A step by step tool for top achievers

WHAT IS OUR GREATEST COMMITMENT?
What if we made a commitment that is wrong or unethical inadvertently which totally goes
against our values and conscience?
That is the time to reevaluate whether or not to go forward.
COMMITMENT TO VALUES
Loyalties cannot be bought, they are earned. And to whom do we owe loyalties? Is it
individuals or organizations? The answer is none of them. We owe loyalties to values.
Where the value system is conflicting, people cannot live in the same home, they cannot
work in the same organization.
When a person makes a commitment of loyalty to either an individual or an organization,
what is he really saying? He is saying, "I stand by you because I believe in what you
believe in."
What if the person I am committed to, be it a leader, spouse, employer, employee
becomes a spy for an enemy country? Do I continue my support because I committed
earlier? Absolutely not. I am not committed to support unethical and illegal behavior.
Unkept commitments lead to:
♦
 
Broken homes
♦
 
Abandoned children
♦
 
Poor relationships
♦
 
High stress levels

---

Page 164 of 175
♦
 
Guilt
♦
 
Unfulfilled life
♦
 
Loss of business
♦
 
Isolation
♦
 
Depression
Make a commitment and stay committed!
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.