Integrity and Moral Courage in an Environmental Context

Integrity and moral courage is something we discuss in the textbooks and seek to realize in our lives when handling sensitive issues. Unfortunately, its very existence is defined against the backdrop of difficult discussions that few else would have the courage to undertake. Whether discussing corporations or governments, creating environments that protect those who engage in helpful actions for the betterment of society is important for building a nation bent on improvement.

People with integrity  understand the difference between right and wrong before they can think about mustering the courage to tackle major ethical dilemmas. It is the internal code built upon ingrained values that makes it possible for a person to discriminate between those actions that are moral and those that are immoral. If one doesn’t understand the difference there is no moral dilemma for them to deal with.

Knowing that there is a moral issue at hand is based on the way the person interprets information and maintains their integrity. Moral principles are important for the understanding of information and the potential hazards associated with unethical activities. It is absolutely necessary for building stronger societies to expose and tackle problems.

In any situation where unethical or illegal activity is discovered and one must choose one path over another there is going to be stress. Stress comes from the processing of information and understanding the consequences of certain irreversible actions. Any step that changes a person’s course of history is of grave concern.

If one makes a decision to protect the greater good of society and one’s integrity over the needs of job security and personal gain is made, the consequences can be dire. Organizations don’t often assume liability for illegal activities and generally seek to minimize damage, skirt the spirit of laws, and use their powerful connections to influence outcomes of cases.

Taking action can be a life altering event as each side seeks to minimize damage and find the faults of others to mitigate responsibility. Moral courage occurs when one acts with integrity and is willing to accept the consequences of protecting the company, its products, and their own personal integrity; sometimes from themselves.

An open and progressive environment will determine whether or not this moral courage can be realized in any particular entity. The right environment encourages open lines of communication through protections, investigations, correcting misjudgments, and listening to issues before reacting. Blowing the whistle is not an easy process and relies on more than simple belief systems to realize and act. Environments that do not react appropriately will find themselves with less integrity as new expectations become culturally engrained.

Fishing the Global Market for Higher Returns

Pools of motivated customers exist in the market and companies that can find them are able to tap their customer pools to create higher returns on marketing investment. Access to new customers rests in market research and treaties that open these markets for revenue generation.

Market research allows a company to determine who is most likely interested in their product and where they can find them. A thorough research approach should also include the types of media needed to reach your target market. In the international environment this can take significant time but can improve performance. 

Certain customers will be interested in your products/services more than others. Knowing who they are makes the entire sales process easier as they come to the company “hot”. An organizational will then need to know how to reach them and the marketing mediums that have the highest rates of return. 

Treaties help ensure that trade can actually be conducted. If there is no treaty it may be unlawful or expensive to conduct business in certain countries. Solidly designed treaties provide American companies’ access to new customers but also protect the products/services companies offer. 

Fishing the global market requires a willing partner in government along with intensive market research. Business pushes for expansion of reach and government opens the door. Knowing where the hungriest fish are and having the boat to get there is great but then using the right bait and hook can lure them into biting.  Fishing trips should start with a little research.

Managing for Others or Managing for Yourself

Managing is an art form that relied heavily on critical thinking and communication skills to keep large groups of people working toward the same goals. Stronger managers focus on the development of their teams to meet market needs. People who can manage for others versus themselves is a great asset any organization. Managers who can meet performance goals and do so in a way that creates a better department should be in high demand. 

It is in our natural best interest to manage for ourselves and this can make it a difficult competing ideology against managing for others. When someone becomes aware they should manager for others they have done so against the backdrop of years of learning, insight and reflection.  People who create these conclusions have thought about what is important.

They must also be able to step above their biological and emotional needs to take a higher road in workplace decisions. When choices are required they look to promote the group over themselves. This can be difficult if someone is still struggling with unresolved issues.  We see this over and over again among people in leadership positions making self-interested decisions. 

Consider how one manager will take the credit for work by their subordinates while another will give credit where credit is due. The first still has overpowering needs to feel important, competent, secure and liked. They are willing to break social norms and trust in order to get the next promotion or raise.  The latter person has resolved their issues and can step above them to create greater trust with their team.

Hiring managers is more than meeting metrics. Even though meeting is important it is also necessary to continue to meet them over and over in a sustainable way. If a manager brings his/her team to a higher level of performance and solidifies their trust they can keep the performance at a higher level for longer periods. Poor managers will only hit the target for a short period of time until subordinate’s motivation decreases.  Building a team, keeping people engaged and motivating them to a purpose is the ultimate purposes of “management”.

Balancing Your Budget and Developing Long-Term Savings

There are many things to buy and in today’s consumer culture it is more difficult than ever to say “NO”. Learning to live within your means and save for the future is a discipline you can learn over time to create financial security. Putting effort into changing habits makes a big difference in how successful you will be in creating a savings plan.

Balancing your budget is as much about habit as it is about planning. Learning where to find deals on products, understanding value, and making better choices takes time to ingrain as a way of thinking. Start small and slowly move toward higher levels of spending discipline.  You can still get what you want but should learn the best use of your money.

You will have to give up the idea of spending as a type of wealth. If you are truly wealthy you can spend on lots of things you enjoy; but they do it with cash. Wealthy people don’t normally just waste money and have a keen sense of value. Spending all your disposable income and maxing out your credit cards has nothing to do with wealth.

Make a differentiation between what you need and what you want. There are differences as paying for your needs food, shelter, clothing, car, etc. are your baseline. This is where you can live a reasonable life without extras. What you want is everything else you spend on top of your baseline.

