Description The purpose of the Moral Compass Essay assignment is to define and articulate your own thoughtfully reasoned system of values, principles, and practices as a framework for personal integrity, business and professional value creation, and conscientious leadership. This assignment primarily targets the first BLHV learning objective to foster your personal moral intelligence and wellbeing. Word count: 1200-1500 words. Your essay may be longer, but not shorter. Visuals and media (optional) to enhance your narrative. Citations in APA format required to document references to visuals, media, course materials, and authoritative wisdom tradition sources. The Moral Compass Essay is an individual assignment written entirely in your own words and based on your personal experience. DO NOT write an essay about what a moral compass is. Use the BLHV Moral Compass framework to write about your own Moral Compass. Prepare before you write by reading the BLHV Moral Compass WorkbookActions and working on the exercises that seem useful to you. Consult the Values Toolkit (Chapter 11 of The Leadership Labyrinth), Moral Foundations Theory,Links to an external site. and authoritative sources from your own wisdom tradition in organizing your Moral Compass Essay. Thoroughly discuss every element of the Moral Compass as honestly and forthrightly as you can with personal examples. Following is the sample format: Personal Integrity Statement and Wisdom Traditions. 3 points What is your understanding of a Moral Compass as a foundation for personal integrity? From which Wisdom Tradition(s) do you draw in constructing your Moral Compass? What do you appreciate and question about this Wisdom Tradition? Why? II. Moral Vision. 3 points What is your vision of a good life? What symbol, song, image, or story represents your moral vision? How does your Wisdom Tradition influence your moral vision? How does your moral vision inspire and motivate you? III. Moral Code. 3 points What are the rules or principles of your moral code? How does your moral code align with your moral vision? How does your Wisdom Tradition influence your moral code? IV. Moral Fitness. 3 points What is your understanding of moral fitness? What practices constitute your moral fitness regimen? How do these practices foster your moral intelligence and wellbeing? How do they align with and reinforce your moral vision, code, and Wisdom Tradition? V. Defining Moment. 3 points What moral challenge has been a key defining moment for you? How has this moral challenge tested, clarified, and defined your character and values. If you could, how would you rewrite the script for this event in your life? Why? How does your Wisdom Tradition influence your moral understanding of this defining moment? VI.Human Values and Value Creation, and Leadership. 3 points What is your understanding of human values as the foundation and measure of the value you create through your life and your work? Write here VII. Your Future as a Conscientious Leader. 3 points What is your vision of yourself as a conscientious leader? What moral challenges do you expect in your future career path? How do you envision using your Moral Compass to manage these challenges? Write here IX. Reflection. 3 points What is your key take-away from the Moral Compass assignment? How has this assignment influenced your understanding of yourself? How has it influenced your understanding of values, morality, and ethics? Write here X. Format. 1 point. Follow the assignment format and include all referenced materials properly cited in APA format. Attached is the material needed and also the essay rubric. UNFORMATTED ATTACHMENT PREVIEW The Moral Compass Workbook Becoming Your Best Self Lindsay J Thompson THE MORAL COMPASS Becoming Your Best Self Table of Contents introduction page 5 core themes page 9 the leadership labyrinth page 11 morality page 27 the moral compass page 45 values and global value creation page 91 corporate citizenship page 111 bibliography page 127 the case lab page 2 3 4 introduction Moral Leadership for a Free World If you read a newspaper this morning, you almost surely read something related to morality, leadership, and freedom. From international relations to neighborhood and family life, concerns about leadership ethics and human welfare are the focus of news, political movements, and civic initiatives. Emotionally engaging terms like “moral leadership,” “the free world” and “human freedom” are often used in the media without much explanation or clarification. Momentous decisions are made and life choices established in the name of values attached to these and similar terms. What do we really mean by “moral leadership,” or “freedom?” If two people use these terms in a conversation, do they explicitly share a common understanding of them or just assume common ground? For instance, you might want to start such a conversation by thinking and talking about the difference between “the free world” and “a world of free individuals.” What would be the implications of the difference between those two phrases? What would be the moral implications for leaders striving to achieve both visions of freedom? Americans generally agree that freedom is a basic value protected in modern societies through political structures and legal guarantees, yet the moral parameters of freedom remain contested. Moral considerations of freedom include an understanding of what constitutes “unfreedom.” While