A HOLISTIC APPROACH

 I believe in the holistic approach. We are not an arm and a leg, but a complete human being. The whole person goes to work and the whole person comes home. We take family problems to work and work problems to the family. What happens when we take family problems to work? Our stress level goes up and productivity comes down. Similarly, work and social problems have an impact on every aspect of our lives. Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm.

 FACTORS THAT DETERMINE OUR ATTITUDE

 Are we born with attitudes or do we develop them as we mature? What are the factors that form our attitudes? If you have a negative outlook on life because of your environment, can you change your attitude? Most of our attitude is shaped during our formative years. There are primarily three factors that determine our attitude. They are:

 1. environment 

2. experience 

3. education 

These are called the triple Es of attitude. Let's evaluate each of the factors individually. 

DAVID AND GOLIATH

•  We all know the story of David and Goliath. There was a giant who was bullying and harassing the children in the village. One day, a 17-year-old shepherd boy came to visit his brothers and asked, "Why don't you stand up and fight the giant?" The brothers were terrified and they replied, "Don't you see he is too big to hit?" But David said, "No, he is not too big to hit, he is too big to miss." The rest is history. We all know what happened. David killed the giant with a sling. Same giant, different perception. 

Our attitude determines how we look at a setback. To a positive thinker, it can be a stepping stone to success. To a negative thinker, it can be a stumbling block. Great organizations are not measured by wages and working conditions, they are measured by feelings, attitudes and relationships. When employees say, "I can't do it," there are two possible meanings. Are they saying they don't know how to or they don't want to? If they don't know how to, that is a training issue. If they are saying they don't want to, it may be an attitude issue (they don't care) or a values issue (they believe they should not do it). 

ACRES OF DIAMONDS

There was a farmer in Africa who was happy and content. He was happy because he was content. He was content because he was happy. One day a wise man came to him and told him about the glory of diamonds and the power that goes along with them. The wise man said, "If you had a diamond the size of your thumb, you could have your own city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist, you could probably own your own country." And then he went away. That night the farmer couldn't sleep. He was unhappy and he was discontent. He was unhappy because he was discontent and discontent because he was unhappy.

 The next morning he made arrangements to sell off his farm, took care of his family and went in search of diamonds. He looked all over Africa and couldn't find any. He looked all through Europe and couldn't find any. When he got to Spain, he was emotionally, physically and financially broke. He got so disheartened that he threw himself into the Barcelona River and committed suicide.

 Back home, the person who had bought his farm was watering the camels at a stream that ran through the farm. Across the stream, the rays of the morning sun hit a stone and made it sparkle like a rainbow. He thought it would look good on the mantle piece. He picked up the stone and put it in the living room. That afternoon the wise man came and saw the stone sparkling. He asked, "Is Hafiz back?" The new owner said, "No, why do you ask?" The wise man said, "Because that is a diamond. I recognize one when I see one." The man said, no, that's just a stone I picked up from the stream. Come, I'll show you. There are many more." They went and picked some samples and sent them for analysis. Sure enough, the stones were diamonds. They found that the farm was indeed covered with acres and acres of diamonds.* 

What is the moral of this story?

 There are five morals:

 1. When our attitude is right, we realize that we are all walking on acres and acres of diamonds.Opportunity is always under our feet. We don't have to go anywhere. All we need to do is recognize it.

 2. The grass on the other side always looks greener. 

3. While we are dyeing the grass on the other side, there are others who are dyeing the grass on our side. They would be happy to trade places with us.

 4. When people don't know how to recognize opportunity, they complain of noise when it knocks.

 5. The same opportunity never knocks twice. The next one may be better or worse, but it is never the same one. 

YOUR ATTITUDE CONTRIBUTES TO SUCCESS

 A study attributed to Harvard University found that when a person gets a job, 85% of the time it is 
because of their attitude, and only 15% of the time because of how smart they are and how many 
facts and figures they know.
 Surprisingly, almost 100% of education dollars go to teach facts and 
figures which account for only 15% of success in work!

