Why did you write this book?
Most of my students are from Third World countries. They appreciate the rule of law, but feel the pull of other customs. After years of hearing their experiences, it occurred to me that you can't explain the rule of law to a person who hasn't lived with it, even if they're your own family member. For example, the value of airline reservations is not obvious to a person who has only lived in countries where you can always bribe for a seat on a plane at the last minute. Even when you know the language and culture, it's not easy to communicate the value of playing by the rules in an "everybody does it" environment.
I felt that my students would change the world if only they had a clear explanation of a rules-based system ready. And who better to write that explanation than me, a public policy major at Cornell.
How did you get interested in this subject?
When I was little, commercials said you could save hungry children around the world for 11 cents a day. That's what I wanted to do. But once I got into the foreign aid biz, it seemed that a lot of the money disappears. I couldn't just go home and forget it. Even now, I can't look at water running from a faucet without visualizing the effort it would take to carry that water from the river. The child who needed 11 cents to survive could have been me - my grandfather's village in Sicily was that poor through the 1950s, and it was a poverty that fed on corruption.
So you think corruption is a very big problem?
No and yes. I'm not saying everyone is corrupt. Just the opposite - many people are honest. Searching for honest ways to connect is more practical in the long run than getting pulled into the web of corrupt practices.
Yes, the problem is big because corruption undermines infrastructure. Public funds disappear before potholes get filled or sewage gets treated. The minute there's any honey in the pot it's covered with flies. There's never enough money in one place to sustain the transport and power systems that a modern economy depends on.
How do you address corruption in your international management classes?
I couldn't just ignore the subject because my students would not be prepared for real management challenges. I couldn't cover the topic with smirks and winks and innuendoes that tacitly approve looking the other way while the dirty business gets done. Transparency International was a great resource for me to begin addressing the subject head on.
I avoid politics completely. Blaming the government is too simple. Every individual has the power to take the position that 'I am not asking for special treatment and I am not paying for special treatment.' Do not assume the rules are obvious to the person on the other side of the desk. That's the art.
What about Enron?
Everyone asks me this. Private fraud is different from public fraud. Enron hurt its investors and employees, but government-level fraud hurts the whole economy.
Remember that Enron got caught. Accounting scams brought down it in just three years. Cozy auditors and political contributions could not protect America's most admired company from the combined force of a free press, free stock exchanges, whistleblower protections, securities regulation, and independent courts. Sure, it would be better if it didn't happen, or if the pain were borne by the wrong-doers. But in many countries, Enron-scale frauds go on year in and year out. They need to strengthen systems to plug the huge leaks of public resources from state-owned enterprises, public procurement, and government administration in general.
So, have you ever paid a bribe?
No, but I came close in Central African Republic. The police often stopped me on my moped for no clear reason. They would check me out and eventually let me go. One night the headlamp on my moped died, and I got pulled over. I was so terrified that I started crying. The officer was scared of me and waved me away. I related the incident to friends in the foreign community, and they gave me the "don't worry, it's the culture" speech. They almost had me convinced that paying a bribe was an act of charity. The next time I got stopped, I made an offering. But I did it in such an uncool way that the policeman ran off. That was it. I never even considered it again.
One day I woke up with strep throat and a friend arranged for a doctor from the public health service. "Give the doctor this bottle of champagne," he said. But I couldn't bring myself to hand a bottle of alcohol to a doctor. I would have gladly paid a standard fee. My friend was furious; you could say I eroded his capital reserves with this doctor.
So what's the big deal if a doctor in one country gets paid one way and a doctor in another country gets his pay another way?
It's only a big deal if a hospital's budget disappears into private pockets before any medical treatment is delivered to the intended patients.
It's only a big deal if the people paid for a whole airport and got half an airport.
Is something lost when teachers get bribes instead of pay increases? I think so. Untreated sewage runs all over some cities, while public works officials spend their budgets hiring friends and relatives and making useless procurements motivated by kickbacks. If you lived with it, you might not be so philosophical. On the other hand, if you grew up with it, you might not think it could be otherwise.
Who is interested in this book?
Managers, travelers, immigrants, administrators with responsibilities in Third World countries. Everyone at the intersection of being respectful and being useful.
What's your favorite line from the book?
"People learn to live with corruption the way they live with cockroaches. Look the other way when the lights go on so the vermin have time to reach their hiding places. Ignore how disgusted you feel. Forget they're crawling everywhere when you're not looking. If have you always lived with corruption, you could feel disgusted without consciously noticing."
What about "friendship"?
The word is used in so many different ways. Is playing by the rules a substitute for developing rapport on a human level? Can you buy friendship? Do friends help each other break the law without getting caught?
The answer to all these questions is obvious, but the alternative is not obvious. What would your mother say? "If your friends are jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge, will you jump off too?" And you answer, "Moooom, my friends are not jumping off the bridge; they're sailing their yachts under it." But you think carefully about how your friends got what they have, and what risks they are taking.