literal slavery is rarely a concern for citizens in modern societies, French moral philosopher, Jacques Ellul, described alienation as the modern equivalent of slavery, a condition in which individuals fail to find meaning, purpose, or authenticity in their work. Along with its many benefits, the commodification of human work through competitive free market capitalism has created the unfreedom of dead-end and low-wage jobs. While most Americans are economically productive, the destructive consequences of alienation have also been blamed for the “unfreedoms” of mental illness, chemical dependency, and family distress that affect even the wealthiest and most successful strata of workers. How funny would Dilbert cartoons be in a society of happy, fulfilled workers? As citizens of a western world nation, Americans cherish a moral code of human and civic values exemplified in the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. Similar values are expressed in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the constitutions and foundational documents of many modern nations. Without challenging the validity of these values, it should be understood that they are not universally regarded as normative. Human beings throughout the world share certain values and concerns, but there are those who may see the western emphasis on individual rights and freedoms as a threat to the welfare and security of their cultural integrity. Nevertheless, the impact of globalization is felt by everyone throughout the world, regardless of personal or collective views about globalization. One of the greatest challenges we face for the future is the need for a values framework that both connects and individuates the diverse elements of the global human community. Without such a framework, it is impossible to build conversations, markets, and communities across all of the boundaries that divide people from one another. On the other hand, commerce is a global language. As Amartya Sen and others have observed, nations who trade with one another build partnerships that go beyond goods and services. Universities are part of a global knowledge enterprise creating partnerships of scholarship, science, research, and discovery throughout the world. As an emerging enterprise leader and a graduate business student, you are positioned to use the language and tools of commerce to build partnerships that create value for the world. You are not simply a “western values ambassador.” 5 You are a global citizen with roots in a particular culture and its institutions, but you understand that the value of global knowledge enterprise partnerships is centered in the value that people from diverse cultures and circumstances attribute to the quality of their own lives. You know that successful partnerships that cross boundaries of culture and difference require deep personal and cultural integrity as well as a commitment to building relationships of mutuality, respect, and shared value. This is the context for “Moral Leadership for a Free World.” You probably have already read some of the contemporary leadership literature and its emphasis on self-knowledge, relationship skills, and cultural awareness. This workbook is designed as vehicle for the challenging of adventure of deepening and enriching your self-knowledge by clarifying and developing your own values as a foundation for leadership. We hope you will use it to draw from your own experience and imagination to understand yourself and your own power for building a world of people who are free to build their own partnerships of value. A word of advice: Don?t rush through the workbook. Take time to do the exercises, reflections, and dialogues. This is a process that is best not done quickly. It is better to set a regular time each day or two for a period of several days or weeks rather than concentrate it all in one day or a week-end. Above all, take the time to explore and enjoy yourself. You are worth the time! Your reflections on ?freedom,? ?unfreedom,? and ?moral leadership?: Your thoughts about a personal schedule for completing this workbook: 6 Your thoughts about a dialogue partner: Continuing reflections: 7 What promise would you like to make to yourself about the kind of leader you intend to be now and in the future? What would you like people to be able to count on you to be and do? 8 Leadership Ethics CORE THEMES Leadership is a moral trust 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Leadership involves a process of critical reinvention. Critical reinvention invites risk and uncertainty. Leadership is an exercise of power. Everyone leads. Leadership involves judgments about value and values. Morality is a framework of values, principled reasoning, and agency that is tested through performance in conditions of risk, danger, and uncertainty. 6. Leaders model morality, create moral climate, and make decisions involving others in response to competing values and moral claims. 7. Leaders are accountable for their exercise of power, the morality they model, the moral climate they create, and the moral quality of their decisions. Effective leaders cultivate a moral compass 8. A moral compass is the reflective, intentional adoption of values and behavior as a framework for realizing the Good in oneself, in others, and in the social and material environment. 9. A moral compass is reflected in character, decision-making, relationships, and the impact on the social and material environment. 