There's been a lot of talk about values in the wake of the corporate scandals that dominated the first three quarters of the year, much of it highly skeptical. Enron, for example, was a member of Business for Social Responsibility, and posted its values - respect, integrity, communication, and excellence - prominently on its website. You have to be irony-deficient not to get a laugh out of that.

The November issue of Harvard Business Review adds another dimension to the values ...