By Douglas Ross
Meghan, the one year old, hit her older sister Maya on the head. Maya screamed and Meghan looked around to see if she was in trouble. A day earlier my friend, with three young children, was terminated. The manager never even looked around to see if he was in trouble.
People in business are encouraged to do the right thing while professionals encourage those who have lost their way, to do the next right thing. The question is what is the right thing to do?
Meghan’s father was able to speak for the child. He said that Meghan knew it was wrong to hit. Even at one year old, she had a conscience that helps her discern right from wrong. As he reprimanded her, he explained that it was his responsibility to never allow her to lie to herself about the blameworthiness of her actions.
Unfortunately, no one can speak for the manager who terminated my friend. My friend said that told me he did the right thing and when asked, he told others what he thought the right thing to do was. He complied with the chaotic and never ending wrong things to do until one day he realized that the company and all its people were floundering.
He told his boss that the systems in the company were broken. His boss misinterpreted the conversation to mean that he could no longer be counted on. He mused “My boss thinks that by removing people like me, the problem will be removed. He is right in one way; no one will mention the problem again. However, you don’t have to look much beyond the bottom line to see the fallacy in that thinking.”
My friend has a conscience.Meghan has a conscience. Both knew the next right thing to do. My friend got fired while Meghan was reprimanded.
Meghan’s father continued. “Life is very simple. For every action there is a reaction. Your conscience guides your actions.” People without conscience rationalize their actions to themselves and to others. They become rudderless in a sea of their own justification of blame and denial.
“Maya, my eldest daughter knows it was wrong to hit. If I don’t help Meghan learn what Maya knows to be true, eventually Maya also would lose faith in her conscience. Then I would have two lost children, each blaming the other and each denying their role in the situation"
He concluded “Denial of the responsibility of developing conscience in my children will mean major problems for my family. We have small actions now with small reactions. Tomorrow the actions and reactions grow in significance.”
My terminated friend continued. “Life is simple but we make it complex. Have you ever noticed how busy everyone is –there is no time for anything. Our minds are going too fast. Even if we see the right thing to do, it is lost in a flux of a million competing priorities.”
He thought for a second and said “Some of our leaders don’t model the right thing to do anymore. I think many of them don’t even know what the right thing is. They do know that they are accountable for the bottom line and they believe it is okay to do whatever it takes.”
“They are not bad people,” he reasoned “They simply can’t see the problems they are creating for themselves and for others. They have lost their conscience because they do not believe that doing the right thing will bring the reward they are accountable for."
"Even in the face of overwhelming evidence and popular opinion that doing the right thing works, they still cling to the rationalization that the real world requires them to deny their conscience.” he concluded.
I thought of Meghan’s father. If he didn’t help Maya to trust her conscience, then she would lose the ability to know the right thing to do and he would lose the integrity of his family unit. The organization my friend was in, I thought, lost him a long time ago and if my friend is right, they will lose even more in the future.
We have forgotten the power of our conscience. We deny our conscience because we think there isn’t time. But there is time to do things right! In fact, all we have is time. There are lessons to be learned and great things to do.You can see that just by looking around and seeing all the good in what has been done.
Do the right thing. It is right in front of you. Then, do the next right thing. Your conscience will help you see it. It is like a lesson that never goes away until it is solved. You do have time to do things right.
Want to learn more? Visit my web site at www.principledynamics.com or email me. I want to speak to you about integrity and how it can help you and all of us.
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