Alex Plinio

Calls for better ethics education at business schools are growing in the wake of the financial crisis and the Occupy movement. In this interview, two business school leaders discuss innovative ways that different schools are injecting business ethics into their curricula.

First up is Adlai Wertman, founding director of USC's Society and Business Lab. Wertman is expert on the interplay between business, society, and business school because he has significant experience in all three worlds. He spent 18 years at a managing director and manager of Prudential Securities, and has worked at several other major banks. He was president and CEO of Chrysalis, a Los Angeles-based non-profit that serves the homeless.

Next up in our tour of business ethics education is the Rutgers University Institute for Ethical Leadership, which provides supplemental ethics education to Rutgers business students and continuing education for professionals. Alex Plinio is co-founder of the institute. He teaches at the school and also runs a consulting and coaching firm, Alex J. Plinio and Associates.

(Source: Carnegie Council)

What is perhaps the most compelling argument for the new Institute for Ethical Leadership at Rutgers University can be found approximately one mile south of the school's Newark campus. "Honestly, you can open the newspaper. Hardly a day goes by when I don't see some ethical problem occurring," said Alex Plinio, a former Prudential Financial executive who is co-founder of the institute, which opened this summer. "Not long ago I saw two or three people on the same day, indictments, or people going to jail -- politicians, businesspeople."