By Liz Ryan

BACK-STABBING SLIME.  "So he gets a call, he's giving this woman a reference, and he starts asking questions about the job," continued Diane. "Halfway through the call, he says, 'Say, this sounds like a good job,' and he tells the interviewer that he'd like to throw his hat in the ring. So he did, and took the job, and that's the job he's in today!" Diane was silent.

"Oh my God," we said. Then we were silent.

"He stole a job from his protégé!" said one of us. "What a pig!"

"That's not the worst part," said Diane. "Think about it."

"The worst part is that he TELLS people the story," I said.

"Horrifying," said Diane, "but that's still not the worst part."

"Oh no!" chimed in another workmate. "The worst part is that the company knew he was stealing a job from his protégé, and they let him do it! The worst part is that they hired him, knowing he was the kind of guy who'd offer to be a reference and then shank his protege!"

"Yes," said Diane. "And this is the company that will own our company, one month from today."

BASIC SOUNDNESS.  Do you need to be told that this company's business subsequently tanked? Diane lasted about a week with the new organization. I myself stuck it out for six days. When a culture is bad, it's bad all the way through, and it can't deliver uplifting business results.

The good news is that the same is true in reverse. When smart people work together as a team, great things can happen. If the product mix is wrong or the Web site needs tuning or the business strategy is flawed, it's not a big deal to change -- if the underlying organization is healthy.

Companies can fail in one initiative, make adjustments, and quickly find success -- if there's a healthy platform to start with.

IN THE GENES.  Now, don't get me wrong. I respect my friends with MBAs. But I wish that B-schools would add a mandatory course on what's behind the numbers -- on understanding people at work. They could use my job-stealing story as a textbook case of what not to do -- at least, if you intend to throw around words like trust and respect.

I have no bad feelings toward the PR guy, although I imagine that his erstwhile protégé might. My view is, people like that have to be themselves -- and that's punishment enough.

Incidentally, fundamental defects such as despicable people don't show up on a spreadsheet. But their impact is as real as last quarter's "cost of goods sold," and I dare say a lot more significant.

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