Rushworth Kidder would say ethical fitness
is like physical fit
ness.
“You have t
o work on it
all the time
so that it be
comes a way of
life—it is ref
lected in your integrity and your leadership. A mature
sense of eth
ics is one of
the most dominant of all leadership
characterist
ics.”
Kidder is the
author of
How Good Pe
ople Make Tough Choices:
Resolving th
e Dilemmas
of Ethical Living
(Firesid
e, 1996). His
book explores ethica
l dilemmas in the home, school, and
workplace.
In an age of
high-speed
change and
voluminous (yet incomplete)
information, Kidder says the toughest
decision
s always have
ethical components. “T
he difference between talking about
ethics
and acting e
thically is
summed up in
two words: moral courage.”
Moral courage is neede
d to make tough choice
s that aren’t a
bout right vs. wrong. The toughest
ethical dilemmas revolve
around questions of
rig
ht vs. right
. In these sit
uations, two
deeply
held values,
“rights,” are
pitted again
st each othe
r and apparently cannot both be satisfied.
Based on st
udy of thousands of real
ethical dilemmas, Kidder presents fo
ur ethical d
ilemma
paradigm pairs:
•
Truth vs. loyalty
•
Individual vs. community
•
Short-term
vs. long-term
•
Justice
vs. m
ercy
Consistently, in every walk of lif
e–corporat
e, professional,
personal, civic, international,
educational,
religious—t
he toughest
decision
s ar
e those that
pit one “right
” value against
another “rig
ht.” Consid
er this brief
list of “right a
nd right” dile
mmas offere
d by Kidder:
•
It is right to prov
ide our
children
with the finest
public schools
available–an
d right to pr
event the co
nsta
nt up
ward ratc
heting
of state a
nd local taxe
s.
•
It is right to exte
nd equ
al social serv
ices to ev
eryone rega
rdle
ss
of race o
r ethnic origin–and right to pa
y special
attention
to
thos
e whos
e cultural bac
kground
s ma
y ha
ve depriv
ed them of
past op
portu
nities.
•
It is right to bench the star college q
uarte
rbac
k c
aught drin
king
the night b
efore the c
hampionship game–and rig
ht to field th
e
best po
ssibl
e team for
tomorro
w’s g
ame.
•
It is right to r
esist the importa
tion of p
roduc
ts mad
e in
dev
eloping
nations
to th
e detrimen
t of the e
nvironment–a
nd
right to prov
ide jobs, e
ven at lo
w wages, for citize
ns of tho
se
nations.
•
It is right to find out all
you can abo
ut your comp
etitor
‘s co
sts
and price s
tructur
es–an
d right to obta
in informatio
n only
throug
h pro
per chan
nel
s.
•
It is right to prote
ct the e
ndange
red s
potted o
wl in the old-
gro
wth
fore
sts of the Am
erican North
west–and ri
ght to pr
ov
ide
jobs for logg
ers.
Frequently, more than one pair of rig
hts must be considered.
But as Kidder points out
, “merely
to analyze a dilemma – e
ven to fit it into the above paradigms – is not to re
solve it. Resolution
requires us t
o choose w
hich side
is t
he nearest right for the circumstances, and that r
equires
some principles for decision-making
.” The decision-making principle
s do not give the solution.
They merel
y provide three framework
s to approach the particu
lar ethical
dilemma being
addressed.
He outlines
three such p
rinciple
s:
•
Ends-b
ased –
Do whateve
r pro
duces the greate
st go
od for the
greate
st num
ber.
•
Rule-based –
Follow only the prin
cipl
e that you want
everyone el
se
to follow.
•
Care
-ba
sed –
Do unto othe
rs what you would like the
m to do to yo
u.
The need fo
r moral courage in ethical decision
making is important in all aspects of
our personal
and business lives. Rushworth Kidder conclude
d a keynote address to a
council
of n
onprofit
organization
s with this
statement:
“It ma
y not surprise
you to learn tha
t there really
is
no such thi
ng
as ‘nonpro
fit ethics.’ Neither is ther
e an
y such thing as ‘medical
ethics,’ or ‘business e
thics,’ or ‘le
gal
ethics,’ or ‘journalism ethics.’
There is onl
y ethics…Don’t be un
der
an
y illusion t
hat somehow
one
can be une
thical in personal financia
l matters bu
t ethical as th
e
manager of a nonprofit. Don’t be und
er an
y illusio
n that a corporate
execu
tiv
e can be a cad in
family
matters but a par
agon of v
irtue at
work…Ther
e is no div
idin
g up ethics i
nto compa
rtments
: Ther
e’s
only
ethics.”
And, the toughest ethica
l choice
s go
od people make involve ethical dilemmas of right vs. right.