This book is all about that 85% of success.
 Attitude is the most important word in the English language. 
It applies to every sphere of life, including one's personal and professional life.
 Can an executive be a good executive without a good attitude?
 Can a student be a good student without a good attitude?
 Can a parent, teacher, salesman, employer, employee be good in their roles without a good attitude? The foundation of success regardless of your chosen field, is attitude.
 If attitude is such a critical factor in success, shouldn't you examine your attitude toward life and ask how your attitude will affect your goals? 

TOTAL QUALITY PEOPLE

TQP--TOTAL QUALITY PEOPLE 

Having been exposed to a number of training programs, such as customer service, selling skills, and strategic planning, I have come to the conclusion that all these are great programs with one major challenge: None of them works unless they have the right foundation, and the right foundation is TQP. What is TQP? TQP isTotal Quality People-people with character, integrity, good values, and a positive attitude. 

Don't get me wrong. You do need all the other programs, but they will only work when you have the right foundation, and the foundation is TQP. For example, some customer service programs teach participants to say "please," and "thank-you," give smiles and handshakes. But how long can a person keep on a fake smile if he does not have the desire to serve? Besides, people can see through him. And if the smile is not sincere, it is irritating. My point is, there has to be substance over form, not form over substance. Without a doubt, one does need to remember "please" and "thank-you," the smiles, etc.-they are very important. But keep in mind that they come a lot easier when accompanied by a desire to serve. Someone once approached Blaise Pascal, the famous French philosopher and said, "If I had your brains, I would be a better person." Pascal replied, "Be a better person and you will have my brains."

 The Calgary Tower stands at 190.8 meters. The total weight of the tower is 10,884 tons, of which 6,349 tons is below ground (approximately 60%). This shows that some of the greatest buildings have the strongest foundations. Just like a great building stands on a strong foundation, so does success. And the foundation of success is attitude. 

IMPORTANCE OF ATTITUDE

Building a positive attitude

•  There was a man who made a living selling balloons at a fair. He had all colors of balloons, including red, yellow, blue, and green. Whenever business was slow, he would release a helium-filled balloon into the air and when the children saw it go up, they all wanted to buy one. They would come up to him, buy a balloon, and his sales would go up again. He continued this process all day. One day, he felt someone tugging at his jacket. He turned around and saw a little boy who asked, "If you release a black balloon, would that also fly?" Moved by the boy's concern, the man replied with empathy, "Son, it is not the color of the balloon, it is what is inside that makes it go up."

 The same thing applies to our lives. It is what is inside that counts. The thing inside of us that makes us go up is our attitude.

Have you ever wondered why some individuals, organizations, or countries are more successful than others? 

It is not a secret. These people simply think and act more effectively. They have learned how to do so by investing in the most valuable asset--people. I believe that the success of an individual, organization or country, depends on the quality of their people. 

I have spoken to executives in major corporations all over the world and asked one question: "If you had a magic wand and there was one thing you would want changed, that would give you a cutting edge in the marketplace resulting in increased productivity and profits, what would that be?" The answer was unanimous. They all said that if people had better attitudes, they'd be better team players, and it'd cut down waste, improve loyalty and, in general, make their company a great place to work. 

William James of Harvard University said, "The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind." 

Experience has shown that human resources is the most valuable asset of any business. It is more valuable than capital or equipment. Unfortunately, it is also the most wasted. People can be your biggest asset or your biggest liability. 

ETHICS IN BUSINESS

Ethics or lack of it is evident in every profession. Greedy doctors do unnecessary procedures and surgery. Lawyers bend the truth. Parents and children alike tell white lies. Accountants and secretaries often falsify reports. 

When we cheat the people around us, most of all we are cheating ourselves. We are preparing ourselves to be cheated. Prosperity brings responsibility. We cannot build industry and infrastructure while destroying the moral and social fiber.

