{"id":97,"date":"2014-05-19T18:31:02","date_gmt":"2014-05-19T18:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/?p=97"},"modified":"2014-05-19T18:31:02","modified_gmt":"2014-05-19T18:31:02","slug":"some-initial-thoughts-about-getting-to-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/some-initial-thoughts-about-getting-to-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Some initial thoughts about getting to better"},"content":{"rendered":"\tCOWBOY ETHICS et MOI\r\n\r\nJames Owen has written a couple of excellent books; but the one [1] that should be on everyone\u2019s desk, coffee table, workplace locker shelf, or other decision-making setting is Cowboy Ethics. He addresses some fundamental ethical issues in a direct and engaging way, and does so in a space that requires very little time to get through. One [1] thing that I like about his approach is his love of movies and there value in helping us see the moral dilemma and how we need to address the moment of critical choice. He starts his book with this question: Have you ever had a movie change your life? Many may not think so, but I do, although not the same movie(s) and not necessarily in the same way.\r\n\r\nFor me there are several movies that people (especially those who wish to consider themselves leaders) need to see. In no particular order, here they are:\r\n\u2022\tMargin Call (with Jeremy Irons & Kevin Spacey among others)\r\n\u2022\tMichael Clayton (George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Sam Pollock, Tilda Swinton)\r\n\u2022\tA Man For All Seasons (Paul Scofield)\r\n\u2022\tErin Brockovich (Julie Roberts, Albert Finney)\r\n\u2022\tThe Cardinal (Tom Tryon)\r\n\u2022\tWall Street I & II (Michael Douglas and others)\r\n\u2022\tThe Ides of March (George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ryan Gosling)\r\n\r\nThere are others I could mention as well, and in future conversations might well do that. My point here is simply to suggest that there is little validity in claiming one can\u2019t make moral choices because one doesn\u2019t have any real experience or previous opportunities to view others making good (or not so good) ethical decisions. Get these movies, watch these movies, think about these movies \u2013 and read Owen\u2019s book!!\r\n\r\nOf course it would also help if you have good recognition of a moral dilemma as well as significant understanding of how you reason through the moment of critical choice. When faced with an ethical challenge, at what stage (or level) of moral reasoning, do you most frequently (or comfortably) choose. For this I would encourage you to go to the Research section of this web-site and read the paper Have We Got the Cart Before the Horse.\r\n\fFor the moment let me simply say that when it comes to getting the world to better ethical decision-making I again concur with Owen.\r\n\tTo me, the fundamental problem is that we have confused rules with principles. Rules can always be bent, but principles cannot. So while bureaucratic rules may reinforce the ways we ought to behave, they are no substitute for personal principles. I believe that where human behaviour is concerned, any true, lasting change has to come from with within. So if we want to encourage better ethical practices…we need something that will touch the deepest part of us…in short, what we need is not more regulation, but more inspiration.\r\n\r\nWe need, in some variant or other, a commitment to what Owen calls The Code of the West. And we need it to start with each of us. Perhaps through our conversations we can help get the ball rolling more and more quickly. Maybe we need to buy some of these books and give them to those either running or elected to public office. Perhaps there are other leaders we know who could benefit from a quick refresher on getting to better choices. Hopefully we can have some conversations that will enhance or increase this journey to better…","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COWBOY ETHICS et MOI James Owen has written a couple of excellent books; but the one [1] that should be on everyone\u2019s desk, coffee table, workplace locker shelf, or other decision-making setting is Cowboy Ethics. He addresses some fundamental ethical issues in a direct and engaging way, and does so in a space that requires […]<\/a>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98,"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions\/98"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}