10. A Moral Compass is grounded in a wisdom tradition such as philosophy, religion, or culture. Morality is embedded in the political economy; global free markets thrive on relationships of integrity, transparency, and trust among multiple stakeholders. 11. Human flourishing is the instrumental means and ultimate measure of value creation. 12. Freedom creates competition and choices among markets, ideas, and values. 13. Society legitimates wealth derived from sustained value creation. 14. Globalization has moral implications. 15. Stewardship of the social and material environment is the shared responsibility of multiple stakeholders: business, government, civil society, and individual citizens. 9 Corporations are moral agents with a social charter of value creation. 16. Corporate moral agency involves responsible citizenship and self-governance in the strategic creation of value. 17. Corporations model morality, foster moral climate, and make decisions involving the material/social environment in response to competing values and claims. 18. Corporations are accountable to society for the morality they model, the moral climate they create, and the moral quality of their decisions. Your initial reflections on the Core Themes: Which elements of the Core Themes would you immediately affirm? Why? Which elements of the Core Themes would you like to challenge? Why? Which elements of the Core Themes would you especially like to understand better or know more about? Why? 10 the leadership labyrinth CORE THEME Leadership is a moral trust x Leadership involves a process of critical reinvention. x Critical reinvention invites risk and uncertainty. x Leadership is an exercise of power. x Everyone leads. x Leadership involves judgments about value and values Your initial reflections on the Core Theme of leadership: Which elements of the Core Theme would you immediately affirm? Why? Which elements of the Core Theme would you like to challenge? Why? 11 As you reflect on the term, ?moral trust,? what associations and ideas come to your mind? Summarize your thoughts about the Core Theme: 12 the leadership labyrinth The Labyrinth The Labyrinth is an ancient symbol of complexity and choice. You may remember the myth of the Labyrinth and the hero, Theseus. To the ancient Greeks – and most ancient peoples – symbols and myths were spiritual tools of deep significance. Like most mythic narratives, the Myth of the Labyrinth is layered with paradoxical meanings, but one of its meanings is about leadership. The image of the Labyrinth is an intricate pattern of winding, interconnected and dead-end paths represented in many variations all over the world in public squares, gardens, and sacred spaces such as the Cathedral of Chartres, Asian temple grounds, and Native American pyramid complexes. The Labyrinth has been used to practice walking meditation and you will probably find one not too far from where you live. For modern people, “walking the Labyrinth” is a practice of cultivating the inner qualities of focus, discipline, and quiet needed for discerning a clear path among competing, complex choices. In the Labyrinth of competing and conflicting demands, it is not enough just to make a decision. The process of discernment is as important as the decision. In many ways, the Labyrinth is a fitting symbol for the challenges and opportunities facing leaders in today?s global enterprise environment. It is also a reminder that the modern leadership dilemma of high-risk competing choices and demands is not new; the Labyrinth is as old as humanity?s quest for wisdom. Leaders understand the value of a wisdom tradition in discerning the Good and the Right – the essence of morality. The Labyrinth is fundamentally a spiritual symbol of human wisdom traditions. Whether we are religious or not, we all are rooted in a wisdom tradition that honors the Good and the Right in humanity and the world around us. Leadership challenges inevitably involve some degree of moral choice about the Good and the Right. If you were raised in a religious tradition, you probably are familiar with a symbol of the Good and the Right that represents some of the complexities and wisdom of the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth, however, does not represent or give privilege to any one religion yet it can complement the imagery of established traditions; it can be considered universal. For leaders in situations involving dialogue and discernment among diverse religious stakeholders, a neutral, universal symbol such as the Labyrinth may offer an advantage. How is the Labyrinth similar to/different from the symbols and myths of your wisdom tradition? 