 The consequences of not following ethical behavior are the same as not following legal behavior. Some people will never be ethical. They think they are taking the easy way. In reality it is the tougher way. Could you face yourself if you didn't do the right thing for your client? Could you brag to your kids and be proud and feel good? If you can't, then that behavior is unethical.

 A sense of humor and pride in oneself keep a person on course.

 VISION 

Why don't people achieve excellence? The big reason is the lack of vision or limited vision. We need to dream beyond what is possible. Everything that we see today was a dream before it became reality. Live with enthusiasm, direction and with a sense of purpose. Do you have a dream? What is your dream? Every day that you live, are you getting closer to your purpose? Get your advice from successful people and not from living failures who will tell you how to succeed.

 Where the vision is one year, cultivate flowers. Where the vision is ten years, cultivate trees. Where the vision is eternity, cultivate people.

                                                                               ----Oriental saying 

Remember, winners don't do different things, they do things differently!

HOW HIGH ARE OUR ETHICAL STANDARDS? & WHAT AFFECTS ETHICS?

 HOW HIGH ARE OUR ETHICAL STANDARDS?

 What would you do in the following situations? 

1. You know the taxi fare from your home to the airport is $64. You have paid it before, you know it is the correct fare. This time the taxi driver asks for $32. What would you do? 

2. You are dining in a restaurant and you ordered four dishes and the waiter brought all four but by mistake, billed you for only three. What would you do? 

3. Your best friend is terminally ill and you are a life assurance salesman. They needed $100,000 worth of insurance. No one knows and no one can find out that your friend is dying. Would you write the policy?

 You cannot legislate ethics. What advice would you give to your children under the same circumstances? Is your behavior conforming with the advice you would give your children in the same situation? We start learning ethics right after birth and all through our lives. Can we change ethical behavior? Yes, we need ethical training. 

WHAT AFFECTS ETHICS?

•  Greed
•  Fear
•  Pressure

Pressure to perform does not justify unethical acts. To be treated fairly is not the same thing as being treated equally. 

WHAT IS GOODNESS?

 If we took a survey, asking people one question, "Are you good?" most people would respond, "Yes!" Ask them, "What makes you good?" Responses will be:

• I don't cheat so I'm good.
•  I don't lie so that makes me good.
•  I don't steal, so I'm good. 

If you analyze the above rationales, there is not much substance in them. Just think of the person who says, "I don't cheat." Well, that only means that he is not a cheat. And the persons who say they don't lie and steal, only mean that they are not liars and thieves. But that doesn't make them good. A person becomes good when he actually does good rather than not doing wrong. A person of values would be one who has qualities such as fairness, compassion, courage, integrity, empathy, humility, loyalty and courtesy. What makes a person with these qualities good person? It is because these are the kind of people who are dependable, stand up for justice, help the needy, make life better for themselves and those around them. To recognize goodness in all its forms, we need benchmarks and standards. Benchmarks can be ethical, or legal, or both. Ethical ones deal with right and wrong and all the gray areas that are in between leading to what is good and more good and what is bad and more bad. 

OLD VALUES ARE NOT OBSOLETE

 Values such as responsibility, integrity, commitment, and patriotism are considered old by some. These may be old values but they are certainly not obsolete. They have stood the test of time and will be here forever. These values have the same meaning in New York as in New Delhi or New Zealand. They are universal. I don't know of any time or culture in history which does not respect these values. 

