Author Archive
Tolerance, the key to being ethical.
Tolerance is something that is becoming less visible and practiced more infrequently than in past times. In recent weeks, a 14 year old committed suiced who was a student at a very prestigious and faith bases college preparatory school. Within one week there was a posting on the internet and perhaps other places that this was the price that Gays and Lesbians must pay for their behavior. This is just one example of where we are experiencing today. The alleged writers of this atrociaty were other students at the same school. Where do teenagers learn this type of hate? Where do teenagers learn to spew this type of garbage and hateful thinking? Is it possible that this type of talk, this type of thinking and activity might have driven this person to such destructive behavior?
We need to becom more aware of these incidents. This is a great example of dualistic behavior. If we think someone or some group or somc behavior is not something we like or approve of, we have a need to destroy it. If we disagree with someone, we can not accept their position without destroying it and possibley them. Because we believe, when we are thinking dualistically, that for us to be right, others must be wrong and they must be the scapegoats and then eliminated. This is not the message of tolerance or that of an ethical thinking person. What can we do to stop thinking and acting dualistacally? We must enter and find our true self, our authentic self and perhaps the best way to do this is through contemplation and meditation.
There are many tools, one that I find helpful is the work of Richard Rohr, CFM. He has written books, “Everything Belongs”, “Adam’s Rerturn” and his latest book, “The Naked Now.” He is just one and ther are others, but we at The American Institute of Ethics believe it is time to find your true self and work to rid our world of dualism.
Fear and how it effects our lives.
NONVIOLENCE
Question of the Day:
Do I allow hate or mean-spiritedness to control my life?
Fear is almost always behind hate. Sometimes it looks like taking necessary control, but control freaks are usually afraid of losing something. It is almost always fear that justifies hatred, but a fear that is hardly ever recognized as such.
For fear to survive, it must look like reason, prudence, common sense, justice, or even religion. It always works. What better way to veil vengeance than to call it justice? What better way to cover greed than to call it responsible stewardship? What better way to cover arrogance than call it Biblical obedience? Only people who have moved beyond ego and controlling all outcomes, only those practiced at letting go, see fear for the impostor that it is. To be trapped inside of your small self is always to be afraid.
There is an intrinsic connection between fear, hatred and violence. Fear always needs a hiding place, and one of the best is supposed morality or truth-speaking. Then, you can hate with impunity, and even grandiosity, or validation from the Scriptures. Then you can be hateful and not feel the least guilty about it, but in fact feel morally superior.
Creating Olympic Games spirit in the workplace.
In the Olympics, we see a lot of the same human issues that confront us at the workplace. What can we take from that international event to apply at work? If you look carefully, you will find that the ways world athletes behave before, during, and after the Olympics offer us a lot of lessons we can learn from to Iimprove people’s performance in the workplace. After all, sports have always offered us metaphors, models, and motivating examples to apply at work. Naturally, the Olympics offer us the ultimate best of these. Here are ways to create the Olympics’ spirit at work.
The most significant lessons we can take from the Olympics to the workplace are:
Every Four Years, Not Every Quarter: Most American organizations put too much focus on the quarterly reporting of results. Real change in human performance requires a longer view of things.
Coaching for Performance: To perform at their peak, people need to be coached, not managed. The Coaching process of tough yet friendly feedback, modeling of desired behavior, constant guidance and continuance, incremental improvement is a model that works well at work too.
Practice Makes Perfect: No athlete will think to perform in the actual competition without rigorous practicing for years before the event. At work, people cannot suspend work to practice. They must work and practice at the same time.
Build Teams, Not Individuals: Even competitions that do not involve a team require effective teamwork between the coach and the athlete, and perhaps other people as well such as the managers, administrators, and the medical team. No Basketball team or Soccer team can achieve much without effective teamwork. How much training on team building have you participated in at work lately?
Motivation and Rewards: The motivation for the Olympic athletes is never money. It’s the global recognition of being the best. It’s the satisfaction of beating the previous world record, and going just a notch beyond what was previously possible. That’s the kind of culture you need to create at work. Monetary rewards are necessary to prevent good people from seeking work somewhere else, but it’s never the main motivator for achieving truly great things at work. Recognition, of both team and individual performance excellence, is the greatest motivator.
