Background
My crime is, unfortunately, an all too common story for hedge fund managers, traders, and investment professionals. Faced with mounting trading losses, which would eventually total $22.5 million, I covered them up with misrepresentations about balances and returns while trying to make back the losses in a separate account using client funds, rather than admit my mistake when it was manageable—and legal. After my arrest and indictment, I plead guilty to one count of wire fraud and was sentenced to 151 months in Federal Prison for my crime.
After the initial shock of my arrest and indictment wore off, I went to work answering some the tough questions. What went wrong? How did I get to the point of committing outright fraud? How …show more content…
Defined as "the science of positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions" (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000, p. 5), positive psychology 's focus is on human thriving and flourishing versus ameliorating pathologies.
Positive psychology places a strong emphasis on the significance of goals in human functioning. Not all goals are created equal, however. Research shows that goal orientation—how an individual thinks about and communicates goals—has important consequences on an individual 's life outcomes (Emmons, 2003). Specifically, the extent to which individuals are pursuing approach goals (pursuing positive, desirable outcomes) versus avoidance goals (avoiding negative, undesirable outcomes) appears to have a significant impact on subjective well-being and outcomes (Emmons, 2003). For instance, individuals who strive mostly toward avoidance goals are less likely to attain them, accompanied with an even greater sense of pressure to actually achieve those goals (Emmons, …show more content…
Accordingly, organizational goal orientation should have important behavioral consequences to its members, both individually and collectively. Indeed, research within the realm of positive organizational behavior and ethics supports this conclusion: "Ethics as rules for right behavior are imperfect statements of the aspirations that motivated them . . . In fact, defining ethical behavior as duty often obscures the moral standard and motivation behind the rule" (p.
My crime is, unfortunately, an all too common story for hedge fund managers, traders, and investment professionals. Faced with mounting trading losses, which would eventually total $22.5 million, I covered them up with misrepresentations about balances and returns while trying to make back the losses in a separate account using client funds, rather than admit my mistake when it was manageable—and legal. After my arrest and indictment, I plead guilty to one count of wire fraud and was sentenced to 151 months in Federal Prison for my crime.
After the initial shock of my arrest and indictment wore off, I went to work answering some the tough questions. What went wrong? How did I get to the point of committing outright fraud? How …show more content…
Defined as "the science of positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions" (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000, p. 5), positive psychology 's focus is on human thriving and flourishing versus ameliorating pathologies.
Positive psychology places a strong emphasis on the significance of goals in human functioning. Not all goals are created equal, however. Research shows that goal orientation—how an individual thinks about and communicates goals—has important consequences on an individual 's life outcomes (Emmons, 2003). Specifically, the extent to which individuals are pursuing approach goals (pursuing positive, desirable outcomes) versus avoidance goals (avoiding negative, undesirable outcomes) appears to have a significant impact on subjective well-being and outcomes (Emmons, 2003). For instance, individuals who strive mostly toward avoidance goals are less likely to attain them, accompanied with an even greater sense of pressure to actually achieve those goals (Emmons, …show more content…
Accordingly, organizational goal orientation should have important behavioral consequences to its members, both individually and collectively. Indeed, research within the realm of positive organizational behavior and ethics supports this conclusion: "Ethics as rules for right behavior are imperfect statements of the aspirations that motivated them . . . In fact, defining ethical behavior as duty often obscures the moral standard and motivation behind the rule" (p.