This week's post is a follow up to my writing from last time with you.
As a management consultant having worked and watched organizations for
many years, I've witnessed with interest (and sometimes with humor,)
the "faddish" like behavior around programs that organizations become
so involved with. Programs that, sadly, become loudly touted by top
management for a short moment in time but have little impact on the
growth, profitability or the over all well-being of the organization for the long term.
It's not that these programs, are in themselves wrong or that they
are bad programs, it's because there's no sustaining substance, heart
or commitment to them like there is to "making money." There's no deep
seeded implementation that will cause change that will integrate it's
self as part of the organizational culture.
There is no better example of this than the prevailing company "Value
Statements" or "Ethics/Value Principles" normally associated with
documents declaring the organizational mission and vision statements.
Most of these "value" statements are based on moral law, which is
defined as "an absolute principle defining the criteria of right
action (whether conceived as a divine ordinance or a truth of reason.)
The difficulty the world faces today is the last part of the
definition i.e. "truth of reason." I will explain in a moment.
So, if we have moral laws based on "truth of reason", why do we
continually have the Bernie Madoff's or the Harvey Weinstein's and
countless others who are icons of large industries and organizations
routinely committing unlawful and despicable acts of behavior. As a side
note, I think it ironically rich that an industry in Hollywood which
promotes unnatural sexuality and debauchery would lecture the world
while their "golden globes" are hanging out the front of their dresses
and #Metoo. But I digress.
The problem, it appears to me, is the loss of "truth" and the
replacement of "reason" with relativism or to say it in today's
vernacular, "what's good for you is good for you, and what's good for
me is good for me. Who's to say which one is right?"
As a consequence our world has fallen into no-mans land of tolerance,
acceptability and have missed the absolutes of truth. Today you can
tell a "little white lie", deal in shady (but not too bad) reporting on
your taxes, or company trip report. You can declare yourself as 63
different types of gender (google it ) and no one has the right to
judge. BTW, there is no such thing as 'transgender." You are X or Y.
That's it. All else is a cultural construct. But, again, I digress. People are
engaging in different kinds of behavior that was once considered
unacceptable and now excusing it with a new level of so called
"enlightenment."
One of the greatest diminishing qualities in leadership today is the
lack of courage i.e. to stand for what is right. Truly right.
Dennis Prager, author, talk show host, Jewish scholar who has been
called by the Los Angeles Times as “An amazingly gifted man and
moralist whose mission in life has been crystallized – ‘to get people
obsessed with what is right and wrong.’” He recently said that the
teaching of Ethics and Values without a solid soil to grow in is like
"cut flowers." The flowers look good in a vase of water for awhile,
but without sustained rich soil, they will soon wither and die.
He believes that the removal of God and the Bible (God's Word) is
the main reason for men and women to go their own
way into relativism. I agree with him. You who know me, know what I
stand for and how I have been criticized for it. I will continue to
stand with truth from God's word...not religion, not a church, but with
truth from the only Truth giver.
So what am I suggesting for you in this blog post? Glad you asked!
1. As a leader think about what you really believe in. But, beyond
that, where does that belief come from?
2. Have the courage to STAND for real truth.
3. Communicate what you believe and why. Not an "in-your face"
approach but an unyielding commitment. As a leader, you're people are
looking to you for clarification in a number of areas.
4. Make sure your ethics and values are grounded in RICH soil,
not some nebulous source or opinion.
These simple but deep considerations will make all the difference in
your values/principles communication.You, likely, will be criticized
but it will help crystalize your thinking in your head and heart and
it will help you to....Finish Well
