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In my last newsletter, I suggested that the current assault on core ethical values and even basic human decency by the Trump administration has caused me to reflect on the basics of ethics and the moral life. I find strength in that reflection because I know most Americans genuinely seek to live a moral life, no matter how imperfectly, and no matter how much their values are currently being misled and betrayed by their leaders. I am dedicating three newsletters to the essentials of ethics: how to make an ethical decision, how we shape our moral character, and how we all can help create an ethical culture in the organizations and communities in which we live and work. How to make ethical decisions was addressed in my last newsletter (see here). Today’s newsletter focuses on how we shape our own moral character. The third will be sent to you on October 16. I confessed in my last newsletter that these three themes are the core of what I have taught for 50+ years—in every course and lecture I have given. As some readers noted, the ethical decision making process I described in the last newsletter is dependent on the content of one’s ethical values—what rights and duties one actually respects, what an individual considers “fair” and decent treatment of others, and what one is willing to trade off in pursuing an overriding goal. It also depends on the strength of one’s commitment to live by moral values and make ethical decisions consistently. This is the stuff of moral character. When I have addressed moral character in class or in a lecture, I make the point that one’s moral character depends on three things: The values you adopt and the influences that shape those values The discipline and skill you use to apply those values to the roles you play and the decisions you make in daily life The strength of character you develop through your habits and discipline each day
We may have an innate sense of fairness and cooperation (scientists are still debating this) but for most of us, our values are shaped by the families we grow up in, the religious and civic communities we participate in, and a group of close friends we emulate. But our values are not all learned “in kindergarten,” we are influenced by values we encounter in college and beyond, in businesses and other organizations we work in, and in the popular culture. We also embrace values lived by heroes we admire and by our experiences of what values actually “work” in our lives. Our values are always in formation—until the day we die. We are strongly influenced by the values of our friends, and it is a reality that the values of even close friends can be very different from our own. Some see the world as a zero-sum game in which anyone else’s success diminishes theirs. Some believe everyone should take responsibility for themselves and that charity and even basic empathy are misplaced. And some believe disrespect for anyone who disagrees with them is fair game. The second step is putting our chosen values to work in our daily lives. Each of us embraces or is handed a variety of roles in life: as a spouse, as a parent, as a child and caregiver of an aging parent, as a supervisor of other employees, as a teacher or mentor. Deepening one’s moral character requires thoughtfully applying our values to each of the roles we play. I have obligations to my spouse and children, but how far do these responsibilities go, and what do I do when they conflict? Over time, one builds an understanding of the “unavoidable ethical dilemmas” in each role they play. In fact, I believe one of the key elements of moral character is having a good intellectual map of the dilemmas I will inevitably face as a parent, as a teacher, or a supervisor, and how each should be resolved. Some of those unavoidable dilemmas will be easy—fidelity to a partner, caring for the safety of a child. But I often have had to balance how to treat each child equally when their needs were different, or when to bend the rules for a student facing a genuine personal crisis. There is a moral learning curve when we take on any new role in life—as a first-time parent, a first-time supervisor, a manager in a corporate function you have not worked in before. When I was about to teach my first class at Stanford, a thoughtful dean took me aside and we discussed the ethical dilemmas I would face, different than those I had faced in corporate or nonprofit life. His coaching was essential to my good moral performance in my first couple of years of teaching. If we are reflective and thoughtful, we get better at ethical choices because our moral map of each role we play gets more sophisticated. The third element of moral character is the consistency and courage with which one puts their values to work in each of their roles. We are always tempted by laziness or expediency to take the easier road, to make the ethical choice that is more convenient and less costly to us personally. Only by deliberate reflection and consistent practice can we shape a moral character that is faithful to one’s values. Neurologists have learned much about the force of habit in recent decades; those lessons help us shape our moral habits. Deliberately creating a habit of acting ethically is essential to one’s moral character. Those habits serve us when we are at a low energy moment (tempting us to do the expedient or pleasurable thing) and when it is truly costly to do the right thing (requiring significant acts of moral courage). When doing the right thing is a habit, it is often said that one acts out of “duty.” My experience is that those with a strong sense of duty have the strongest moral character. But I also advised my students to put aside enough money in a “drop dead” fund that they could more easily resign from a job if pressured to do something unethical! The dynamic element of moral character was emphasized by Steve Johnson, a long-time colleague and character education expert at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. He said your moral character today, plus your experiences and decisions today, will produce your character tomorrow. We are always learning new things about the ethical demands of our roles in life and are always strengthening or weakening our resolve to live by our ethical commitments. There is one other dimension of moral character which I consider of critical importance. We each live in multiple moral environments, each with a slightly different set of moral values. One company may have a strong ethical culture (the topic for next time), and another may expect its employees to cut whatever ethical corners are necessary to increase profits. One college may be deeply committed to student welfare while another considers students an inconvenience to the important work of research. Even our churches represent different moral cultures, one welcoming all comers and the other dedicated to separating out those who question any belief. Many of the most difficult ethical dilemmas, those that truly shape moral character, occur when an individual must confront an environment incompatible with his or her own values. As I wrote in a recent newsletter (see here), this is why I respect the moral courage of the increasing number of individuals in government, in education, and the media, and even in the military who are speaking out at this moment in our national life.
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