By Lisa Highet, student in the M.S. in Strategic Communication program
In fall 2025, M.S. in Strategic Communication (SCOM) lecturer Skye Cleary’s course, Ethical Decision Making, hosted Ben Wilberforce-Ritchie for an engaging, interactive discussion centered on ethical decision-making in the workplace. Wilberforce-Ritchie is a philosopher, consultant, and founder of Phicilitate, with a background as chief of staff and ethics manager in the aerospace and defense industry. His lecture highlighted how students can apply values-based insights from our course to shape their professional lives in ways that are both responsible and meaningful.
I was pleasantly surprised at the beginning of the lecture when Wilberforce-Ritchie posed a unique moral dilemma to my class involving a butcher and a chicken. In short, a butcher is selling a chicken to a customer, but the customer complains it's too small and wants a new one. The butcher then comes back with the same chicken (just packaged differently) and makes the sale. The dilemma this story poses is whether it was acceptable for the butcher to lie in this scenario. We discussed questions like: What if the butcher had to sell the chicken to keep his business alive? Would the customer's age or cognitive ability affect how we view the scenario? What if the customer then said they wanted both chickens? The class eventually reached consensus that it was immoral for the butcher to lie. Still, the situation made me reflect on how there may not always be a definitive “right” answer to a question and what a “third solution” might look like. For instance, could the butcher be more transparent and offer an alternative instead of misleading the customer?
In the second half of the lecture, Wilberforce-Ritchie explained how the ethical reasoning we used in our debate over the chicken is representative of much higher-stakes decisions we may encounter in the workplace. For example, he described the importance of carefully considering what a customer might do with what they buy and how organizations can set rules and guidelines about whom they will and will not sell certain technologies to (critical for a defense company).
We also discussed an everyday toolkit for responsible decision-making, built around themes of character/virtue, duties, ends versus means, and care. Seeing these ideas in a practical framework helped me understand how the theories we learn in class can become concrete tools for real decisions at work, as well as the importance of virtue and reminding ourselves about our own principles in life, even when it is not convenient or popular to do so. Another perspective he gave my class, which continues to resonate with me, is that no matter how junior we are in our careers, we can still be leaders, and it is important to have an ethical compass in our approach to work.
As part of this mindset, we’re often pressured to be “do-ers” in the workplace, and what’s more valuable is understanding the intention, purpose, and meaning of our work. This also reminded me of a quote from Hannah Arendt that we discussed in class: “The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.” Simply “doing your job” without thinking can lead to unethical outcomes, but our responsibility is to slow down, think critically and constructively, stay curious, and ask questions about what we are being told to do.
At the end of his lecture, Wilberforce-Ritchie discussed a compelling quote from Aristotle: “Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny.” Through this perspective, he encouraged students to live their lives with the intention of achieving success in work and life.
This perspective is invaluable in the way it equipped my class to ask critical questions and understand that our knowledge of ethical thinking will help us become better students, colleagues, and employees. I’m grateful for the SCOM program and the School of Professional Students for giving students the opportunity to hear from experts in the field like Wilberforce-Ritchie, who equip us to ask better questions, think critically in high-pressure workplaces, and pursue meaningful, responsible careers.
About the Program
Columbia University's M.S. in Strategic Communication program empowers current and aspiring leaders to shape the future through strategic communication. It is designed to respond to the urgent need for global perspectives, critical thinking, and ethical decision-making at all levels of organization. The interdisciplinary curriculum emphasizes audience-centered strategy and digital competency. Distinguished scholar-practitioner faculty bring real-world experience into the classroom and provide a learning experience that is immediately relevant in the workplace.
The program is available full-time on campus or part-time online with residencies. The part-time format is ideal for experienced full-time professionals based in or outside the New York metropolitan area. Learn more about the program here.
