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The New York Times Syndicate’s new weekly advice column “The
Right Thing” marks the debut of a new contributor: Jeffrey
L. Seglin.
With his background and experience, Seglin is often tapped to
comment on ethical dilemmas and has appeared everywhere from USA
Today to NPR to CNN. He is a former executive editor of Inc. magazine
and has written for a variety of publications, including Harvard
Management Update, The New York Times, salon.com and CIO.
“It’s exciting to be taking on the The Right Thing column,"
Seglin says, "because it will let me tap into the thoughts
of thousands of people and learn what the real pressing issues
for them are today. By working partly as a sounding board and
also as someone who can help readers navigate the gray areas,
I’m hopeful that it will not only help them rest easier but
also help make me more aware of the decisions I make in my own
life.”
In the Sound
Off section of The Right Thing column, Jeffrey Seglin
solicits reader response to everyday ethical dilemmas: Is it OK
to use sex appeal to get ahead in the business world? Is it ever
all right to encourage a child to use force to stand up to a bully?
Readers send opinions via e-mail - some of which are featured
in future Right Thing columns. The rest are posted on The
Right Thing Web site. This popular interactive
feature helps takes the pulse of the nation by allowing readers
from coast to coast to weigh in with ideas about The Right Thing
to do in various situations.
Weekly.
A journalist by trade and an ethicist by training, the 47-year-old
Seglin has a master’s degree in theological studies from
the Divinity School at Harvard University and for the past six
years has written a monthly ethics column for The New York Times
business section.
“When I first started writing about this stuff, the real
challenge was to avoid being overly preachy and judgmental, but
instead to try to get at the heart of how people decide what’s
important to them and how aware they are of the effect their choices
have on those around them,” says Seglin, who also wrote a
column on ethics in the workplace for Fortune magazine.
“To be able to hear from a broader audience of people and
work with them to resolve some of their thornier dilemmas is at
once both an exhilarating and daunting opportunity,” he adds.
Currently, Seglin directs the graduate writing and publishing
program at Emerson College in Boston, where he also teaches professional
ethics to publishing and writing students at the graduate level.
He is also an ethics fellow at the Poynter Institute for Media
Studies.
“Today, more than ever, we all seem to be bombarded with
one high-profile scandal resulting from unethical behavior after
another. Reading about these things day in and day out can be
numbing, but it can also make us vividly aware of the choices
we make in our lives,” Seglin says.
Seglin’s most recent book, “The Right Thing: Conscience,
Profit and Personal Responsibility in Today’s Business”
(Spiro, 2003), is a collection of his New York Times columns,
covering everything from the Ford and Firestone battle and the
Enron debacle to the fall of the dean of the Harvard Divinity
School.
He’s also the author of “The Good, the Bad, and Your
Business: Choosing Right When Ethical Dilemmas Pull You Apart”
(John Wiley & Sons, 2000) as well as several other books on
small business, marketing and banking.
From 1998-99, Seglin was a fellow in residence at the Center for
the Study of Values in Public Life at Harvard University.
A father of two and grandfather of three, Seglin lives in Boston
with his wife, Nancy.
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