VALUES ARE AT AN ALL-TIME
 LOW In any society, basic immorality and injustice lead to despair. The greedy and inconsiderate who seek immoral pleasures must be stopped by those committed with values. We have strayed in the process of change. 
Any society that has lost its moral bearing is heading for disaster because all failures in history have been moral failures.
 More than half a century ago, America was in the middle of a wrenching depression. One-third of our nation's wealth vanished in a matter of months. Manufacturing declined 77%. One-fourth of the labor force was left idle. Many cities could not afford to keep schools open. Twenty percent of New York schoolchildren were malnourished. At one point, 34 million men, women, and children were without any income at all. 
Yet in the depths of that hardship, with its soup kitchens, bank closings, and hunger, Franklin Roosevelt could tell the nation in a radio address, "Our difficulties, thank God, concern only material things."* 

CHANGING VALUES--TODAY'S VALUES

 Change is inevitable. Whether we like it or not, it is going to be there. We have had enough of the "me" generation and situational ethics which have led to the loss of strong communities. There is sadness for getting caught rather than remorse for having done wrong.* 

A survey of high school principals in 1958 asked this question: What are the main problems among your students? The answer was:

 1. Not doing homework.
 2. Not respecting property--for example, throwing books. 
3. Leaving lights on and doors and windows open.
 4. Throwing spitballs in class.
 5. Running through the halls. 

The same survey question was asked 30 years (one generation) later, in 1988. The answers were startlingly different. Here are the main problems of today's high school students: 

1. Abortion 
2. AIDS 
3. Rape 
4. Drugs 
5. Fear of violent death, murder, guns, and knives in school 

Try not to be a man of success but rather try to be a man of value.
--Albert Einstein 

WINNERS LEAVE A LEGACY

Great people leave something behind. Winners recognize that no one can make it alone. Even though champions get the medals, they realize that there are many people behind their success, without whom it would not have been possible. Their teachers, parents, coaches, fans, and mentors. One can never fully repay those who have helped winners. The only way to show a little gratitude is by helping those who are following. The following poem says it all.

   THE BRIDGE BUILDER

 An old man, going a lone highway, 

Came, at the evening, cold and gray, 

To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,

 Through which was flowing a sullen tide. 

The old man crossed in the twilight dim;

 The sullen stream had no fears for him; 

But he turned, when safe on the other side, 

And built a bridge to span the tide. 

"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim, near,

 "You are wasting strength with building here; 

Your journey will end with the ending day; 

You never again must pass this way; 

You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide-

Why build you the bridge at the eventide?" 

The builder lifted his old gray head: 

"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said, 

"There followeth after me today 

A youth, whose feet must pass this way.

 This chasm, that has been naught to me, 

To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be. 

He, too, must cross in the twilight dim; Good friend, I am building the bridge for him. "

                             --Will Allen Dromgoole 

Socrates taught Plato; Plato taught Aristotle; Aristotle taught Alexander the Great. Knowledge, had it not been passed along, would have died. 

Our greatest responsibility is to pass on a legacy that the coming generations can be proud of. 

WINNERS ARE GRACIOUS

Remember, winners are gracious. They never brag about themselves, they respect and appreciate their team members and opponents. Many people know how to be successful . Very few know how to handle success. And there is always something about success that displeases some other people. 

BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS

 We conduct a three-day seminar titled "Blueprint for Success" nationally  for organizations in-house and open public programs. This is based on the philosophy "Winners don't do different things, they do things differently." This philosophy came as a counter to the belief "Winning is not everything, it is the only thing." This latter philosophy leads me to question the integrity of people who believe it to be true. It gives a distorted meaning to the words "killer instinct." If you ask a person on the street, "What is the meaning of killer instinct," most responses would be, "You have to win by hook or by crook." That is not killer instinct, that is pure dishonesty. To a good sportsman, killer instinct means: 

1. You don't put in 100% but you put in 200%. 

2. To win, we must cash in on our opponent's mistake. Not cashing in on an opponent's mistake is a mistake. However, playing foul to win is not killer instinct, it is outright dishonesty. Unfair winning may give temporary success but certainly not fulfillment. 

The reality is that life is a competition and we have to compete. In fact, competition makes competitive people grow. The objective is to win, no question--but to win fairly, squarely, decently and by the rules. 

