Business ethics discussion looks at incompetence

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, professor and entrepreneur Stuart Diamond will visit Grand Valley State University to deliver the Barry Castro Business Ethics Lecture on April 7.

Diamond, who teaches law in the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, will discuss the topic "Is Incompetence Unethical?" on Tuesday, April 7 at 6 p.m., in the Loosemore Auditorium of Grand Valley's DeVos Center, 401 W. Fulton St., in Grand Rapids. The talk is free and open to the public. MEDIA NOTE: Diamond is available for interviews. Contact Brian J. Bowe at (616) 331-2221 or [email protected] to make arrangements.

Diamond is a Harvard-trained attorney and former associate director of the Harvard Negotiation Project at Harvard Law School. He has taught negotiation to attorneys, executives and students at Harvard and to corporate and government leaders in many countries. Diamond also directed a Cambridge, Massachusetts, negotiation-consulting firm that advised both U.S. and foreign companies. He is currently president of Global Strategy Group of Philadelphia which provides advice to developing countries and economies in transition on attracting and negotiating foreign investment, protecting intellectual property and instituting effective strategies to compete effectively on an international scale. He has worked closely with senior government officials on how to build coalitions within government and how to negotiate effectively with other countries in an environment of change.

In a prior career, Diamond was a journalist, including at The New York Times where he won a Pulitzer Prize as a part of a team investigating the crash of the Space Shuttle. He covered major crises including the Bhopal chemical leak in India, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the former Soviet Union. He covered environment and technology and served as an investigative reporter from Watergate to Iran-Contra. He also served as The Times national law correspondent.

Diamond has written two books, two documentary films and more than 2,000 published articles. He has appeared on the Today Show and Good Morning America and has lectured widely to colleges, universities and professional groups.

The lecture is part of an annual series named for Barry Castro, who established the Center for Business Ethics in the Seidman College of Business at Grand Valley. Castro died in 2004.