110. “The most effective business leaders are those who maintain the highest ethical¹ standards.”
Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.
The assertion at issue is that business people who uphold the highest ethical standards are the most effective leader. I strongly agree with this statement. For a while (adv. 暂时), unethical behavior might seem effective. But a few examples from the investment banking² industry keenly illustrate³ how dishonesty and corruption⁴ in leadership can bring a business to its knees, shattering the trust of its employees and ruining its reputation with clients.
Consider the cases of Michael Milken, former head of junk bond trading at Drexel Burnham Lambert, and Paul Mozer, formerly⁵ in charge of Salomon Brothers’ government bonds trading. Each of these men engaged in double-dealing (口是心非，欺骗) and other illegal acts, reaping tremendous profits for their companies, and winning the admiration⁶ of subordinates and superiors alike. However, their successes were relatively⁷ short-lived (短命的；持续不久的；昙花一现的). Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations⁸ in each case revealed massive wrongdoing. As a result, Drexel went out of business. And Salomon Brothers barely recovered, after suffering the forced resignations of its top executives, a financially devastating⁹ loss of reputation, and the exodus¹⁰ of many valued employees.
Moreover, Salomon’s survival is probably owing entirely¹¹ to its subsequent leadership under Warren Buffett. Buffett, who was on the Salomon Brother board of directors at the time of the scandal, was brought in to (bring in to: vt. 把..告诉,让..知道,让..参与) save the beleaguered¹² company. His success in keeping it afloat at all can be directly tied to his sterling¹³ (conforming to the highest standard *sterling character*) ethical reputation in the international business community at the time. Buffett’s reputation restored at least some lost confidence among clients and investors¹⁴, and probably prompted some employees to reconsider their decisions to leave the company.
While not every case of unethical leadership is quite so public or devastating as these, they do illustrate an important point. In any business, once corruption at the top becomes known, the predictable outcome will be damaged reputation, lower worker morale¹⁵, and, along with them, lost productivity.
In conclusion, unethical conduct at the leadership level in a company might go unnoticed and serve one’s interests in the short-term. However, in the long run it will work against one’s effectiveness and may even prove ruinous.

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