Moral Intelligence : Enhancing Business Performance and Leadership Success

by Lennick, Doug; Kiel, Fred Ph.D.

• ISBN13: 9780131490505
• ISBN10: 0131490508
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-05-03
• Publisher: Pearson Prentice Hall

Summary

Through a combination of research, and original thought leadership, the authors demonstrate how the best performing companies have leaders who actively apply moral values to achieve enduring personal and organizational success. These individuals exhibit moral intelligence: a strong moral compass and the ability to follow it, even in a world that may reward bad behaviour in the short run. Lennick and Kiel reveal how dozens of companies benefit from the moral intelligence of their leaders. The authors help you build the specific moral competencies leaders need: integrity, responsibility, compassion, forgiveness, and more. They offer detailed guidance on being a moral leader in large organizations and entrepreneurial ventures, as well as a step-by-step plan for strengthening moral skills wherever you are.

Author Biography

Doug Lennick led 14,000 professionals and support teams at American Express Financial Advisors to unparalleled success. Today, in addition to his work as managing partner of the Lennick Aberman Group, he continues to work directly with American Express Company's CEO, retaining the title of EVP and focusing on workforce culture and performance. He is known worldwide for his expertise in driving business results by improving managers' emotional competence.

Fred Kiel, Ph.D., co-founder of KRW International, Inc., brings over 30 years of experience to his work with Fortune 500 CEOs and senior executives on building organizational effectiveness through leadership excellence and aligning organization with mission. Kiel is often called the "father of executive coaching" for his pioneering work in this field. Before founding KRW, Kiel worked with senior executives in private practice, developing a rigorous data-gathering and customizeddevelopment process designed to provide executives with transformative feedback.

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Table of Contents

Foreword	xxiii
Introduction	xxxi
PART ONE MORAL INTELLIGENCE
Good Business	3	(16)
Born to Be Moral	19	(18)
What the Best Leaders Believe	20	(1)
A Visit to the Nursery	21	(1)
Nature Versus Nurture	22	(1)
Growing Up Moral	23	(1)
Learning to Be Responsible	23	(1)
When Things Go Wrong	24	(1)
Inside Your (Moral) Brain	25	(1)
It's All in Your Head	26	(3)
The Moral Map of Your Brain	29	(1)
Why We're Good and Why We're Bad	30	(1)
So What Went Wrong?	31	(2)
Moral Software	33	(4)
Your Moral Compass	37	(26)
Embracing Universal Principles	41	(2)
Discovering Your Values	43	(2)
The Morality of Values	45	(4)
Beliefs	49	(2)
Identifying Your Beliefs	51	(2)
Goals	53	(4)
Why Leaders Love Goals	57	(1)
Your Goals	58	(1)
Put It in Writing	58	(1)
Behavior	59	(4)
Staying True to Your Moral Compass	63	(16)
PART TWO DEVELOPING MORAL SKILLS
Integrity	79	(14)
Acting Consistently with Principles, Values, and Beliefs	80	(2)
Telling the Truth	82	(5)
Standing Up for What Is Right	87	(2)
Keeping Promises	89	(4)
Responsibility	93	(12)
Taking Responsibility for Personal Choices	95	(2)
Admitting Mistakes and Failures	97	(3)
Embracing Responsibility for Serving Others	100	(5)
Compassion and Forgiveness	105	(10)
Actively Caring About Others	106	(3)
Letting Go of Your Own Mistakes	109	(3)
Letting Go of Others' Mistakes	112	(3)
Emotions	115	(26)
Self-Awareness	117	(2)
Understanding Your Thoughts	119	(2)
Personal Effectiveness	121	(1)
Deciding What to Think	121	(2)
Self-Control	123	(1)
Nurturing Emotional Health	123	(4)
Interpersonal Effectiveness	127	(1)
Empathy	128	(1)
Misplaced Compassion	129	(3)
Respecting Others	132	(3)
Getting Along With Others	135	(6)
PART THREE MORAL LEADERSHIP
The Moral Leader	141	(16)
Leading Large Organizations	157	(28)
The Fabric of Values	157	(2)
Is There Such a Thing as a Morally Intelligent Organization?	159	(1)
The Morally Intelligent Organization---An Aerial View	160	(1)
Morally Intelligent Policies	161	(2)
The Principles that Matter Most	163	(1)
Organizational Integrity	163	(3)
The Responsible Organization	166	(7)
The Compassionate Organization	173	(3)
The Forgiving Organization	176	(2)
Recruiting for Values	178	(1)
Reinforcing Values Starts at the Top	179	(1)
The Power of Formal Rewards	180	(2)
Success Stories	182	(1)
Ideal Versus Real	183	(1)
Values and the Global Organization	183	(2)
Moral Intelligence for the Entrepreneur	185	(22)
Moral Values in Small Organizations	190	(14)
Last Words About Business Start-Ups	204	(3)
Epilogue Becoming a Global Moral Leader	207	(8)
Raising the Stakes	208	(1)
Watch Your Wake	209	(1)
Give Back	210	(1)
Create the Future	211	(1)
A Global Business Opportunity	212	(2)
Conclusion	214	(1)
Appendix A Strengthening Your Moral Skills	215	(12)
A Look in the Mirror	216	(1)
Using the MCI	217	(1)
The Right Frame of Mind for Completing the MCI	217	(1)
Scoring and Interpreting Your MCI	217	(1)
Prioritizing Your Moral Development Efforts	218	(1)
The Road Less Traveled	219	(1)
The 80/20 Rule	219	(1)
Your Moral Development Plan	220	(2)
Putting Your Moral Development Plan into Practice	222	(1)
Breaking Bad Habits	223	(1)
Reward Yourself for Positive Change	223	(1)
Surround Yourself with Positive People	224	(1)
Do I Really Need to Change?	224	(1)
Books, Audio, and Video Media	225	(1)
Workshops	226	(1)
Personal Counseling	226	(1)
Executive Coaching	226	(1)
Appendix B Moral Competency Inventory (MCI)	227	(8)
Appendix C Scoring the MCI	235	(6)
Moral Competencies Worksheet	238	(1)
What Your Total MCI Score Means	238	(3)
Appendix D Interpreting Your MCI Scores	241	(8)
Total MCI Score (Alignment Score)	242	(1)
Highest and Lowest Competency Scores	243	(1)
Individual Item Scores	243	(1)
Reality Testing	244	(1)
Do Your Scores Matter?	245	(1)
Now What?	246	(3)
Index	249