13 How would you represent the challenges of leadership using the myths and symbols of your wisdom tradition? Remember to include both the ?positive? and ?negative? aspects of challenge – both the opportunities and rewards as well as the problems and risks. How do these symbols represent the moral challenges of the Good and the Right? How would you use or adapt the image of the Labyrinth to represent the moral challenges of leadership in a way that expresses the symbolic meaning of your own wisdom tradition? Make a note of what doesn’t quite fit when you try this. 14 Leadership is a moral trust. Leaders are entrusted with the welfare of people and what they value. History is full of leaders like Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, and Martin Luther King, Jr., who were superbly skilled at engaging people in a shared moral purpose. Although each of these individuals appealed to the intellect with sophisticated reasoning, their public discourse was infused with moral passion. Like them, effective leaders use spiritual engagement to build moral solidarity, enabling people to build organizations and communities where personal moral identity is aligned with collective moral identity. Moral solidarity is possible in an environment where social morality is highly resonant with personal moral identity. Martin Luther King, Jr. changed history by creating moral solidarity about the evil of racism and the good of nonviolent resistance to it. The “Dream” speech appealed to black and white Americans alike with its vivid emotional imagery of shared values worthy of commitment and sacrifice. Dr. King knew that rational and legal approaches to racism, certainly necessary to effect permanent change, would do little to engage a moral passion for racial justice. Leaders may not always be involved in highly visible or noble causes, but they have the power to nurture a passion for goodness in everyday life. Millions of people who go to work every day would welcome a leader who taps into their personal moral passion and connects that passion to the meaning and value of their work. What happens when managers, directors, supervisors, and CEOs decide to be that kind of leader? Do you know a leader who inspires you? If not, what would happen if there were such a leader where you work? Could you be that leader? Even the most responsible and honorable individuals may find moral discernment difficult in an increasingly complex and pluralistic world. It can be even more difficult for groups of people and organizations to achieve a meaningful sense of moral solidarity. Fearful of appearing partisan or alienating stakeholders, leaders may reduce expressions of moral sentiment to benign abstractions. From the corporate boardroom to the global political stage, there are almost daily examples of moral confusion and paralysis impeding leadership at every level. When leaders hesitate to speak confidently in a single, authoritative “corporate” voice, they risk alienating stakeholders who expect their own values and interests to be shared by their leaders. When leaders do speak boldly of their values, they risk alienating stakeholders who do not share certain values or wish to keep personal values and corporate image distinctively separate. As Joseph Badaracco observes, Positions of power carry complicated responsibilities. On some occasions, these responsibilities conflict with each other. At other times, they conflict with . . . personal values. All of these responsibilities, personal and professional, have strong moral claims, but often there is no way . . . to meet every claim. These are not the ethical issues of right and wrong that we learn about as children. They are conflicts of “right versus right.” SOURCE: Joseph Badaracco, Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose Between Right and Right (Harvard University Press, 1997) While morality is clearly expected of leaders, there is no absolute formula to determine how a leader should function in the moral domain. What does it mean to be a moral leader? What kind of morality is involved in leadership? Are there moral absolutes shared by every value system? If so, what are they? As you begin to explore these questions, consider the following hypothetical moral dilemma. 15 MORAL CHALLENGE SCENARIO PHARMX* John Reeder was jubilant as he read the first few paragraphs of the clinical trials summary of the new “brainbooster” drug, OxyT7B. For hundreds of patients with severe memory loss and cognitive impairment, BrainBooster restored both memory and cognitive functioning to normal levels within weeks after starting the drug regime. The data and case study analysis were even more dramatic than anticipated from earlier R & D studies. John also knew that there were problems with the drug after patients were on it for longer than two years. Skimming through to the section on negative effects he stared at the stark conclusions. All of the patients who tried the BrainBooster were either dead or in a vegetative state within five years after starting on the OxyT7B treatment. Most of them started to deteriorate after about 30 months on the drug and treatment terminated shortly thereafter. John stretched back in his chair and closed his eyes. As CEO of PharmX and producer of OxyT7B, he reflected on the dilemma of the BrainBooster. The clinical research staff insisted that the drug needed refining with new trials that would take several years. The marketing folks insisted, just as vehemently, that the public had a right to make to choose whether to take a drug that offered such a contradictory set of promises: Short term restoration of normal life followed by a certain plunge into darkness or death. The buzz about this new drug could also mean huge profits for PharmX and its stockholders. John desperately wanted to do the right thing – bring a good product to the market and grow the business. How would you describe John’s leadership role as a moral trust? What specific moral challenges are facing John? 16 Leadership involves a process of critical reinvention. Whether John is a devout Mormon or an avowed secularist, there is no neatly predetermined solution that will resolve his moral