Adam Goodman
BSAD-2310- Business Ethics
Jerry Maguire
Adam Goodman
Jerry Maguire is a successful sports agent. His life is nearly perfect, or so everyone else
thinks. He has a beautiful fiancé, industry wide respect and admiration, the clients that everyone
else wishes they had and overall the perfect life. Jerry Maguire starts to question the nature of his
business and his place in the world. Jerry records all of his thoughts in the middle of the night in
what he called his mission statement. The executives of his company did not see things the same
way he did. The problem with his mission statement was that he promoted such a great idea of
fewer clients would equal less money the agency has to pay. The agency chose to cut ties with
Jerry as the first step of the new business outlook and stripped him of his clients and status in his
industry. Jerry was forced to move forward in the sports business with only one client, Rod
Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and the only person in the agency that still believes in his abilities,
Dorothy Boyd. (Renee Zellweger)
Jerry faces a lot of challenges and harsh truths about himself that he never had to face before.
Jerry strives to rebuild the glorious career that he had and out shine the agency that cut ties with
him. The movie is all about redemption and staying true to yourself throughout the process.
Another main point in the movie is the story of transformation. The two main male characters in
the movie learn how to value more in life than just money and success. They learn that the key to
a great life is heart and who you share it with.
The first and most obvious concept I noticed was business ethics in general. Ethics are the study
of how we try to live our lives according to the standard of what is right and wrong. (Ghillyer,
Adam Goodman
Page 4) Bob Sugar, Jerry Maguire’s best friend and boss at his agency, demonstrates very poor
business ethics when he fired Jerry and took all of his clients from him. Jerry was not only Bob’s
best friend but he was his mentor and taught Bob everything he knows. Bob did not just fire
Jerry, he took him to a public place and didn’t even give him the professional courtesy of doing it
in a confidential business setting. For some it is a conscious choice to follow a set of moral
standards or ethical principles that provide guidance on how they conduct themselves. Jerry
Maguire adapts to a new standard of ethics throughout the movie and takes what is wrong in his
business behavior and trades it in for what is right and less glamorous. In the end it pays off and
he becomes wealthy beyond money and materials.
In the beginning of the movie Jerry was very unethical in how he treated his clients. Jerry made