WINNING IS AN EVENT; BEING A WINNER IS A SPIRIT

 Three people ran a marathon besides hundreds of others. The medal was won by a fourth person. But does that mean that these three people were losers? Not at all. They all went into the race with different objectives. The first one went in to test his endurance and he did and came out better than his expectations. The second wanted to improve on his previous performance, and he did. The third person had never run a marathon in his life. His objective was to complete the race and reach the finish line and he did. What does that tell us? All three with different objectives met them and they were all winners, regardless of who won the medal. 

As Mark Twain said, it is better to deserve an honor and not have it than to have it and not deserve it. Because dignity is not in possessing but deserving.

 If winning is the only objective, a person may miss out on the internal rewards that come with winning. More important than winning is winning with honor and deserving to have won. It is better to lose honorably than to succeed with dishonesty. Losing honorably may signify lack of preparation but dishonest winning signifies lack of character. 

The real test of a person's character is what he would or would not do if he knew he would never be found out. It is not worth compromising one's integrity and taking shortcuts to win. You may win a trophy but knowing the truth you can never be a happy person. More important than winning a trophy is being a good human being.

 Winners live and work every day as if it were the last day. Because one of these days it is going to be the last and we don't know which one it is going to be. When they leave, they leave as winners. 

There are some defeats more triumphant than victories. 

--Michael de Montaigne 

WINNING VERSUS WINNERS

 What is the difference between winning and being a winner? Winning is an event. Being a winner is a spirit. Winners have kept winning in perspective based on their value system. 

THREE INSPIRATIONAL WINNERS 

1. Olympics is a lifetime event. Lawrence Lemieux stopped racing in a yacht race to help a fellow competitor who was in trouble. The whole world was watching. His priority of safety for other people's lives was greater than his desire to win. Even though he did not win the race, he was a winner. He was honored by kings and queens all over the world because he kept the spirit of the Olympics alive.

 2. I heard the story about Reuben Gonzales when he was in the final match of the racquetball tournament. This was an important event and he was playing for the world title. In the final game at match point, Gonzales played a super shot to save point. The referee and the linesman both confirmed that the shot was good and he was declared the winner. But Gonzales, after a little pause and hesitation, turned back to shake his opponent's hand and said, "The shot was faulty." As a result, he lost the serve and eventually, lost the match.

 Everyone was stunned. Who could imagine that a player with everything officially in his favor, with winning in his pocket, would disqualify himself and lose. When asked why he did it, Gonzales replied, "It was the only thing to do in order to maintain my integrity." He lost the match, yet he was a winner. 

3. A group of salespeople left town for a meeting and told their families they would be back home Friday evening for supper. But as with meetings the way they are, one thing leads to another and they didn't finish on time. They were delayed and had to catch a flight. They came to the airport just at the last minute, with tickets in hand, and ran, hoping the plane hadn't departed. While running, one of them hit a table and on the table was a fruit basket. All the fruit got scattered and bruised but they didn't have time to stop. They kept running and made it to the plane and all of them breathed a sigh of relief that they had made it, except one. He got in touch with his feelings, got up, said good-bye to his friends and went. What he saw made him glad that he came out. He went to the table that was knocked down and behind the table was a ten-yearold blind girl who was selling the fruits to make a living. He said, "I hope we haven't ruined your day." He pulled out $10 from his pocket, handed it to her and said, "This will take care of the fruits," and he left. The girl couldn't see what was going on; all she could hear was the footsteps leaving. As the footsteps faded away, she shouted from behind, "Are you God?" He missed his flight but was he a winner? You bet. 

One can be a winner without a medal and one can be a loser with a medal if winning is not kept in perspective. 

LIVING WITH A PURPOSE

All of us are put on this planet for a purpose. We are part of a big picture. But very few people discover their purpose in life. Most of us just exist and keep counting our days rather than making our days count.
 Dr. Albert Einstein was once asked, "Why are we here?" He replied, "If the universe is an accident, we are accidents. But if there is meaning in the universe, there is meaning in us also." And he added, "The more I study physics, the more I am drawn towards metaphysics."

