September Hodges Lectures to Discuss 'Women in Politics,' 'How to Avoid Leadership Failure'

The Mann Center will present two programs this month in the continuing series of
A. Gerow Hodges Lectures in Ethics and Leadership:

Sept. 22, 6 p.m. lecture, 7 p.m. reception and book signing with Eleanor Clift.

Ms. Clift, a journalist and political commentator, will present, Women in Politics: From Suffrage to Shattering the Glass Ceiling. She is a contributing editor and former White House correspondent for Newsweek, and a panelist on the weekly PBS series The McLaughlin Group. Her column, “Capitol Letter,” is posted each Friday on Newsweek.com. She and her late husband, Tom Brazaitis, wrote two books together, War Without Bloodshed: The Art of Politics and Madam President: Shattering the Last Glass Ceiling . Her other books are Founding Sisters, about the passage of the 19th amendment giving women the vote, and Two Weeks of Life: A Memoir of Love, Death and Politics. Ms. Clift will be at Samford University as a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow, a program of the Council of Independent Colleges. Open to the public at no charge; Brock Recital Hall, Samford University.

Sept. 23, 10 a.m. lecture by David Ratcliffe.

The chairman and CEO of Southern Company, Mr. Ratcliffe will speak on How to Avoid Leadership Failure. He leads one of the nation's largest generators of electricity, the parent company of Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power and Mississippi Power, as well as several other business units and subsidiaries. Mr. Ratcliffe recently announced he will retire Dec. 31 from a long career that began when he joined Georgia Power as a biologist in 1971, coordinating environmental monitoring and compliance programs for power plants. During his career he has served a CEO of both Georgia Power and Mississipi Power. Open to the public at no charge; Reid Chapel, Samford University.

News and Views

Can physical cleanliness cause people to be more virtuous? A new study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology suggests there may be some truth in the old saying, "cleanliness is next to godliness." But the researchers at University of Toronto and London Business School warn that this "elevated sense of moral self" may also prompt "severe moral judgment" of others. "Three experiments using different manipulations of cleanliness showed that participants primed with self cleanliness rendered harsher moral judgments on contested social issues and activities with ambiguous moral implications."

The world has become slightly less peaceful in the last year, according to the Global Peace Index, a study that ranks New Zealand, Iceland and Japan as the most peaceful nations. The GPI looks at domestic and international conflict, safety and security in 149 countries. Indicators include the likelihood of violent demonstrations and criminal activity. Published in cooperation with The Economist, the report explains, "In some nations, an intensification of conflicts and growing instability appears to be linked to the global economic downturn in late 2008 and early 2009." Not surprisingly, Iraq was rated as least at peace, followed by Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan.

CEOs of companies in the United Nations Global Compact say their firms' future success depends on becoming more sustainable. A survey of 766 CEOs also found that 96 percent believe sustainability should be fully integrated into the strategy and operations of a company -- up from 72 percent in 2007. What is driving the business case for this? For more than 70 percent it is “brand, trust and reputation”; only 44 percent justify sustainability efforts on the basis of anticipated revenue growth or cost reduction. Members of the Global Compact might be expected to be more engaged than other companies in sustainable practices. Related resource: A New Era of Sustainability: UN Global Compact-Accenture CEO Study 2010.

Countries representing more than half of world exports now enforce a ban on foreign bribery, continuing a six-year trend of positive progress, according to the 2010 Progress Report of Transparency International (TI). However, among the 36 countries that have ratified the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business 20 still have taken little or no action on enforcement. "The difficult economic environment is no excuse for OECD governments to ignore their collective commitment to stop foreign bribery," said TI in a statement. "To the contrary, cleaning up foreign bribery must be regarded as a key part of the reforms needed to overcome the worldwide recession."

Doctors with deep religious beliefs are significantly less likely to take actions to hasten the death of the terminally ill, according to a British survey of 8,000 doctors. Researchers at London University School of Medicine said the findings suggest a need for greater acknowledgement of how beliefs influence care. Responses were from doctors practicing in a wide variety of fields, with a particular focus on those in palliative and elderly care. Those who described themselves as very or extremely non-religious were about 40% more likely than religious doctors to prescribe continuous deep sedation until death, the study in the Journal of Medical Ethics reported. Related resource: "Doctors' Religious Beliefs Strongly Influence End-of-Life Decisions, Study Finds," Science Daily 26 August 2010.

Spending on state Supreme Court elections has more than doubled in the past decade, says a research report by Hofstra Law School Professor James Sample. Campaign spending rose from $83.3 million in 1990-1999 to $206.9 million in 2000-2009, heightening concerns that special interests are playing a more dominant role in choosing jurists. The report, "The New Politics of Judicial Elections, 2000-2009: Decade of Change," features a foreword by Former U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor who writes, "Elected Judges in many states are compelled to solicit money for their election campaigns, sometimes from lawyers and parties appearing before them."

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