Moral Intelligence free essay sample

Your moral compass consists of moral intelligence, the ability to know the right thing to do, and moral competence, having the ability to do the right thing. In the heart of this book Lennick points out that there are four principle values to maintaining a balanced moral compass: integrity, responsibility, compassion, and forgiveness. This book successfully instructs leaders on the importance of being in tuned with their moral compass and what the positive and negative aspects of following or not following it are. After reading this book one could determine that these lessons can be applied not only to ones professional life but also to their personal life as well. This book does not just portray the thoughts and ideas of one person. Lennick and his co-author, Fred Kiel, performed extensive research on the topics of management and leadership before writing this book. They interviewed executives and top leaders of highly successful companies to test their theories of the importance to having a balanced moral compass. We will write a custom essay sample on Moral Intelligence or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Interviewees discussed what negative effects occurred not only to their companies but also to the morale of the employees when they did not follow their moral compass. John Simmons (pseudonym) realized his moral compass was misaligned when he was confronted by his fellow business partners regarding his rigid behavior at a meeting. After much reflection he determined why he was treating those that were for his ideas as if they were his enemies. This is a great representation of how everyone needs to take time each day to ensure nothing is in the way of keeping their personal values, goals, and actions inline. The first of the four principles in the book is integrity. The best way to describe integrity is â€Å"truthfulness† to ones self and others. Integrity is â€Å"acting consistently with principles, values, and beliefs† and is the primary moral competency. Integrity does not only involve telling the truth, it also means standing up for what you believe in no matter what the consequence may be. If one does not have integrity then they probably lack moral competency as well. This book provides an excellent example of a company president who decided it was more important for her to be upfront and truthful with her managers instead of hoping for a turn around that would possibly never happen. Cindy Carlson, former president of Capital Professional Advisors, told her managers that the company was likely not to make it to its third year and she would not blame them if they left. Because she put her own job in jeopardy be telling the truth, all of her managers respected this and stayed. The manager’s trust in her also helped with receiving buy-in from the other employees. What better way for the authors to prove the importance of integrity than with a true success story. Lennick proved the topic of integrity best by stating that â€Å"[a]cting with integrity means that you accept the risks that come with taking a principled stand because the moral consequences of looking the other way are unacceptable. † This is such a powerful statement showing leaders that you have to fight for what you believe in; being submissive for something you know is morally wrong should not be an option. The buck stops here,† as President Harry Truman was famous for saying, represents the competency of responsibility. Lennick says that effective leaders take responsibility for their own choices, admit their mistakes, and embrace the responsibility of serving others. I agree with the authors that the middle managers struggle with this competence the most because they are stuck between being responsible for those that they lead and the need to follow the orders of those above them. Anyone who has ever been in this position knows this is true. If an upper manager does not take responsibility for his own actions the middle manager typically takes the blame. Leaders must be willing to take responsibility when things go wrong. Pushing the blame off on someone else is a morally incompetent action. I agree with Lennick that admitting your mistakes can help the company grow by showing that â€Å"we all make mistakes. † By taking the responsibility for their own actions, they are leading by example. Others will feel comfortable coming forward with a failure instead of trying to cover it up. Out of the chapter on responsibility, I agree most with Lennick’s thought that taking responsibility for the growth of their employees is the act of a morally intelligent leader. What better way to support the growth of a company than through retention. When you respect your employee’s and support their goals they are more motivated to do their best for the organization. The third principle in the book discusses compassion and forgiveness. I believe this principle is probably one of the hardest for managers to stay consistent with on a daily basis. Through examples in this book, the power that compassion holds is deeply demonstrated. Brian Heath is an executive who says that compassion is when we take others hopes and dreams seriously and do what we can to help them achieve them. Gary O’Hagan describes compassion as challenging others to do their best, believing in them, and providing the tools needed for their success. Both of these examples show what all leaders ultimate goal should be. With all the daily task and deadlines sometimes the idea of compassion is lost. A different approach to compassion is shown by CEO Charlie Zelle who says that holding others accountable for unacceptable behavior is the most compassionate thing a leader can do. He is exactly correct, how can a leader expect an employee to change if they are not made aware what they are doing is wrong. It seems like a dirty job at first, but in the end the employee will be thankful because this feedback will help them grow. Compassion is a skill all leaders should have which leads into forgiveness. It is a fact that forgiveness is a part of life that is done daily; whether it is thru self-forgiveness or the forgiveness of others mistakes. A powerful statement by the author on this concept is that â€Å"[i]t is important to accept responsibility for what you did and commit to do it better going forward. † This principle holds true not only in our professional lives, but also in our personally lives as well. Human nature does not allow us to be perfect, mistakes are only natural. The final principle is emotions. Our emotions either hinder or help lead the way to using our moral compass and being morally competent in a challenging situation. Lennicks advice is to learn how to conduct self-awareness on ourselves to get to our true emotions. In order to do this you must ask yourself a few questions: what am I thinking, what am I feeling, and what am I doing? In order to be an effective leader there must be a balance of emotions. By taking the time to have a little â€Å"self talk† before overreacting will help reveal thought out responses, not just anger or disappointment. If a leader is constantly an emotional rollercoaster employees do not know how to approach them. Often times the employee will distance themselves from this person instead of having to play the guessing game of how will they react today. It is not possible for a leader to be effective if this is occurring. In conclusion, I believe this is a highly effective book for any leader to read. The authors proved their points thru real life applications from top leaders who have experienced them. In business today moral intelligence is a guide for leaders to achieve success. This intelligence is set out by the four principles discussed in this book. These strong principles all overlap; it is hard to imagine having one without the other. A moral balance is achieved because our moral competencies are constantly working together. An effective leader does not make up their values as they go along; they listen to the inner compass that has already instilled within each of us. The book shows evidence that moral intelligence plays apart in business success. â€Å"If you pay attention to your own moral intelligence and encourage development of moral intelligence throughout your organization, you inspire the best efforts of everyone-and your performance will outpace your rivals’. † I believe this statement is a very impactful reasoning and summarizes the overall meaning of the book.