As Greg paces the floor, waiting for his 17-year-old daughter Sandy to return from a school event, he feels two conflicting emotions: fear and anger. Fear that something terrible has happened to her. Anger because he thinks his fear is probably unfounded and Sandy is not hurt, simply irresponsible. Finally, Sandy calls. She’s all right. She just lost track of …
COMMENTARY: How to Succeed by Failing Forward — Turning Stumbling Blocks to Stepping Stones 761.3
The best way to teach our children to succeed is to teach them to fail. After all, if getting everything you want on the first try is success, and everything else is failure, we all fail much more often than we succeed. People who learn how to grow from unsuccessful efforts succeed more often and at higher levels because they …
OBSERVATION: “Some people brighten a room when they enter it; others when they leave. Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?”
Attitudes are contagious. Are yours worth catching? Attitudes have a sort of gravity — cheerful people tend to bring out good thoughts and good feelings in people; they bring warmth and light with them. They light candles of enthusiasm. Sad, morose and cynical people do the opposite. They bring out the negative feelings in us; they chill and darken the …
OBSERVATION: Don’t ask if it is going to be easy. Ask if it is going to be worth it. – Michael Josephson
Sometimes the journey is easy; sometimes it requires you to overcome obstacles to follow an old path or make a new one. Either way, the question is: “Is it Worth It?” Your life is too important to consume it pursuing attractive but inconsequential goals. The pursuit of worthy goals is a worthy life.
OBSERVATION: You don’t have to be sick to get better.
One of the greatest obstacles to improvement is ego. If the idea of getting better — learning new ways to do things, new strategies to deal with people, new ways to motivate ourselves — is thought of as an implicit criticism that we weren’t good enough before, we are likely to reject it. That you are a better parent, manager or person …
QUICK THOUGHTS: I thought the Super Bowl Clint Eastwood “Detroit” ad was terrific. What did you think?
The message, sponsored by Chrysler, of working together to solve our problems is what we need. Sadly, the rhetoric of the presidential campaign leaves us little hope that the election will be a referendum of ideas untainted by personal attacks and invective. The differences between the beliefs and solutions of Republicans and Democrats is between highly conservative and more moderate Republicans and …
COMMENTARY: Surviving Grief and Tragedy – The Spark Within 760.4
Here’s the bad news: Virtue isn’t a golden ticket to a pain-free life. Bad things happen to good people as often as they happen to bad people. It seems unfair, but in the natural order of the world, suffering is random. To expect otherwise is to sentence oneself to despondency, disillusionment, bitterness, and anger. Here’s the good news: The magic power that …
QUOTE: There is always, always, always something to be thankful for.
REMINDER: If you want to feel good, watch: This TED presentation by Louie Schwartzberg The gratitude dance The follow-up to the gratitude dance I think you will be glad you did.
COMMENTARY: Understanding Gratitude: Gifts From the Heart
According to legend, a young man roaming the desert came across a spring of delicious crystal-clear water. The water was so sweet he filled his leather canteen so he could bring some back to a tribal elder who had been his teacher. After a four-day journey, he presented the water to the old man, who took a deep drink, smiled warmly, …
WORTH WATCHING: Gratitude Dance — It will make you smile.
I posted this back in November, but it’s so relevant I’m posting it again.
COMMENTARY 759.5: Ten Truths for the Person in Charge
Based on years of managing several organizations, including the Josephson Institute of Ethics, and on extensive consultation with large and small organizations, I’ve distilled much of what I believe and advocate into “Ten Truths.” I hope you find this list helpful. Feel free to share it with colleagues and friends. (Or print this mini-poster version of the list.) Everyone rationalizes; including you. (We’re all …
WORTH SEEING: Poster – “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.” The loving words of encouragement by a maid/nanny to the little girl constantly berated by her mother in the movie “The Help.”
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COMMENTARY: Hurrah for Hollywood! This Year’s Crop is Rich in Films that Inform, Move and Inspire 759.3
I know I’m out of my depth as a movie critic, but I am venturing into this new territory because there’s so much criticism about Hollywood that we don’t always give ample credit for the substantial number of truly wonderful movies that teach, move, and inspire, as well as entertain. And from my narrow perspective as an ethicist, I am grateful …
COMMENTARY: Good Ethics is More Than Good Business 759.2
Ethics is a popular topic at corporate meetings today because managers correctly see the benefits. Good things tend to happen to companies that consistently do the right thing, and bad things tend to happen to those that even occasionally do the wrong thing. Being ethical is playing the odds. Ethical companies have a competitive edge because people prefer to deal …
QUOTE: Good decisions are good decisions. — Michael Josephson
They are good in a practical sense — that is, effective — and they are good in a moral sense — that is, ethical.
OBSERVATION: “Our moral obligations and the expectations people have of us do not go away just because we ignore them.” – Michael Josephson
I once saw a cartoon depicting a CEO speaking to assembled management team at a conference table: “We have some difficult issues to resolve today. Before we begin, Ms. Gladstone, will you please hand out the moral blinders?” It may make the decision easier but it doesn’t make it better. We can’t escape moral responsibility through legal loopholes — our conduct will …