This video, and therefore the incident, is three years old now and viewed on YouTube by millions, but it’s new to me, and it raises my opinion of Michael Bublé , an old-fashioned but youngish Vegas-style crooner in the Andy Williams mold, but cuter.
Here is what’s ethical about the singer’s spontaneous conduct:
- He was kind. Few performers allow their concerts to be hi-jacked like this.
- He was courageous. Professionals know that any time you give up control, anything can happen. Bublé was confident that he could handle whatever came his way, but it is still a risk.
- He was generous. His reaction to realizing the kid could really sing was pitch-perfect.
- He demonstrated the Golden Rule, and explicitly so, when he made the decision to bring the 15-year-old on stage, saying, “I remember being your age.”
…all marks of an Ethics Hero, and a lucky one, because this could have gone horribly wrong.
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Pointer: Kathleen Dunn (via Facebook)
Ethics Alarms 
Sweet. His duet work with Jane Monheit on her debut album is equally impressive.
Makes me feel the same way I did after reading that Paul Simon, without any fanfare, sang at the funeral of Victoria Soto.
And when a Vanderbilt student asked Billy Joel if he could come up on stage and accompany him, Joel simply said “o.k.”. When they were done, Joel applauded, hugged the young man, and told the audience to remember his name. Good stuff.
I, too, had never seen this video. Mr. B. was in total command of the situation and extremely gracious. Bravo.
This video was new to me, too, and I couldn’t help smiling ear-to-ear as a watched it. “Bravo” is right.
–Dwayne
I’m not necessarily a fan, but Buble’s always struck me as a pretty cool guy; his response to Bad Lip Reading’s parody of one of his music videos was to recommend it himself.