Cheaters in top ranked science and engineering grad school in US is at least 90%, and it is encouraged by professors. Just one of many examples I experienced was this; in the middle of a final exam one highly respected professor asked the class if he needed to leave the room so that certain students could pass. He smiled and chuckled then left the room for 1 hour. I took graduate and under graduate science in Denmark where it was totally impossible to cheat. I think the biggest lose for cheaters is they never develop the ability to think and solve new problems independently. This cheating environment makes it impossible for real genius to develop. This is why technology is really moving at a crawl instead of a walk or run like it did during the renaissance. This is why graduates from those schools rely almost exclusively on the reputation of their alma mater rather than on their abilities, and is consequently the reason that the general population has lost so much respect for top ranked universities.

William Pollard, former CEO of ServiceMaster, describes the four statements of their mission as two "ends" goals and two "means" goals. This brings about the creative tension necessary for innovation that produces not only noble results but also business profits. The goals: To Honor God In All We Do, To Help People Develop, To Pursue Excellence, and To Grow Profitably.

I think that more companies are waking up to the fact that it is good moral character that makes companies endure. The corporate disasters of the last few years representing the biggest corporate failures in business history were all failures of leadership character. These businesses did not go under due to superior competition, industry shifts, or disruptive innovations. They were taken down by failure of character. I would hope that no leader or business or business school would be so foolish as to miss that point. Character matters, and the lack of it can take you down faster than brutal global competition.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not arguing against a market economy which by definition requires competition and ulitmately results (ends).

Speaking of such a system, former WorldCom executive Bernie Ebbers is reporting for his 25-year prison sentence today.

But I wonder how many aren’t getting caught?

"If you’re not cheating, you aren’t trying to win." This is a phrase I have heard quite a bit in relation to athletics. I read a qoute recently from an international bicycle racer who claimed that the only truly competitive cyclists are those that cheat with performance enhancing drugs. In the MBA programs it sounds like the same rationalizing occurs—in other words, just to keep up with the high flyers one must cheat–and if everyone is cheating, it is basically an even match. The whole thing is fueled by the employers who scoop up these "top flight" graduates with high paying, prestigious jobs. So, how does a person or a company with character and integrity compete in a system that rewards the ends not the means?