly readable...Read More
INSEAD Professors Debate Oath
INSEAD Professors Debate Oath

Two INSEAD professors, Theo Vermaelen and N. Craig Smith, provide a set of well-thought-out perspectives on the MBA Oath. Vermaelen makes the provoca...Read More
Welcome to the MBA Oath
 

The oath is a voluntary pledge for graduating MBAs and current MBAs to “create value responsibly and ethically.” Our mission is to facilitate a widespread movement of MBAs who aim to lead in the interests of the greater good and who have committed to living out the principles articulated in the oath.

We started as a group of Class of 2009 Graduates of Harvard Business School, but the history of the Oath does not begin there. From the Hippocratic Oath to Thunderbird’s Oath of Honor and the Columbia Business School’s Honor Code, professionals, students, and academics have evoked kindred aspirations. We are building upon these essential efforts to create a community of MBAs with a high standard for ethical and professional behavior.

We are now a broad coalition of MBA students, graduates and advisors, representing over 250 schools from around the world. We are partnering with the Aspen Institute and the World Economic Forum. We want our degree to mean something more than it currently does. This oath is our way of laying out the principles of what we think an MBA ought to stand for. We hope the Oath will: a) make a difference in the lives of MBAs who take the oath b) challenge other MBAs to work with a higher professional standard, whether they sign the oath or not and c) create a public conversation in the press about professionalizing and improving management.

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Oath Comments Board

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7 June 2010
sianfj sianfj: How ethical are you? A new test derived by Cass B-school professor: http://www.cass.city.ac.uk/med...">http://www.cass.city.ac.uk/med... Connect with Sian Fleming-Jones
21 March 2010
Jen10 Jen10: hi is the oath only for mbas? i'm doing a marketing masters... would imagine a lot of the principle still apply... Connect with Jen
15 March 2010
sianfj sianfj: Take a look at the recent guest editorial in the Washington Post: http://views.washingtonpost.co...">http://views.washingtonpost.co... Connect with Sian Fleming-Jones

Oath Facts
There are over 1900 signatories of the MBA Oath and counting!
The MBA Oath was launched by a group of students from Harvard Business School in 2009
The MBA Oath is available in German, French and Spanish
The MBA Oath is limited to those who've graduated with an MBA only
The MBA OATH : A Short Version

As a manager, my purpose is to serve the greater good by bringing people and resources together to create value that no single individual can build alone. Therefore I will seek a course that enhances the value my enterprise can create for society over the long term. I recognize my decisions can have far-reaching consequences that affect the well-being of individuals inside and outside my enterprise, today and in the future. As I reconcile the interests of different constituencies, I will face difficult choices.

Therefore, I promise:

  • I will act with utmost integrity and pursue my work in an ethical manner.
  • I will safeguard the interests of my shareholders, co-workers, customers, and the society in which we operate.
  • I will manage my enterprise in good faith, guarding against decisions and behavior that advance my own narrow ambitions but harm the enterprise and the societies it serves.
  • I will understand and uphold, both in letter and in spirit, the laws and contracts governing my own conduct and that of my enterprise.
  • I will take responsibility for my actions, and I will represent the performance and risks of my enterprise accurately and honestly.
  • I will develop both myself and other managers under my supervision so that the profession continues to grow and contribute to the well-being of society.
  • I will strive to create sustainable economic, social, and environmental prosperity worldwide.
  • I will be accountable to my peers and they will be accountable to me for living by this oath.

This oath I make freely, and upon my honor.

For the full version of the oath click here

For a PDF download click here

Snapshot

 

The MBA Oath

Our mission is to facilitate a widespread movement that creates a high standard for ethics and professionalism in business.

Our long-term goal is to transform the field of management into a true profession, one in which MBAs are respected for their integrity, professionalism, and leadership. We hope to see hundreds of thousands of MBAs take the MBA oath, or something like it, as a step towards realizing this vision.

AKA: The Oath, MBA Oath, HBS Oath

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Start a Chapter

Start a chapter!

We want to start local student-led MBA Oath initiatives on the world’s top business school campuses.

We want your help.

This will be the founding year of the MBA Oath. We are looking for student leaders in the class of 2009 and 2010 who can help make this a worldwide movement by launching MBA Oath chapters on their own campuses. Are you interested?

You’ll be among a small group of founding students who are aiming to change the business world by setting a higher standard for management. We have prepared the following MBA Oath Chapter Kit to assist you. Inside you will find basic information on what it means to embark on an MBA Oath Chapter and how to go about doing it. If you would like more information, email us at info@mbaoath.org and tell us who you are and how you’re interested in helping. We’ll get in touch with you and help you get started.

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