Failure Is The Beginning, Not the End: No athlete will strive to participate in the Olympics just once in a lifetime. Most keep going back and trying more. If they fail, they strive harder to win. If they win, they try harder to break their own record and win even bigger.
Definition of The American Institute of Ethics
What might best define The American Institute of Ethics?
It has become quite apparent that many of the systems and institutions that we have treasured and followed so faithfully have failed in recent times. Why is this? It would seem that the following reflection by Richard Rohr the Franciscan writer and speaker it’s the nail on the head. Our society has been directed by men from almost all time. In recent years, women have become much more involved including leadership roles. Why is it not working any better? Most women as they assume leadership have tended to act just like the men and use the same tactics and tools that men have used. They need to be just who they are – Women! We need this change and Ref. Rohr says it most beautifully.
SUBERTING THE HONOR/SHAME SYSTER
Question: Who am I – really?
“The male psyche is normally fragile and insecure because it is based on overwhelmingly external and transitory criteria a game which almost all men eventually lose. The poor male has to look good and he has to defend the honor of his bank account, his family, his race, his country, but all in reference to himself! His question is not allowed to be ‘Who am I – really?’, but only ‘How do I look?’
This is precisely the opposite path from any authentic spirituality. Thus it was males who alone needed ‘initiation’ in most indigenous cultures, and it was males like Jesus Christ and the other great religious figures of all time, who walked in the exact opposite direction.
Significance of Organizational/Corporate Culture
The Significance of Organizational / Corporate Culture
Background Research
Why should we pay attention to such a ‘fuzzy’ concept as ‘Corporate Culture’?
In a landmark study by Terrence Deal and Allan Kennedy, published in their pioneering book, “Corporate Culture: the Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life (Addison-Wesley) the authors found that – among nearly 80 companies, the consistently high performers were “strong culture” organizations. They proved that a correlation exists between a strong corporate culture and a healthy bottom-line.
Other studies have produced similar results. A study of 34 corporations, done by Daniel R. Denison, project director of the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, has shown that ‘The cultural and behavioral characteristics of organizations have a measurable effect on a company’s performance.” The study’s results were later published by the American Management Association in its ‘Organization Dynamics’ publication under the title,” Bringing Corporate Culture to the Bottom Line.”
An intensive five year long research effort involving more than 100 companies done by noted consultant Rosabeth Moss Kanter, and presented in her pioneering book, “The Change Masters (Simon & Schuster) was described by Industry Week as follows, “None has gone this far in presenting evidence that companies characterized by an open culture…are successful in both human and business terms.”
The conclusion we can arrive at from these studies is that attention to the organization’s culture is as important a matter as attention to other corporate indicators, such as finances, production, marketing, information technologies or human resources. A strong, positive and innovative corporate culture has proved to be one of the strategic prerequisites for successful organizational performance.
What is Ethics on the Curve?
“ETHICS ON THE CURVE”
The roots of The American Institute of Ethics stretch back well over ten years when a friend and investment banker, Harry Edelstein and I used to have lunch and we would lament what had happened to business since we began our careers. It seemed that business had lost the personal touch and the sense of trust that existed for so long. We were both concerned with the lack of ethics and decency in how business was conducted. Harry and I joined with Jim Myers, Alessandro Baccariand Joe Marchetti to found an organization to reverse this trend. We wanted to create an organization dedicated to the restoration and rebirth of ethics, trust and honestyto the business world. We formed The American Institute of EthiWe created the Institute to be a mirror of what is going on ethically both in the professional or business world; but also in people’s personal lives. We knew you cannot change organizations, but people can change. We met with experts in the field of ethics and researched many existing organizations and educational programs. We experience frustration at what is being offered.
There are many programs both in the public sector and the University environment that focus on the roots and early teaching of Ethics going back to the days of Aristotle and Plato. The principles we know are sound, but the application for today’s world were not.Our research of the Ethics educational and training programs that are available both in person and electronically substantially had one focus. Most programs we reviewed are about Corporate Governance, keeping companies honest and reducing lawsuits. We had to ask ourselves “Is that what we want to be?” The answer was a collective “No!” We are launching programs entitled “Rebuilding Ethics in a Changing World.” Our research and study showed us that the deterioration of ethics and ethical behavior was much wide spread than just adults in the business world. If we were to be successful in our Mission, we would have to reach all elements of society including young people even below College or University age.
