Behaving Badly

February 6, 2017
Collinsworth (I Stand Corrected), a business consultant and former media executive, conducts an entertaining, if overly discursive, study of ethical quagmires and moral gray areas in modern-day business, interpersonal, and military practices. Taking a global view, she maps the moral landscapes of Swiss bank accounts and the murky waters of Japanese business practices, and compares American and French perspectives on monogamy. Determined to leave no stone unturned, Collinsworth subscribes to “Wolf of Wall Street” Jordan Belfort’s motivational newsletter and interviews a convicted murderer. She considers the “liberalization” of sexual mores via dating apps and wrestles with moral relativism: is it a necessary component of globalization, or the downfall of American society? Sometimes she makes an already expansive topic too wide in scope. Transitions are abrupt, and references to the Large Hadron Collider and Tiananmen Square are dropped in and quickly left behind for no discernible reason other than to cover as much ground as possible. She sets the scene for an interview with a Kurdish pop star and then fails to include a single word of it. Ending on a high note, Collinsworth speaks to 20-somethings who sound infinitely more reasonable than the so-called experts who dominate the rest of the book.

February 1, 2017
A nonscholarly discourse on manners, morality, ethics, and civility in these times of social upheaval.London-based author Collinsworth (I Stand Corrected: How Teaching Western Manners in China Became Its Own Unforgettable Lesson, 2014) has run a publishing house, founded a magazine, written a bestselling book on Western manners for Chinese businesspeople, served as a consultant on corporate communications matters, and lived and worked all over the world. Thus she has a lot of access and connections, and she uses experts in various fields to address tricky issues of morality in areas ranging from sexual infidelity to financial malfeasance to drone warfare. "Where," she asks, "does one find solid moral ground on what is proving to be the porous bedrock of our twenty-first century?" Toward the end, a friend asks about her "quixotic search for morality," and most readers will agree that there have been few clear answers to dozens of knotty questions. But the author is always a genial guide through the moral thicket, and her companions underscore the provocative spirit of her quest. It begins with a convicted murderer who has come late to the whole notion of morality, which plainly wasn't ingrained when he was involved in a couple of senseless killings. "As I grew in moral understanding, I began to realize what I had done," he says. If morality is learned behavior, different cultures teach different lessons, and there are different contexts where behaving badly might vary significantly in terms of consequences. One of the more interesting examples concerns an American whistleblower in a Japanese corporation who was shunned because the shame he brought to the company that expected his loyalty was considered worse than the corruption he had exposed. Collinsworth is at her best with gender issues in general and sexual mores in particular, as she shows how technology has altered the playing field. A wide-ranging, breezy journey through a series of ethical minefields.

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May 15, 2017

This book by former media executive and business consultant Collinsworth (I Stand Corrected) is surprisingly entertaining in spite of the inherent weight of its subject matter. Discussions on integrity, behavior, and even murder are brought forth with whimsy and often humor, which makes the work much more palatable than those written for a scholarly audience. While more approachable than many other works discussing modern morality, this offering is no less impactful. The discussion on murder, highlighted with a recounted interview with a convicted killer, is especially insightful and contemplative. Along with many other chapters, this prompts self-reflection without aspiring to a specific moralistic framework. VERDICT A compelling read for a wide audience.--Matthew Gallagher, Victoria, BC

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2017
What, exactly, is the new morality ? Or is there such a thing at a time when the whole idea of morality may no longer be relevant? Collinsworth digs into this meaty topic in terms of sex, politics, and business and finds, not surprisingly, that concepts of morality are more nebulous than ever. She explores several theories of morality, including moral absolutism, moral relativism, the idea of the selfish gene, and the notion that morality is a Machiavellian contrivance. She speaks to a broad variety of people, from a convicted murderer to a British prime minister to a Holocaust survivorpeople who occupy different points on the spectrum of morality and who have wildly differing opinions. There are lots of big questions in the book. Should people and countries try to impose their own sense of morality on others? Why do so many people take their moral cues from celebrities? Is immorality objective or subjective? Don't expect easy answers here; Collinsworth's goal is to make readers think, and she not only succeeds in doing that, but also does so in an entertaining manner.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)