How do you teach personal ethics and values to young people?
If you are an experienced business person like me and someone who has crossed the line taking shortcuts in the corporate world, you volunteer your time and share your experiences.
Several weeks ago, I was invited by a local high school in the Minneapolis area to address about 125 National Honor Society students before classes commenced at 7:30 AM.
I found this body of very bright men and women quite attentive while they were sipping their coffee from the local Starbucks. How important is personal ethics in our lives?
The short answer is critical and vital to humans functioning each day.
Personal ethics comprises the morals, principles, and values that describe who we are, what we are all about, and what we stand for.
Telling a body of National Honor students that seventy percent of kids have cheated before and almost sixty percent rationalize/justify this as a means of getting ahead in the world certainly grabbed their attention.
It is unfortunate in today’s world that people of all ages think a way to get ahead or what they want is based on taking shortcuts.
The danger here of course is rationalizing and justifying a shortcut as no big deal. While it may seem innocent to you at first, a shortcut can easily be repeated and do others harm. That is a big deal.
What allows us to not act impulsively and discern between right and wrong?
The answer is our personal ethics. Our sense of decency, equality, righteousness, & desire to be fair all build a strong foundation and moral compass that stops poor conduct in it’s tracks.
Our personal ethics gives us the strength and fortitude to not selfishly put our own interests first. As I told these honor students: arrogance, greed, entitlement, and self-serving ways is a sure path to destruction on some level.
In the business world and in politics, we have unfortunately seen plenty of examples of individuals who have lost their moral compass and put their interests first. Their behavior harmed many including their own families.
The price for such behavior is high and rebuilding reputations can take a long time.
I wish these 125 National Honor students the very best of life and success.
One last thought on personal ethics: should someone ask you to do something that is counter-intuitive to who you are and what you stand for morals, principles, and value wise, seek out advice and help before succumbing to such pressure.
Nothing has to be done right away and hitting the pause button is sensible vs. crossing the line and paying a serious price for a bad decision. Always strive to do the right thing!
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