Spending choices are an extension of how you see yourself. If your self-perception is trendy you will buy the latest and greatest products that are popular on t.v. or you may gravitate toward sports and sport products. Getting your ego under control can go a long way in helping you save money. Ask yourself if this is really something you need?

There are two hurdles to saving money that include your habits and your self-perception. Changing both can lead to better fiscal choices and higher levels of financial security. Start small and make little changes until you start creating a cushion in monthly income.  Make a habit of putting that money away for long-term savings so that market rates can help you to your goals. Over time these choices will add up to serious cash in your bank account.

The Politics of Language-Personality and Expression

Language impacts just about everything our lives that range from our perspective on life all the way to how we react to new information. The book Symbol, Status and Personality by S.I. Hyakawan provides insight into the nature of language and how it influences our personality and our effectiveness in getting the things we want out of life. 

No one exists in isolation. We are cultural creatures that are part of a long line of ancestors, cultures, symbols, values, and people. In childhood we engrain people’s values and beliefs into our own. A few adults learn that these values and opinions are not always correct and can master them.  

Words also have emotions and images attached to them. In politics we use words to stir people to action on certain events. Creating the image, using certain types of words, and giving people an outlet for their concerns is a primary political activity. 

Within any conversation there are lots of needs, goals, objectives, and perceptions being shared.  Language is goal directed. It determines how we relate to others and create influence others. Politicians and entertainers have learned a higher skill of language used to gain influence and prestige.

As we develop as a person language becomes more subjective as our own grounded personality takes precedence. We are able to use that personality to step away from language and culture to see the similarities and differences between people’s communication patterns.  

It is important to understand that language is subjective and based upon the symbols a person uses and how they construct the view of their world. This view is deeply anchored to their early development as a person and is difficult to stand over and in judgement of one’s own language. As one masters this skill, they are better able of “controlling their tongue” and critically think about political rhetoric around them.  

Hayakawa, S.I. (1953). Symbol, Status and Personality. U.S: Wittenboar, Shultz Inc.,  

Innovation in San Diego Creates Investment Opportunities

2014 has come and gone, but the benefits of a growth year are likely to carry on for some time in San Diego. According to Connect, a non-profit group that supports innovation, they counted 446 technology and life science start-ups in 2014 up from 426 companies in 2013 (1). Of these firms, Bio-tech got 62% of the $805 million investment capital dollars while software and medical devices got a third and fourth place in total investment influx.

What does this say about San Diego? It says that San Diego has a budding bio-tech and software industry that should be supported by city policies, higher education, corporate training, and international promotion. Encouraging investment funds to find receptive companies seeking those investments for expansions puts money where it has the quickest and most efficient economic contribution.

The Economic contribution comes from using the investment money to expand operations, hire new people, and create additional contractual deals that grow not only the parent business but also smaller suppliers. Money invested into one company makes its way to other firms and the overall tax base of the city.

It is important for decision makers to look at their growing industries and find a connection between what their local competencies and resources offer to determine places to generate higher levels of investment growth. Making sure that the public is aware of these investments through various mediums that reach motivated investment entities helps in speeding up this growth process.

Economic expansion comes with the development of better city policies that further the growth of the area and better capitalizes on its local resources. Biotechnology and technology have significant international interest and is a field that is expected to grow in the future. Local military stakeholders may strengthen this industry, but the global market will determine the innovative value of its outputs. Getting companies and government to focus in the same area can mean higher levels of synergy.

Understanding Differences as a Sign of Intelligent and Scientific Thinking

The ability to understand differences between similar objects has always been a sign of intelligence. Science itself is based on the idea of investigating the differences and similarities of objects to create a full picture of a phenomenon. When done well, we can create hypotheses, models and theories that help to explain and predict our environment. Our adaptation and full development as a person is based on recognizing and appreciating differences.

Simplicity and definiteness make for great followers but hardly constitutes leadership. Intelligent people look deeper at issues to see if they can find differences or similarities that help them understand and create working models to use in other places. Persons who lack the will to put forward effort, or the faculty of intelligence, to understand complex ideas jump to quick conclusions.

The issue of categorization is a significant problem. Broad categories are simple and easy to use. Examples of simplicity include discrimination, racism, bigotry, etc. that cannot differentiate between members of a general category. They are not able to understand that sometimes the general category doesn’t represent anything but what is going on in the perceivers head.

Intelligent people rarely say, “All people are like this….” or “Those people all do this….). Then have the insight and intellectual faculty to see differences between people and events by looking beyond the obvious. They are not easily fooled into believing false information or opinion without some proof to back up the claims. They are societies intellectuals and thinkers.

Maslow and Rogers described the fully functioning person as extensional. Rogers wrote in his paper Towards a Theory of Creativity, “The creative person, instead of perceiving in predetermined categories is aware of the existential moment as it is, and therefore he is alive to many experiences that fall outside the usual categories (As cited in Hayakawa, 1958, pp. 62).”

In essence, intelligent people are more scientific in their thoughts and avoid putting items into quick heuristic categories. They think about differences, view the multiple ways in which a thing or event can be categorized, and then are open to the possibility they are wrong. Beliefs and rules are adjustable based upon new information.

Such people are aware that the world around them is not so simple, and they become accustomed to ambiguity and using their cognitive fluidity to adjust their understandings. As a fully developed individual, they can use science as an enhancement to discriminate among different elements in their environment while understanding that scientific findings are always in flux. What we believe today may be different than what we think tomorrow.

The next time you are SURE you know something…..consider re-evaluating the facts from a different perspective. Jumping to conclusions is almost never beneficial as simplicity of thought limits what we see in any particular situation.

Hayakawa, S. (1958) Symbol, Status and Personality. pp. 62 New York:HBJ