Joanne B Ciulla

EDITOR’S NOTE: Business Ethics Quarterly invited a number of scholars involved with BEQ over its first twenty years (especially in its early years, as editors or editorial board members) to offer their reflections on the past, present, and future of business ethics. The resulting comments, which appear below, are as diverse and eclectic as the group of scholars who have given their energies to BEQ over the years.

As indicated in the previous article, a Russian‐sponsored conference on business ethics was recently held in Moscow. Another participant from the USA, Professor Joanne B. Ciulla, comments here on what could prove to be a new beginning for business in Russia. Professor Ciulla is an Associate Editor of this Review and occupies the Coston Family Chair in Leadership and Ethics at the University of Richmond, Virginia.

The scope of the issues -- The moral relationship between leaders and followers -- The morality of leaders : motives and deeds -- Puzzles and perils of transformational leadership.

In spite of some recent bad news coming out of America our Associate Editor reports positively on the business ethics scene there both in the business community and in a recent major Conference. She holds the Coston Family Chair in Leadership and Ethics at Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia 23173, USA

In spite of some recent bad news coming out of America our Associate Editor reports positively on the business ethics scene there both in the business community and in a recent major Conference. She holds the Coston Family Chair in Leadership and Ethics at Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia 23173, USA.

This paper argues that it is reasonable to make attributions about a leader’s character based on minor incidents such as kicking a dog. It begins with a short review of the relevant literature from leadership studies and social psychology on how our prototypes of leaders affect the attributions we make about them. Then the paper examines the role of virtues, habits, and dispositional statements to show why an act such as kicking a dog can offer insight into a leader’s moral character.