6 books that inspired IMD professors in 2025

The Dark Pattern: The Hidden Dynamics of Corporate Scandals by Guido Palazzo & Ulrich Hoffrage

Most executives believe corporate scandals happen elsewhere or are caused by a few bad individuals. This book dismantles that illusion. The Dark Pattern argues that corporate wrongdoing rarely stems from a few villains, but from the systems, incentives, and cultures that make the abnormal feel normal.

It’s a guide to how good people, focused on unrealistic targets, ambiguous and unfair routines, collectively lose their way. The book shows how organizations drift into misconduct, one small, “justified” decision at a time. This happens through nine specific cognitive and social processes: the subtle ways teams learn to routinely ignore small signs of trouble and how toxic leaders convince themselves the rules don’t apply because the stakes are too high.

The cases unfold like thrillers: Volkswagen’s emissions deceit, Wells Fargo’s sales obsession, Boeing’s shortcuts. It’s palace intrigue, only with corporate crowns. And yes, it’s as gripping as it is unsettling.

What’s striking is how the insights extend beyond compliance. The same dynamics that normalize scandal also corrode sustainability, DE&I, and appear wherever power concentrates and dissent fades in the corporate or societal sphere.
Sounds familiar? Be aware, when sustainability becomes manipulative PR language, when silence feels safer than speaking up, when “fit” quietly overrides fairness and diversity – the dark pattern is already at work.

The authors don’t moralize; they equip. “Bright patterns” emerge as practical ways to resist ethical drift and proactively design for integrity. But you’ll have to read The Dark Pattern to find out.

Blaming the individual is easy. Changing the system – that’s the true leadership challenge the authors of this book (and I) demand executives take on.

– Vanina Farber, elea Professor of Social Innovation and Dean of the IMD EMBA program