Excerpts

Foreword Foreword Building a Better Culture There are few issues with more significant impact on life in and out of organizations today than that of moral action. Crusades and jihads are moral righteousness taken to harmful and even evil extents--hurting others and demanding homogeneity of beliefs. The moral righteousness involved in trying to fix, save, or punish others has led to some of the most horrible episodes in human existence. Beyond the tragic loss of life, there is the subjugation of the human spirit. There is the loss of dreams and possibilities--the loss of spirit. Ironically, this travesty of moral imperialism comes at the same time as people worldwide are voicing the need for more spirituality and religion. Most of us know right from wrong. In hundreds of studies of the characteristics that differentiate outstanding from average leaders from their less effective counterparts (both average and poor performers), integrity has never appeared to distinguish high performers. Is this evidence of a morally bankrupt system? No. It is that the moments of "out-tegrity" are so egregious and shocking that we become preoccupied with them. In the process, we miss the many tests of our morality and humanity that we face each day. For example, deciding how to promote a product or service is enacted in the context of one's values and an organizational culture that encourages consistency with a set of shared beliefs and norms. The essential challenge of moral intelligence is not knowing right from wrong, but doing versus knowing. There are people who are suffering from mental illness and a small percentage of the population that are psychopaths or sociopaths. All of these people may not "know" right from wrong. But most of us are not in that category. So why don't we act appropriately more often? Most of us do--most of the time. Of the hundreds of decisions we make each day, most of us consider what is "right," what will be better and help our community, organization, and fellow humans. But we don't always agree on what is right. Values and Operating Philosophy This is where values and philosophy come into play. Our values are based on beliefs and determine our attitudes. A value typically includes an evaluation (i.e., good or bad designation) of an object or subject. Sets of values form proscriptions and prescriptions (i.e., statements of whatnotto do and whatto do) that guide our daily life. Values also affect how we interpret and perceive things and events around us. But decades of research on values have shown little correlation to behavior. 1 To understand people's actions, we have to look behind specific values to uncover how an individual determines value. This can be called a person's "operating philosophy." Research into typical operating philosophies has resulted in a test that allows us to measure a person's relative dominance among three different ways to determine the value of a act, a project, a decision, how to spend your time, and so forth. 2 Our philosophy is thewaywe determine values. For example, a consultant lists "family" as a dominant value, but still spends five days a week away from his wife and two children, traveling for his job. He says he's enacting his value by providing enough money for his family's needs. By contrast, a manufacturing manager who also lists "family" as his dominant value has turned down promotions so he can have dinner each night with his wife and children. The difference between those two men might be in how aware they are of their true values, how aligned their actions are with those values, or in the way t