Honor

Dear Honor Code Committee:

I am stoked to write this short note and express my special interest in promoting trust, respect, honor, integrity, good ethics and above all, truth, to do my part in making Kellogg a shining Ð'ÐŽÐ'§city upon a hillÐ'ÐŽÐ'Ё that produces a Ð'ÐŽÐ'§thousand points of lightÐ'ÐŽÐ'Ё in its current students who, if all goes well, upon graduation spread like stars throughout the nation and the globe, doing good, spreading moral fiber and leveraging the Kellogg Honor Code as an enduring internal compass for worthy and honest leadership.

We all know about Enron, Worldcom, Arthur Andersen, Eliot Spitzer and Sarbanes Oxley. And we all know that markets and everyday people have been shaken by insider trading, manipulative accounting and blatant fraud. But what I key on as an MBA student is the fact that these crimes and scandals were rooted in the ambition, greed and lack of internal ethics found in corporate leaders that were graduates of MBA programs such as ours. All of these schools had so-called Ð'ÐŽÐ'§Codes of Ethics.Ð'ÐŽÐ'Ё So what went wrong? And what can we do now to prevent mistakes of the past being made by Kellogg classmates and leaders of the future.

In my view, the challenge and the solution is measured by how much we can move away from fake credibility, PR spin and feigned ethics, to a Kellogg Honor Code program that produces internalized ethical behavior and a mind-set that ethics is a corporate asset, not a liability. Without this internalization, Sarbanes-Oxley is a nuisance to our graduates, and we risk tainting the Ð'ÐŽÐ'§Kellogg brand.Ð'ÐŽÐ'Ё In my view, the catalyst for breaching this divide starts with Ð'ÐŽÐ'§the tone at the top,Ð'ÐŽÐ'Ё and for each of us individually, a self-transcending commitment.

My self-transcending commitment to ethics was launched by my decision last August to quit my job at Merrill Lynch to comply with rules against practicing law and outside business interests when I acquired an equity stake in the career of a Top 10 Heavyweight Boxer. In turn, as his sports agent, I fired Don King, negotiated a new promoter agreement, and along the way, from shadowy casinos, to boxing gym slums, to ruff-and-tumble corporate boardrooms, I exposed myself to the Ð'ÐŽÐ'§Wild West of SportsÐ'ÐŽÐ'Ё and crystallized my strategic positioning and mission statement within boxing to become known as Ð'ÐŽÐ'§The Honest Agent.Ð'ÐŽÐ'Ё Having done so, I have thrust myself into Teddy RooseveltÐ'ÐŽÐ'¦s proverbial Ð'ÐŽÐ'§arena,Ð'ÐŽÐ'Ё