challenge. As a leader, John will nevertheless be expected to chart a path through the messy moral terrain of conflicting claims, obligations, and values. He will need to earn the trust and confidence of a wide range of stakeholders. To do that, he must be able to imagine and articulate a compelling vision of possibilities accessible to the majority of those stakeholders. This kind of leadership is exercised through critical questioning of structures and practices that don?t work with an eye towards innovation and reinvention to create something that does work. In the process of critical reinvention, judgments are made about value and values. This is the work of leaders. If you examine the evolution of leadership theory, you will find a trend towards collaborative, responsive, and adaptive values. Although sometimes criticized as “soft,” the more open, flexible styles of leadership make rigorous demands on leaders. Rather than imposing personal values and vision on others, leaders are urged to listen, respond, serve, enable, and unleash the capabilities of others. This view of leadership aligns with the emergence of a knowledge-based, creative economy in which human capital creates value primarily through innovation and ideas rather than through processing of material products. Even in a “weightless economy” of high-value knowledge, however, people still need material goods; the value of those goods is increasingly found in innovative design features created through human imagination. Effective leaders understand their role in enhancing the power of human creativity; good ideas can come from anyone, not just the designated leaders. The process of “critical reinvention” is rooted in the multi-disciplinary approach to social theory developed during the last century by Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse, and others associated with the Frankfurt School. The “critical” approach to theory was taken from the Greek philosophical term, kritikos, to emphasize qualities of judgment and discernment. In contrast to positivist social theorists who sought only to describe social structures and phenomena, critical theorists endeavored not only to ground and evaluate social understanding in the concrete reality of people?s lives, but to advocate social change to promote human freedom. For the critical theorist, ideals of freedom and equality were inseparable from the concrete freedoms and opportunities accessible to ordinary human beings. This pragmatic approach may partly explain the enormous influence of critical theory in the United States, despite its Marxist origins. Ironically, it has been in schools of religion, theology, and education that critical theory was applied most rigorously during the past several decades. While critical theory is rarely discussed in business schools, derivative ideas are familiar to students of organizational behavior, leadership studies, management, and social ethics. Critical reinvention aptly describes the leadership process of applying critical theory to moral challenges by linking value with human values. First, it establishes human flourishing as a normative standard of value for moral judgment. Second, it defines human suffering and deprivation normatively as moral concerns. Third, it posits an alternative vision of reality based on the value of human potential and a liberating response to suffering and deprivation. Finally, it is transformative, insisting that values are measured in practice, not only in theory. Critically inventive leaders, therefore, do not see the world simply for what it is; they also see what it could be and work to actualize that potential. In a global economy where human capital is the driving currency of value, practicing critical reinvention enhances value creation. How would John put ?critical reinvention? to practice in the PharmX situation? 17 Can you think of a situation in which you were involved in critical reinvention? Describe some of the factors that led to critical reinvention. What was the result? Critical reinvention invites risk and uncertainty. Critical reinvention is about change; change invites risk and uncertainty. You are probably familiar with some of the change theories and perhaps even better acquainted with resistance to change. It is sometimes said that people don?t resist changes they choose – but they vehemently resist being forced to change. Leaders are constantly faced with conditions that demand change from others, but they cannot reinvent their organizations and businesses by themselves; they rely on others to implement changes. With human values as the moral lens, the key moral issue in situations of risk is the knowledgeable intention of those who are put at risk. Managers who put stakeholders at risk without their knowledge and consent may reap short-term profits at the price of long-term value. By engaging stakeholders transparently in decisions that incur risk, the power of their imagination and commitment can also be engaged to create solutions to minimize or offset risk. Consider the potential risks involved in John’s situation. How would you practice critical reinvention in managing the risks and uncertainties of the PharmX scenario? Can you identify some of the risks and uncertainties involved in the critical reinvention story you described earlier? How transparently did the change leaders engage stakeholders in managing the risks and uncertainties of change? 