Being at the head of the class has many benefits, but we all know that academic success isn't a one way ticket to the C-Suite. What the classroom rewards and what professional success requires are not one and the same thing – a lesson that some Valedictorians among us seem to learn the hard way. In this episode of the In-House Ethicist, John Paul Rollert reflects on what Valedictorian-types should think about as they transition to the real world if they hope to achieve the same elite level of success in their professional lives as they did on standardized tests.

When people think about capitalism, they don’t think of abstract ideas at the heart of an economic system. They think about the things that system produces: the products, the companies, and perhaps most notably, the people. Just as capitalism has changed with technology and culture over time, so have the people most associated with it, from Benjamin Franklin to the suspendered stockbrokers of the 1980s to the tech titans of today. In this episode of The In-House Ethicist, John Paul Rollert asks the question who will be the next face of capitalism?

Is the customer always right? In a world in which all sales are final, some buyers are bound to get duped. But if the customer’s always right, what can retailers do about unreasonable customers? In this episode of The In-House Ethicist, John Paul Rollert looks for a balance between honoring customers and indulging them.