You May Be Ethically Intelligent, If…
Jeff Foxworthy popularized the redneck joke construct. I use that construct in my newest book. Here is an excerpt that provides some clues given to us by the ancients, including especially Confucius, about ethical intelligence.
Humaneness [ethical intelligence] has been translated as Ren. The word Ren is used over 100 times in the Analects. Over the millennia, scholars, using contextual analytic methods, have interpreted Ren to include the following:
- Altruism
- Benevolence
- Compassion
- Empathy
- Faithfulness
- Kindness
- Love
- Righteousness
- Trustworthiness
- Truthfulness
- Wisdom
These are character traits of ethically intelligent people, all of which can be learned through leadership skills development. Using the redneck joke construct, I offer the following statements.
- You may be ethically intelligent…if you’re kind and always tell the truth.
- You may be ethically intelligent…if you keep your promises, even if it costs a lot more than you anticipated.
- You may be ethically intelligent…if you give your trash haulers a cold drink on a scorching summer day.
- You may be ethically intelligent…if you anonymously pay a single mom’s check as she treats her three kids to a meal in a nice restaurant.
- You may be ethically intelligent…if you encourage someone every day.
- You may be ethically intelligent…if you pick up a piece of trash in the parking lot even if it’s not your trash.
- You may be ethically intelligent…if you take full responsibility for a missed delivery date even though the late delivery resulted from one of your team member’s mistakes.
- You may be ethically intelligent…if you never say, “It’s not my fault!
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I hope you see a lot of yourself in these traits and statements. Begin the journey towards an ethically intelligent life today through our leadership skills development services and organizational network analysis. Let’s get started today!
