I attended school at Brigham Young University and was required to live by an honor code. The code contains just words. But there is power in the words. And there is power in a group who all have agreed to live by those words. So when I saw the the MBA oath I was intrigued.
The MBA oath got its start from a few students from Harvard Business School. So far 1206 MBA students and graduates have signed the oath and the number continues to grow. It even got the attention of Business Week in an article entitled The Oath Goes Viral. It’s a good start and I wish it all the best.
Former GE General Counsel, Ben Heineman, points out in an article Let’s Move Beyond Oaths with Action that words without action are meaningless. This is true. But you can’t have action without the words to direct it. I think you need both.