 I would rather fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed than succeed in a cause that would ultimately fail.
 --Wood row Wilson 

WHERE DO WE LEARN OUR VALUES FROM?
 I recently read the story of a high-school values clarification class conducted by a teacher in Teaneck, New Jersey. A girl in the class had found a purse containing $1,000 and returned it to its owner. The teacher asked for the class's reaction. Every single one of her fellow students concluded the girl had been foolish. Most of the students contended that if someone was careless, they should be punished. When the teacher was asked what he said to the students, he responded, "Well, of course, I didn't say anything. If I come from the position of what is right and what is wrong, then I'm not their counselor. I can't impose my views."*
 If we do not learn values from our parents and teachers, who do we learn them from? And when they don't teach us values, we pick them up by default from television and other such undesirable sources. No wonder society gets messed up. The teacher such as in the example above is not only irresponsible with distorted values but does not deserve to be teaching our kids. 

PURPOSE OF LIFE

 There are many kinds of desire. Desire for success, desire to do one's duty even at the cost of pleasure. Desire for purpose. Something worth dying for which gives meaning to life.

 What good is it if you gain the whole world and lose your conscience? 

A purposeless life is a living death. What is your purpose? Do you have one? Purpose brings passion. Find or create a purpose and then pursue it with passion and perseverance. 

Every day we need to ask ourselves the question: "Am I getting any closer to my purpose in life? Am I making this a better place to live?" If the answer is no, then I have just wasted a day of my life. Life will reward us in proportion to our contribution. 

The earlier we find a purpose in life, the better it is. It appears that the greatest challenge comes in the unending search for the purpose of life. Not only as an individual but for our families, organizations and country. Once our purpose and values are clear, conflicts between self-interest and social obligations find a moral balance between themselves. We become aware of when to take a stand. That is the time we start making the right decisions for long-term gain rather than making the wrong decisions for short-term gain. Wisdom and maturity lead to greater understanding of major issues. 

Study as if you were to live forever. 

Live as if you were to die tomorrow.          

 --Mahatma Gandhi 

We cannot help ourselves without helping others.

 We cannot enrich our lives without enriching others. 

We cannot prosper without bringing prosperity to others. 

--Nanette Cole, Spellman College

 Janette Cole once said, "Show me a person who is content with mediocrity and I will show you a person destined for failure." Life is not a spectator sport. We cannot sit back and watch things happen. We need to find a purpose in order to make life meaningful and then strive to achieve that purpose.

ETHICS AND LEGALITY

  Most will agree that legality and ethics are not the same thing. What may be ethical may or may not be legal and vice versa.

 For example: 

1. An insurance salesperson more concerned with getting a larger commission as opposed to selling the most suitable policy sells the wrong kind of policy to a prospective client. This may be legal but unethical. 

2. A young executive is driving over the speed limit, trying to reach the hospital with his bleeding child in the back seat of his car. Hardly anyone would question the ethics of breaking the law in this situation. It would be unethical not to get medical help to save the kid's life, even if it meant breaking the law.

 Legality establishes minimum standards, whereas ethics and values go beyond those standards. 

Ethics and values are about fairness and justice. 

It is not about pleasing or displeasing people.

 It is about respecting people's needs and rights. 

Ethics & Justice

Ethics and justice involve the following:

• Empathy 
• Fairness 
• Compassion for the injured The larger interest of society

Just because more people agree on something doesn't make it right. For example, if ten perverts agree on a sadistic act to hurt an innocent, does that make it right? No. Just like the laws of gravity, ethics are pretty universal. Just as freedom without discipline leads to destruction, similarly, society without a set of principles destroys itself. If values were so subjective, no criminals should be in jail.

  Why have a police force? A society becomes good or bad, based on the ethical values of individuals. And what gives society its strength is ethical values.