When you ask people including very young people how they think they are doing in their lives ethically and honestly; they will tell you they are fine, they are doing very well because they are no worse than their peers. That is “Ethics on the Curve” or relativism personified. Is that what our parents and any spiritual or moral training that we had as children taught us? Of course not!
Looking at our society today from the viewpoint of ethics can be almost depressing. All the institutions that we have trusted all of our lives are failing us. Government, business, the media, the professions, religion, education all fall short when it is about being ethical, trustworthy or honest. Even in our personal lives, when Marriages fail at over a 50% rate, our young people cheating in school, stealing from others including their own family or friends; we had to ask where we have to start to turn this around.
We are launching a program entitled “Rebuilding Ethics in a Changing World.” Our study of other Ethics programs that are available do not address this need to move ourselves to striving for excellence. We seem to be content with the status quo or to reduce the expense of unethical behavior. What ever happened to wanting to excel and be the best person we can be in all that we do?
Upon reflection, is this really training people to be ethical or is this training people to avoid problems, reduce costs and be no worse than other people or organizations? This again is relativism or “Ethics on the curve.” We have to ask some questions: did your mother and dad train you to be honest and ethical, settling to be just one of the crowd, just to stay out of trouble or be a little better or the same as your friends. No, your parents and any spiritual, moral or religious training taught you to be honest – to be ethical in all of your dealings with others – to strive for excellence – the very best you can be.
Why should we operate in our private and professional lives in 2009 any other way, yet our society is accepting of Ethics on the Curve and Morality on the curve. The “curve” or parity exists to make all persons equal or the same; you end up with no one standing out or excell
The American Institute of Ethics does not share that philosophy.We yearn and we strive for excellence in ethics. We will not stand still or tolerate Ethics on the Curve – that is not ethics at all. That is not the image we want reflected to others from the mirror that we are. We are creating the mirror that will reflect ethics, honesty, integrity and truthfulness to everyone we meet.
THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ETHICS
What is happening at AIE
Welcome to The American Institute of Ethics website. We are a California nonprofit 501(c) 3 Corporation established in 2006. Our Mission is to foster discussion, dialogue and debate among people of diverse backgrounds to create an understanding of the basis of ethical behavior. We are an organization dedicated to making people aware of the ethical problems and resolved to finding workable solutions.
We are very excited about our plans for the balance of 2009 and looking forward to 1010.. We are in the early launch stage of our seminar programs entitled “Rebuilding Ethics in a Changing World.” Our programs will be uniquely not focused on Corporate Governance or keeping organizations operating with the law. We consider that to be “ethics on the curve.” There are four programs, a two day workshop which will be available both on site or via e-learning and a one half day program entitled “Balancing Personal and Professional Ethics.” Our programs begin with our Dynamic Cultural Assessment which surveys levels of ethics. For qualifying companies, our final program is the awarding of the AIE Seal of Approval.
We have co-sponsoring with The Aquarium of the Bay an event on “Ethics and Managing Healthcare” for Wednesday, November 4, 2009; from 6:00pm until 9:00pm at The Aquarium of the Bay on Pier 39. Bountiful refreshments and wines from the Pineridge Winery will be served. There is no charge for this event. The format will be a three person panel discussion on the current healthcare debate in our Country. Our panelists each bring a unique approach to healthcare and come from segments of that industry that are not heard from. This is a “Don’t Miss!” event. There will be a flyer on the website shortly.
As we progress, we are in the midst of fund raising so that we may continue to deliver the same high standards of programs and seminars. We would greatly appreciate any donation you could make to further our cause. You can visit out website to make a donation on line. Thank you so much for your support in so many ways.
Watch for future events and please join us as a member.
Our best wishes to all of you for a beautiful Holiday Season.
THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ETHICS
John Sequeira, President and CEO
Welcome to AIE
Welcome to our AIE blog. Yes, AIE is in the 21st Century. This is new for us and we invite you to join us in our mission of making the world a better place for ethics. We have wonderful events and programs to enhance and enlighten both professional and personal ethics.
John Sequeira, President