Marvin T. Brown, MD, PhD

PhD, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA, 1978
MD, Union Theological Seminary, New York, NY, 1969

Professional Background

Dr. Marvin Brown has been working in the field of organizational ethics and communication for the past twenty years as an educator, writer, and consultant. His approach to organizational ethics focuses on the development of responsible communication among an organization’s various stakeholders so that disagreements and conflicts become resources for making better decisions.  He has developed a model of ethical decision making that balances the dynamics of understanding, evaluating, and learning.  His corporate clients endorse his decision making process as a help in the real world of business.

Scroll far down for a listing of Dr. Brown's books on business ethics and samples of his targeted keynote speeches and presentations.  We recommend  that senior corporate management read his most recent book,  Corporate Integrity: Rethinking Organizational Ethics and Leadership, Cambridge University Press, 2005). Even though his last book has been translated into five languages, the publisher underestimated the demand for his work.  The first printing  of Corporate Integrity: Rethinking Organizational Ethics and Leadership, was simultaneously printed in two countries in April 2005 but sold out quickly, and a second edition had to be printed the same year.  Brown's concepts of corporate ethics leadership for this century have been labeled the most innovative since Peter Drucker's classic works of the last century.

►Lecturer, business and organizational ethics, Philosophy Department and The College of Professional Studies, University of San Francisco.
(The College of Arts and Sciences, University of San Francisco, awarded Marvin T. Brown with their part-time faculty Service Award for 2007.)
►Lecturer, organizational ethics, Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center

Examples of presentations

We have decided that there is little sense in trying to keep this list current. Brown's invited presentations would require constant revision of this page. We simply add something when it appears to us that it would be of special interest to readers.

At the end of 2007, 2006 Second World Forum on China Studies in Shanghai, China. (Professor Brown was invited to China, for two weeks of seminars and conferences on business ethics for Chinese businesses.)

European Network of Business Ethics, 2005 Annual Conference, Bonn, Germany. This is the premier business ethics network in Europe.  Professor Brown was the invited keynote speaker. Title of Keynote address: "Corporate Integrity and Civic Identity: A Relational Approach to Business Ethics and Leadership." Published in the Journal of Business Ethics (2006) 66: 11-18.

Professor Brown has facilitated workshops at ethical process conferences managers in Caracas, Venezuela; Buenos Aires (which is the reason why his book on the Ethical Process is one of the few American ethics books translated into Portuguese) and Rosario, Argentina.

"Corporate Integrity and Civic Responsibility: Do Corporations 'really' have social obligations?" paper delivered at the 2005 Annual meeting of the Association of Professional and Practical Ethics, San Antonio, Texas.

"Running a business on the moon," and seven other exercises to facilitate systems thinking," 2005 Annual meeting of the Society of Business Ethics,  Honolulu, Hawaii.

Respondent to panel presentations of Corporate Integrity, Rethinking Organizational Ethics and Leadership, at Symposium on Corporate Integrity and Civic Responsibility, University of San Francisco.

Presenter, "Integrity, Reciprocity, and Leadership," at a conference on Institutional Integrity, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York.

Design and deliver workshop on "Conditions for Making Good Decisions" with Nancy Southern, for Charleston Pathology, Charleston, SC.

Facilitate Board meeting of Charleston Pathology in developing ethics committee and code of conduct

Design and deliver 8 4-hour sessions of "Values in Practice" training program for San Mateo Human Services, (based on The Ethical Process), San Mateo, California.

Panel member, "The Future of OD," Best in West conference.

Presenter "Ethics of Decision Making," Saybrook Residential Conference.

Panel Member, "Challenges in Ethics Pedagogy," Annual Meeting of Society of Business Ethics, New Orleans.

"The Ethics of Integrity and the Integrity of Ethics," WACUBO Workshop, San Mateo, California.

"Making Tough Decisions" workshop at "Soaring to New Heights Leadership Conference, County of San Mateo, Human Services Agency

"Is Corporate Integrity Possible?" Society of Business Ethics annual meeting, Seattle, WA.

External Consultant, Ethics Training Leader, California State Automobile Association

"Facing Disagreement," One day workshop at UC Berkeley Extension, San Francisco, CA.

"Family Businesses and the Virtue of Openness," Society of Business Ethics annual meeting, Denver, CO.

"Creating a Faithful Workplace," Sixth-Third Annual Meeting, Council for Health and Human Service Ministries, United Church of Christ, Pasadena, Ca.

Presentation "The Nonprofit Challenge to Business Ethics," Annual Meeting of the Society of Business Ethics, Washington DC.

Ethics Scholar in Residence, Institute for Family Businesses, McLaren School of Business, University of San Francisco

External Facilitator: Shared Responsibility Program. Two one-day training sessions in ethics and compliance. California State Automobile Association, San Francisco.

Two-day workshop with staff and director of the Werkstate, Düsselldorf, Germany.

2005 Corporate Integrity: Rethinking Organizational Ethics and Leadership, Cambridge University Press, (1st ed and 2d ed 2005). The first edition, simultaneously printed in two countries in April 2005 sold out and a second edition had to be printed in 2005.

2002 The Ethical Process: An Approach to Disagreement and Controversial Issues, Third Edition, Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall. (This is the third, but not last, revised edition of the book published in 1996.  The various editions have been translated into several other languages.) The 2003 edition is reviewed in the UK's Journal of Practical Philosophy. The reviewer suggests: "the book [is] engaging and highly practical....Anyone who helps groups to make decisions can benefit from ideas in this book. Buy it and make use of it."

"Family Businesses and The Ethics of Openness," Working Paper Series, McLaren School of Business, University of San Francisco.

2003 "Is Corporate Integrity Possible?" in 21st Century Opportunities and Challenges. Ed. Didsbury, H., Bethesda, Maryland: World Future Society. p. 181-198.

Corporaciones y la ciudad: una aproximacion ethica," in IDEA. No. 5 October (Corporations and Cities: an Ethical approach)

1998 "Making The Best Decision at Work" Accountant. Feb., p. 13-15

"Concepts and Experience of the "Valuing Diversity and Ethics" workshops at Levi Strauss and Company," in Ethics in International Management. de Gruyter Studies in Organizations, ed. B. Kumar & H. Steinmann, Germany.

1997 "Impulse Eberhard Müllers" in Eberhard Müller: Bestand hat, was im lebendigen Menchen weiterwirkt. Ed. A.Daur and C. Schubert, Bad Boll, Germany: Evangelische Akademie, p. 61-63.