Ethical and Moral Leadership
Week One:
Having worked in positions that constantly strive toward the penultimate code of conduct in their respective industries, I have seen ethics applied well, and standards fall short, impacting business livelihood, customer / employee morale, and the bottom dollar. What is it about commercialism or industry that makes us believe we are able to foresee enough elements in every situation to blanketly apply one standard to all situations, and maintain the expectation that it will always work?
In this blog, along with guidance from a graduate ethics course and professional developers, I will be commenting largely on the work "Meeting the Challenges of Leadership: Casting Light or Shadow" by C. E. Johnson, as well as other components drawn into the coursework.
Currently, I hold a relatively strong conviction that ethics and morality are different. One is inherent, and one is man-made. One is always directed by the best of intentions for the majority, and one is often misguided by peripheral idolatry, but sometimes, we are lucky enough to witness their overlap. The biggest problem in the field being, most people are willingly and proactively guided by a set of man-made moral principles, AND believe that they are the same as ethics. However, morality allows for seeking revenge, living reactively, fighting and killing for the sake of one's cause, and seek resolutions which immediately and overwhelmingly benefit one's personal life, and / or scope of interest. Ethical standards refuse to allow for the disregard of others' well-being, and specifically assume that the subject of any situation is the most appropriate outcome, not the person initiating the course.
Let's see if this book will change my mind!
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