Moral Intelligence

How to serve the best interests of the company while acting in line with ethical principles? At one time or another, all managers find themselves confronted with professional dilemmas that challenge their moral principles, and are often at a loss for what to do. This book offers readers a canvas to define their “moral intelligence” and thus be better prepared to deal with such situations.
Although the U.S. cultural roots of the book may sometimes appear somewhat “puritanical” in the eyes of a European, it does propose useful checklists that can easily be transposed into other cultural contexts.
– The authors refute the theory that moral values are a relative concept that varies according to cultural context. They remind readers that there are a certain number of universal principles (such as respect for others, integrity, responsibility, etc.) that prevail in all cultures and religions (chapter 2).
– They nevertheless point out that the key objective for managers is to define their own values with greater precision, based on these universal principles. For example, readers will find practical advice on developing their own “moral compass” in chapters 3 and 4, as well as in Appendix A.
– Once you have defined your values, it is still no easy matter to apply them! Chapters 5 to 8, each of which is respectively devoted to an essential moral quality – integrity, responsibility, compassion and forgiveness, controlling your emotions – are filled with concrete suggestions on monitoring the morality of your own day-to-day behavior and important decisions. We recommend these chapters highly, as well as Appendix B, which offers a very good checklist.
– Part 3 of the book, devoted to moral leadership, appears to be less immediately useful. This section nonetheless covers the need for leaders to influence the moral principles of subordinates, when managing a team on an everyday basis (chapter 9), when leading a large organization (chapter 10) or smaller structures (chapter 11).