In 1999, the Josephson Institute of Ethics convened a 3-day summit in Arizona with 40 of the most influential leaders in sports including John Wooden, Bob Costas and many of the countries most successful athletic directors, coaches and university presidents. The result was a document referred to as the Arizona Sports Summit Accord which
COMMENTARY 767.1a (Bonus): Is Pro Basketball “Just” a Business? Dumping Derek Fisher Is Lawful but Awful
It’s just a business. Virtually all my friends and fellow fans of the Los Angeles Lakers were content with this justification in response to my protest of the Lakers’ surprising decision to trade a much-loved 16-year-veteran player who had made a huge contribution to the team’s unity and success over the 13 years he’d been a member. When I …
COMMENTARY 767.1: A Coach’s Dilemma
A high school football coach wrote to tell me his team was going to the state finals, but he was troubled. An English teacher had caught three of his players cheating on an exam they had to pass to remain eligible. He told the coach he had passed them anyway, “for the good of the school.”
COMMENTARY 766.5: Coaching a Winning Machine
When Larry volunteered to coach a kids’ football team he wanted to help each youngster develop not only their football skills but their character and work habits. He also wanted mold these youngsters into a winning machine. Early on, however, he saw that these goals were not always compatible. In the end, his desire to win won, and he convinced …
COMMENTARY 766.1: The Paradoxical Commandments
In 1968, when Kent M. Keith* was a 19-year-old sophomore at Harvard University, he wrote “The Paradoxical Commandments” as part of a booklet for student leaders. He describes the Commandments as guidelines for finding personal meaning in the face of adversity: 1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway. 2. If you do good, people will accuse you …
COMMENTARY 765.5: Controversy – Young Christian Says He Hates Religion but Loves Jesus
I recently posted a commentary about religion in America and additional data based on a massive study by the Pew Foundation. Today I want to seek your opinion on a passionate controversy ignited by a You Tube video posted by a 22 year-old named Jefferson Bethke.
COMMENTARY 765.4: Using All Your Strength
A young boy was walking with his father along a country road. When they came across a very large tree branch, the boy asked, “Do you think I could move that branch?” His father answered, “If you use all your strength, I’m sure you can.” The boy tried mightily to lift, pull, and push the branch, but he couldn’t move …
GUEST POST: Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes by Anne Josephson
Anne Josephson, the wife of Michael Josephson, founded The Josephson Academy of Gymnastics (JAG Gym), one of the largest and most successful gymnastics schools for children in Los Angeles. She is a prominent member of the gymnastics community and an expert on youth sports. She writes a regular blog posted on her website. This post originally appeared on her blog …
COMMENTARY 764.3: Eight Laws of Leadership
Take a look around. Business, education, politics. If there’s one thing we don’t have enough of, it’s good leaders – men and women who have the vision and the ability to change things for the better. Former Air Force General William Cohen wrote a fine book called The Stuff of Heroes in which he identified eight laws of leadership. Here …
HELP WANTED: The Downey, CA, school district has asked me to record daily commentaries for teens based on my radio commentary series so that they can be played daily on the school-wide P.A. systems in their middle and high schools.
If successful, we will offer the commentaries and scripts (with follow-up discussion questions for optional use). The opportunity to talk directly to thousands of teens every day on school announcements is exciting and daunting. I want to talk about choices and character in a way that’s valuable. If you know of a school that might be interested in playing the new …
COMMENTARY 763.5: The Scorpion and Human Nature
Terry and his dad Glen were walking along the shore and came upon a scorpion struggling in the tide, trying to get back to the sand. Glen tried to scoop the creature up, but the scorpion stung him and fell back into the tide. Glen tried again and was stung again. Terry said, “Dad, leave him alone! He’s not worth …
QUOTES: All About Courage — 64 Great Quotes on the Nature of Courage
The Josephson institute is a nonprofit organization that depends on contributions from people like you. Please help us make a more ethical society or simply show your gratitude for whatever value you find in our work by making a tax-deductible donation at http://goo.gl/uUAix See Images of and Words of Courage here. QUOTES ON COURAGE Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human …
COMMENTARY 763.2 The Presidents Day Un-Celebration — Honoring Not Just the Great, But All U.S. Presidents
If you’re not going to school or work today, it’s because it’s a national holiday. The country used to celebrate the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln separately, but in 1971 Richard Nixon and Congress, in order to create a perpetual three-day weekend, merged the two holidays into a brand new one called “Presidents’ Day,” to honor all U.S. …
QUOTES: 25 of the Most Profound Things Abraham Lincoln Ever Said.
Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be. Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends? I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound …
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 …
COMMENTARY: Are You Wiser Today Than Yesterday? Things I’ve Learned
Do you think you’re any wiser today than you were five years ago? Do you think you’ll be wiser still in another five years? I hope the answer to both
COMMENTARY: The Greyhound Principle: Stretch Goals in Business 761.1
A common management strategy to spur achievement is to set aggressive performance objectives that, like the mechanical rabbits that pace racing greyhounds, push employees to maximum effort. Using “stretch goals” can be successful, but unreasonably high performance goals often spawn dishonesty and irresponsibility. Believing that “it’s a matter of survival,” a disturbing number of employees conclude that distortion, deception, and even …
COMMENTARY 760.2: Can Corporate Ethics Programs Do Any Good?
Lots of companies are focusing serious attention on the issues of ethics and values – and lots of people think that’s a waste of time. The skeptics argue that you can’t teach ethics to adults. By the time they’re in the workplace, they’re either ethical or not. It’s a plausible argument, but it misses the point. The purpose of a …
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 …
QUOTE: You can dodge your responsibilities, but you can’t dodge the consequences of dodging your responsibilities.
Whether it’s in our personal lives or work lives, there are always things we need to do, and we always have to do them ethically. We fail to do so at our peril — to our relationships, our reputations, and the esteem of those we care about.
OBSERVATION: The Dalai Lama on Universal Ethics
I am confident that it is both possible and worthwhile to attempt a new secular approach to universal ethics. My confidence comes from my conviction that all of us, all human beings, are basically inclined or disposed toward what we perceive to be good. Whatever we do, we do because we think it will be of some benefit. At the …
WORTH READING: Heart of Change by John P. Kotter and Dan S. Cohen
Professors John Kotter and Dan Cohen’s 2002 book The Heart of Change focuses on organizational change, and provides research support for many of the claims and theories in later books. A significant insight is that in almost all successful change efforts, the sequence of change is not ANALYZE — THINK — CHANGE, as is normally assumed by those who believe …
COMMENTARY: How to Change Attitudes and Behavior — “I Can Do It and It’s Worth It.” 758.6
In yesterday’s commentary, I talked about a teacher named Shavonne who was at wits end with several students, including Leon, whose lack of self-control when he became angry or frustrated constantly created trouble. She was certain that nothing short of intense therapy could change his behavior. Changing Leon’s behavior will be a challenge, but it has to start with changing …
COMMENTARY 758.4 CHANGING THE WORLD ONE BITE AT A TIME
About twenty-five years ago, I founded the Joseph & Edna Josephson Institute of Ethics in honor of my parents because I wanted to change the world for the better. My goal and strategy to achieve change is captured in a short mission statement: “To improve the ethical quality of society by changing personal and organizational decision making and behavior.” I …
COMMENTARY: Launching the New Year with a Commitment to be Self-Consciously Reflective
Expanding on the theme that the best way to improve your life and have an exceptionally successful and fulfilling New Year is to increase your wisdom and optimism, I urge you not to just skim this essay but to take some serious reflection time to answer these questions: What did you learn last year that will help you become wiser …
OBSERVATION: Scientific evidence and personal experience teach us that approaching each daily task and our lives in general with a positive attitude (optimism, enthusiasm, confidence) significantly increases actual success and enhances personal happiness. Yet many of us stifle our careers and pollute our personal relationships by persistent negativity. Just as losing weight and keeping it off is really hard, so is losing self-defeating attitudes and staying positive — but it’s doable and worth it. The strategy: self-consciously cultivate optimism.
Here are some suggestions to help you more consistently reap the benefits of positivity.
Personal Note From Michael Josephson: Closing Out 2011, Entering 2012
As I began to write this note conveying my best wishes to you for a happy and fulfilling New Year, I asked myself whether 2011 was, for me, a good year or a bad year. And, of course, my mind quickly filled with conflicting memories of happy and sad moments, achievements and disappointments, and the recognition that every year has …
WORTH READING: Get Smarter! Start the New Year With the Five Best Books I Read in 2011. What books are on your list?
Here are the best five books I’ve read this year. They are so good they are all on my top-ten of all-time list. In the comment section please share the names of the best books you’ve read this year and if you are willing add a sentence or two on what you found so good about each book. The Happiness Hypothesis by …