18 Leadership is an exercise of power. Sometimes people are uncomfortable thinking or talking about power. Modesty, humility, and fear are some of the reasons people have for failing to take responsibility for their own power; if you want to lead, you must take responsibility for your own power. Given the abundance of your resources, capabilities, and opportunities, it is very unlikely that you lack the power for some form of leadership. You might want to consider first, however, what power actually is and what it means to be powerful. For example, power is exercised in knowing, imagining, seeing, problem-solving, helping, and motivating as well as in the more conventional modes of specialized expertise, charismatic personality, or attractiveness. Power is not limited to positions or structures of authority; the impetus for critical reinvention and change can be located anywhere on the organizational chart. Good leaders can lead from any location. You also will find that power is everywhere and it flows in many directions. Effective leaders are able to recognize the dynamics of power and leverage its potential in creating value. What types of power can you identify in the PharmX scenario? Where is power located and how is it distributed? If you were John, how would you manage the power dynamics to lead a critical reinvention effort effectively? Think about an organization or group with which you are very familiar – perhaps your job, family, or club. Where is the power? Who are the leaders? How do they manage the power? What is your role in the power dynamic you just described? How is your power being exercised in this situation? What power do you have that is not being utilized? How do you feel about that? 19 THE POWER INVENTORY: Make a list of the powers you most value in yourself. Then make a note of how each of these powers is being exercised and valued through your work, family, friendships, and community. 20 Everyone leads. This turns power inside out and upside down, but it is an obvious conclusion drawn from the analysis of power in the past few pages. If leadership is an exercise of power – and if power is everywhere – then everyone leads at some point and in some circumstances. Even following can be a form of leadership. If you return for a moment to the discussion of critical reinvention and the observation that the impetus for critical reinvention can come from anywhere, then it is logical to conclude that leadership is more complex and pluralistic than is often thought. When people equate leadership with authority, they limit the power potential available to them. When people in authority assume they are the sum of all power, they are making a dangerous mistake by underestimating the power potential all around them. When leadership is shared collaboratively, it does not mean that everyone is leading equally all the time; it means that when someone is able to contribute an idea or get something done to move the critical reinvention process along, s/he is empowered to do it. In companies that have implemented this leadership approach by empowering every employee to make on-the-spot decisions to serve customers, maids and bellboys respond to the needs of hotel guests immediately even when it takes them outside their normal zone of work. Everyone understands that everyone?s job is totally about the hotel guest – not about the room or the elevator or the luggage. Everyone leads in delivering the company product of a perfect hotel stay for its guests. Take another look at the PharmX scenario. What would happen if every stakeholder exercised his/her full capacity for leadership? How could John orchestrate and capitalize on leadership by everyone? Take another look at the situation you described for yourself. What would happen if everyone were fully exercising his/her leadership potential? How does this compare with the way this organization actually functions? 21 Leadership involves judgments about value and values. Every action or inaction is derived from a choice about what to do or not do. Each choice, conscious or unconscious, is based on values that assign a value to each action or inaction. We are all making value judgments all the time about whether it is worth our time and effort to do things. Many of these judgments are made automatically without reflection. As we observed earlier, however, our actions are our values. People often cite their good intentions, but is not credible to claim good intentions when actions repeatedly demonstrate consequences that undermine the Good. Actions speak louder than intentions. A person who continues a pattern of choices that results in bad consequences is demonstrating judgment that bad consequences are less important than whatever benefit may also derive from those choices. The same logic applies to decisions that result in a failure to do good. Failing to exercise power for the Good is a choice when it becomes a pattern of behavior. What are value judgments? Every time you do or think “Good/Bad” or “Right/Wrong,” you are making a value judgment. The skill of judgment is developed by examining the basis for your judgments – an exercise of critical reinvention applied to yourself. The power of judgment carries with it the responsibility for ensuring that your judgments are based on correct information, sound reasoning, and good will. You will reflect more about moral reasoning and jud
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