 Some people enjoy taking drugs--it makes them feel good. Does that make it good? People who believe in the theory of relativity, actually get stuck in their own paradox. They say, "Everything is relative." That is the absolute truth. It is self-contradictory. The distinction between right and wrong, dishonesty and honesty presupposes their existence. Changing terminology does not change the meaning. Just like changing the labels does not change the contents. People are changing moral values by giving new names and it is glamorized by the media. Liars are called extroverts with an imagination.

 When Michael Severn, the president of Columbia University resigned in 1993, a reporter asked him if there was any task left incomplete. "Yes," replied Govern. "It sounds complacent, but there is really only one." He referred to the lack of instructions in ethics.... The average undergraduate, however, gets no training in these areas. Most educators are afraid to touch the subject. Ethics are usually left to be addressed by parents. The result is that in this country young people who need moral and ethical training more than ever are getting less than ever. Morals and ethics are not a religion. They are logical, sensible principles of good conduct that we need for a peaceful society. 

SITUATIONAL ETHICS

 Those who believe that ethics cannot be generalized but vary with every situation, come up with justification and keep changing their ethics from situation to situation, and person to person. This is called situational ethics. This is ethics of conveniences rather than conviction. 

BENCHMARKS

 Why do we have standards? They are a measure. One meter in Europe is one meter in Asia. One kilogram of flour is one kilogram of flour wherever you go. People who do not want to adhere to any moral standards keep changing the definition of morality by saying nothing is right or wrong, your thinking makes it so. They put the onus on interpretation rather than on their behavior. They feel "my behavior is OK, your interpretation was messed up." 

For example, Hitler could have believed he was right. But the big question is, "Was he right?" Giving money to the hungry for food is right but at the same time giving money to buy drugs is not right.

 The generalization sets the benchmark, the exception is the situation. For example, murder is wrong. That is a general statement and a generalized truth and ethical standard. Unless it is in self-defense. This doesn't say that it is OK to murder if the weather is good or if you feel like it.

 A person's interests, other than his job, tells much about him. The way a person spends his leisure time reflects on his performance at work. A drug addict if running short of money would be more likely to embezzle than a person who is not an addict. Our standard of ethics is revealed by the advisors we hire, the suppliers we pick, and the buyers we deal with. 

Opinions may vary from culture to culture. But values such as fairness, justice, integrity and commitment are universal and eternal. They have nothing to do with culture. Never has there been a time when society has not respected courage over cowardice. 

ETHICS

 Bad circumstances are not excuses for making bad choices and leading poor lives. Values and ethics are not just designed for good times, but also to prevent bad times. They are like the laws of the land which you need when people are good and you need even more to protect them from the bad.

 Most choices are not ethical choices. For example, what clothes to buy or what TV to get are personal choices based on what is more appropriate. They are not ethical choices. For some people the right choice may be Panasonic instead of Sony for affordability. Personal choices are subjective, not objective, and even though these are not ethical issues they certainly involve responsibility.

 Ethical choices reflect objectivity between right and wrong. That is why our conscience hurts when making an unethical choice and does not hurt when making a wrong personal choice. Choices are personal because the person makes it, but the rightness or wrongness does not change from person to person. Just like in a math test, who takes it and what answer they give varies from person to person, but what makes it right is not the choice, but the independence of the correct answer. 

Of course, ethical choices are not always like making choices in math, just like being a nice person is not the same thing as being a good and ethical person. A person could be socially nice yet be a cheat and a liar. That makes him nice yet unethical. Niceness reflects social acceptability. Nice does not mean good.

 In fact, most of our choices today are based on: 

1. Our desire for convenience, comfort, and pleasure. 

2. Our feeling--do what feels good, it is good for you. The criteria is to feel good rather than doing what is responsible. 

3. Social fads and ads--everyone else is doing it, so should I.

 It is a common belief that ethics and ethical choices are confusing. The big question is to who? Only to those with unclear values.