Tip for the day: To enhance integrity, think about consequences of your actions.
“The man of character, sensitive to the meaning of what he is doing, will know how to discover the ethical paths in the maze of possible behavior.” -Chief Justice Judge Earl Warren
Decisions Shape Our Destiny
We are becoming a sound bite society in which words are like the music of the Pied Piper. Rather than take the responsibility for making a decision, we allow ourselves to be seduced by tantalizing phrases, quick twists of the tongue, concepts that appeal to the ear rather than to reflective reason. And who can blame us? We are not taught decision-making as a skill. We are taught to pass tests and qualifying exams, but we are not taught to make decisions, to think critically.
Decisions shape our destiny. Nonetheless few professionals, parents, or even lovers are trained to make a thoughtful decision. If you talk to decision-makers across the globe, you will find perhaps three camps of decision-making: More…
Logical thinkers: those with graphs and charts, who review and evaluate past decisions
Intuitive thinkers: those with a basic instinct that is almost always right on target
Passive-aggressive non-deciders: those who hope their need for a decision will just go away. To avoid their responsibility or fend off a confrontation, they will hide behind any excuse, but the social mask most often is “too busy.”
We applaud leaders and heroes who deliver Madison Avenue hype. Johnny Cocheran was a case in point. He summed up the evidence in one of the most expensive trials in history, not by reiterating the facts in this case, but with a dramatic display backed by the words: “If the glove don’t fit, you must acquit.”
Today our presidential elections are waged as a war of words created with a clever media spin that may or may not contain the truth. We listen, and we accept rather than challenge. We throw up our hands and say, “What difference does it make anyway?” In presidential elections, it makes a big difference in terms of the social fabric of society, foreign policy, and economic well-being.
We applaud leaders and heroes who deliver Madison Avenue hype. Johnny Cocheran was a case in point. He summed up the evidence in one of the most expensive trials in history, not by reiterating the facts in this case, but with a dramatic display backed by the words: “If the glove don’t fit, you must acquit.”
Today our presidential elections are waged as a war of words created with a clever media spin that may or may not contain the truth. We listen, and we accept rather than challenge. We throw up our hands and say, “What difference does it make anyway?” In presidential elections, it makes a big difference in terms of the social fabric of society, foreign policy, and economic well-being.
Within our personal lives our decisions affect our integrity, our values, our self-esteem and those we love. We owe it to ourselves to make decisions thoughtully and to convey our decisions with truth, trust, understanding — and when necessary, with a bit of humility.
Copyright 2007 Watson