 Letter from
the PresidentDear colleagues,
If you are a long-time subscriber to Momentum, you’ll
notice there’s been a change! After discovering
another organization of the same name in the U.K., The
Propeller Group, Inc. has become Karlin Sloan &
Company.
I’m excited to introduce you to our new website,
www.karlinsloan.com,
which houses some requested changes from you, our readers.
Check out our “frequently asked questions”
page, and thank you for your great ideas.
The theme of this issue is something important to all
of us as we work in a corporate setting; ethical decision-making.
It is our firm belief that it’s possible to make
ethical decisions in a profit-driven environment, and
for organizations to contribute powerfully to the good
of the community at large through those decisions.
Best regards,
Karlin Sloan
Quotations
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It
does.” -William James
“That you may retain your self-respect, it is
better to displease the people by doing what you know
is right, than to temporarily please them by doing what
you know is wrong. -William J. H. Boetcker
“The one thing that doesn't abide by majority
rule is a person's conscience.” – Harper
Lee
“Know what’s right. Value what’s right.
Do what’s right.” – Texas Instruments
ethics statement
“If it is not right do not do it; if it is not
true do not say it.” – Marcus Aurelius
“The battles that count aren't the ones for gold
medals. The struggles within yourself—the invisible,
inevitable battles inside all of us—that's where
it's at.” - Jesse Owens
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What Maslow Missed
Abraham
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (introduced in the
late 1960’s) is a famous model for human development.
At the base of the triangle is survival at the physical
level (food, water). The next step is safety –
(shelter, comfort), then comes love, esteem and finally
at the top is “self-actualization.” Self-actualizing
meant that people were "fully functional"
and possessing a "healthy personality". It
also meant the people on this level thought and acted
purely on their own volition, rather than conforming
to social norms, and also operated with a sense of “justice”.
Maslow believed that people are born good, and that
they are driven by needs at each level. Ethics are determined
by our place in the hierarchy. If we need food, we are
not yet capable of focusing our attention to our self-esteem,
we must address the immediate need for survival first.
Maslow believed that people do not lie, cheat, or steal
for the joy of it, but because there is an unmet need
driving that behavior.
What’s missing from Maslow’s model is something
he conceived of later in his career, after the dissemination
of his famous model. In his later years Maslow believed
that at the top of the pyramid there was a final level,
self-transcendence. At this point, human beings are
able to disconnect from the self, and put others first.
This is the place of giving back to the community, to
others, and transcending the world of ego-driven decisions.
What if the path of leadership mirrored Maslow’s
hierarchy? It would mean that the greatest leaders would
achieve a level of self-transcendence, and would subvert
their own needs for the good of their people and the
good of the external environment.
Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, demonstrates through
research that leaders who have achieved self-transcendence
are capable of leading organizations to greater and
greater levels of achievement. “Level 5 leaders
channel their ego needs away from themselves and into
the larger goal of building a great company. It’s
not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest.
Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious – but their
ambition is first and foremost for the institution,
not themselves.”
 Ten Coaching
Questions for Ethical Decision-Making
The following questions can help you as a coach, a manager,
or as a leader to focus on any ethical dilemma thoughtfully
before making a decision.
1.) What are the ramifications of this decision?
2.) Who are the stakeholders?
3.) What is the impact on you?
4.) What is the impact on your team?
5.) What is the impact on your organization?
6.) What is the global impact?
7.) Who has faced this dilemma in the past? What have
they done?
8.) Who are you when faced with this situation –
what is your role?
9.) What are the company’s ethical guidelines
or values?
10.) What do you stand for as a manager/leader?
Recommended
Books on Ethical Decision-Making
Defining Moments; When Managers Must Choose between
Right and Right by joseph L. Badaracco, Jr., Harvard
Business School Press
A practical, hands-on approach to ethical decision making
in a corporate context, Defining Moments is a great
reference for your management library. The dilemmas
are common, real-world problems and the book is written
in clear language that gets to the core of ethical decision-making.
Sometimes there is no right answer.
The Good, the Bad and Your Business, Choosing Right
When Ethical Dilemmas Pull You Apart by Jeffrey
L. Seglin, John Wiley & Sons
It is possible to do well in business and to do good.
Seglin’s book is entertaining and thoughtful with
real stories about how the decisions made in a business
context can impact the common good – the larger
community in which you’re doing business.
Upcoming Open-Enrollment
Workshops
Our five-day intensive coach training course “Developing
Leadership and Integrity; Practical Coaching Skills for
Executive Development” will take place in New York
City, Chicago, and San Francisco over the next four months.
For more information contact us at
June 18-19, July 8,9,10 – New York City
July 28-29, August 18,19,20 – Chicago,
Illinois
September 29- October 3 – San Francisco,
California
A. H. Maslow The Farther Reaches of Human
Nature, Esalen Books, Viking Press
Abraham H. Maslow Toward a Psychology of Being, D. Van Nostrand
Company, 1968
Questions taken from Karlin Sloan & Company’s
coach training program, Developing Leadership and Integrity,
for more information see "what we do" at www.karlinsloan.com.
Learn about our executive coaching.
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