This week I was lucky enough to see Macbeth on Broadway, with Patrick (Jean-Luc Picard) Stewart in the starring role. I loved Macbeth when I first saw it performed traditionally in Stratford upon Avon 25 years ago—and I loved it again despite, or because of, its Stalinistic setting at the Lyceum Theater.

But these days I can’t help looking at everything through the eyes of business ethics, and here I think Shakespeare’s insight is fundamentally flawed.

Analogizing medieval Scotland to modern day corporate life is not too difficult. King Duncan is the benevolent CEO. Macbeth is the striving corporate officer who has just received a promotion and is now one rung from the top. Except the CEO has named a new potential successor. And Macbeth’s wife is nudging (ok, manipulating—this is a sexist tale with not so subtle allusions to Adam and Eve) Macbeth to displace the CEO. She taunts him

“Do I fear thy nature; it is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, art not without ambition, but without the illness (evil) should attend it. . . . [thou] wouldst not play false.”

Lady Macbeth believes that the way to the top is achieved through ambition fueled by evil and stoked by falseness. And she urges her husband to be a man and murder Duncan in order to become King/CEO.

In one of his many self reflective moments, Macbeth reinforces this theme by accusing himself of having “vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself.”

The theme of corporate evil as a result of unfettered ambition has persisted through the ages. Television commentators and congressional inquisitors use this story line to explain most acts of wrong doing, real and perceived.

Perhaps some of the more egregious acts in corporate history vindicate Lady Macbeth’s cynical world view. But more are far less evil; far more banal. Most acts are rationalized as “not too bad,” “what everybody is doing,” “just a little.” Are these bad actors ambitious? Yes. But these are not the acts of individuals devoid of virtue—just devoid of the discipline or courage necessary to do the right thing. And then the “toil and trouble” the three witches of Macbeth portend fall on the individual and the company alike.

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In my small town of Wilmette Illinois, we honor those who sacrificed their lives in military service for our country with a parade that is perfect for the television age: it is not more than seven minutes long—just the amount of time between commercials. We can all pay attention to the girl scouts, American Legionnaires, VFW heroes, and local pipe and drum corps for that long.

We often forget in the middle of the picnics and the sales that this is a day to remember those who honored us all with their lives. This Memorial Day, all of us—especially those of us doing work in business ethics and corporate responsibility—should add a group of individuals to the roster of those we honor.

I am thinking of the men and women who work for private enterprise in support of those who serve our country. They may be involved in wars that many object to, and may even have jobs that many find objectionable, but there are tens of thousands of people serving as cooks, clerks and drivers who do not wear a military uniform, but put themselves in harm’s way for a the opportunity to earn a living and defend our country.

Over 1,000 contractors have died in Iraq alone since the war began.

We honor and remember them, and those in uniform, for their service.

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