Friday 4 June 2010

Turning values into virtues

One of my favourite writers and authors is Thomas L. Friedman. His 14th May 2010 blog A Question From Lydia raised my awareness for two reasons. Firstly Thomas is in Greece and the question from Lydia he saw on a burnt down facade of Marfin Bank In what kind of a world will I grow up? Lydia, age 10.

And secondly this paragraph:

So more and more of us are behaving by, what Seidman calls, “situational values”: I do whatever the situation allows. Think Goldman Sachs or BP. The opposite of situational values, argues Seidman, are “sustainable values”: values that inspire in us behaviors that literally sustain our relationships with one another, with our communities, with our institutions, and with our forests, oceans and climate. Of course, to counter this epidemic of situational thinking, we need more and better regulations, but we also need more people behaving better. Regulations only tell you what you can or can’t do in certain situations. Sustainable values inspire you to do what you should do in every situation.

The Seidman Thomas Friedman refers to is Dov Seidman, the C.E.O. of LRN who help companies build ethical cultures. Please read the full Friedman blog here.

Sustainable values are for me virtues i.e. lived values, and turning values on the wall into virtues that are lived in the hall is one of the ways that I help individuals and organisations. See my story on video here.



Compelling stories without spin (see previous post) and turning values into virtues are two of what I believe are the 8 critical factors for success in modern business.

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Please download my ebook about the 8 critical factors here.

Please join me in Manchester on July 7th for a one day summit on the 8 critical factors.
Details here.

To invite me to conduct such a summit for your organisations please visit here.

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