Am I a Resonant Leader

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After completing the exercise, you will now have likely discovered that many people operate on poor assumptions on what great leadership is.  You now realize that emotions do matter. From your work assignment, you have a greater self-awareness of your status as a resonant leader.   Resonant leaders need to be highly self-aware, manage themselves in stressful and complex environments, empathize with others, and lead others to get the job done.

Based on the workbook exercise, post to your blog describing what surprises you discovered about yourself when completing the exercise. Cite examples where you feel you fell short.

Do I create an overall positive emotional tone that is characterized by hope? How?

Creating a positive tone characterized by hope is important to me and something that I have devoted much time and energy to improve. This area of leadership was not always foremost in my mind as a young man. For example, as a young leader, I was very achievement orientated. My drive to excel far outweighed my desire to develop positive and meaningful relationships. However, as I gained valuable experience and risen to an organizational leadership level, developing positive relationships and influencing was the key factor in success.

My first step to improve connecting with others and developing a positive tone was to expand my point of view about relationships, what success meant to me, and how I could best increase my influence. In other words, I began by becoming more mindful. According to McKee, Boyatzis, & Frances (2008), “Mindfulness means learning to live in a state of reflection and openness, in which we are tuned in to self, others, and our environment. Not only has being more mindful benefited my ability to develop positive relationships, it has also adjusted my aim for achievement to include connecting with others.

Am I in touch with others? Do I really know what is in others’ hearts and on their minds? How do I show this?

As noted above, connecting with others beyond the typical casual conversation is a work in progress. Being in touch with others is the surest way to make meaningful connections and provide the best feedback or guidance (if needed). One key element in knowing what’s in other’s hearts and minds is to observe and listen. For example, we send off many key signals when we communicate. One of my strengths is having to ability to identify (listen & observe) what is being communicated and how it is being communicated to better interpret someone’s message. When we genuinely care about being in touch with others, we are better suited to picking up on these elements.

Do I regularly experience and demonstrate compassion? How?

Demonstrating compassion is another area that I have worked diligently to improve. There was a time, as a young man, I thought being emotional and showing compassion were linked; and I was hardly the emotional type. I have identified the folly in my understanding between being emotional and showing compassion. Demonstrating compassion has proven to be essential when working with others, especially when leading others. Demonstrating compassion plays a significant role in the humane dynamics. According to McKee et al. (2008), “Compassion is empathy in action. Like hope, it sparks positive physiological changes that counter the negative effects of stress” (p. 39). One of the most effective ways I have learned to demonstrate compassion is to play an active role in those around me. In other words, I seek to learn more about them, what they value, share experiences, and shoulder a burden if necessary. Those that are truly grateful tend to perform much more effectively.

Am I authentic and in tune with myself, others, and the environment? How can people see this in me?

I believe myself to be self-aware and sure in my values, which contributes to my authenticity. I have always been willing to seek experiences that are challenging and keep me out of my comfort zone. I have found that doing so helps to reveal my strengths and weaknesses. For example, not being particular found of heights, I took flying lessons; not being a fan of enclosed spaces, I went out and earned a scuba certification; not know about a topic, I read a book about it. In other words, I had identified many of my own limitations and decided to meet them head-on. Through these wonderful and challenging experiences, I learned how to positively “self-talk” and remain focused; learning so much more about myself. Mckee et al. (2008) notes that, “Good leaders know their strengths, limitations, values, and principles. They believe in their own capability and convey self-assurance and efficacy” (p. 26). This strategy has helped shape my leadership style in a way that relates to other’s challenges and apprehension. Yet, at the same time, being able to promote and reinforce their strengths to overcome their weakness. Furthermore, for some, having an example of meeting challenges head-on provides the necessary “push” for them to take action. In fact, I have had many people share their thoughts on how some of my examples has inspired them to seek out their own strengths and limitations. Something about it resonated with them enough to learn more about themselves.

Reference

McKee, A., Boyatzis, R. & Frances, J. (2008). Becoming a Resonant Leader (8^th ed.). Harvard Business Press. 

What is Great Leadership

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View "What is Great Leadership" by Dr. Richard Boyatzis. Dr. Boyatzis explains the impact most effective leaders can have on you. Stop the video when he asks you to complete his exercise. Complete the exercise and then watch the rest of the video. Finally, write up your results as a reflection blog. 

Leadership can be associated with making crucial decisions and driving others to achieve a desired end-state. In other words, they serve as the main source of knowledge, expertise, and decision making. While this may be the case in specific situations or environments that are non-complex, this is not necessarily the case in today’s global and dynamic environment. Indeed, yesterday’s perception of leadership has significantly evolved as social, cultural, and business environments have increased in complexity and rely on key relationships. According to Dr. Richard Boyatzis (2012), “Leadership is a relationship. By definition, you can’t be a leader unless there are followers” (0:18). Reflecting on this important point and determining what is great leadership, I have identified two leaders; one that brought out the best in me and one that had the opposite effect.

The first leader is someone I hold in high esteem because of their ability to inspire and motivate me, personally and professionally. In fact, prior to working for this senior military leader, I spoke with others that have worked with or for this leader and all expressed personal accounts of how this leader directly influenced and empowered them at one point. This leader had a very good reputation in my field and having been selected to work directly for this person was considered an honor. This sentiment held true having had the pleasure of working for this leader for over a year. This leader had an uncanny ability to relate with others and show genuine concern for everyone he engaged. His messages were further enhanced by his positivity and focus. Through my daily interaction and having witnessed first-hand on many occasions, I noted how effortlessly he was able to evaluate a situation, those around him, and build rapport by delivering the appropriate communication approach. According to Boyatzis & McKee (2005), “Great leaders are awake, aware, and attuned to themselves, to others, and to the world around them” (p. 3). As a young leader, this was very inspiring. Not only did he make me feel like I was a part of something meaningful by personally mentoring and developing me, but he made others feel empowered through compassion and belonging. Moreover, one of the most effective leadership quality I learned was how he held everyone, including me, accountable for their actions. Being a senior military leader, there are many tools he had available to address deficiencies. Instead of taking the role of “superior and subordinate” as his primary method of correction, his approach was more of mentorship and development. Thus, this forced those whom fell short, including me, to quickly address any shortcomings and work harder to put their best foot forward. In fact, this leader showed me that not all situations require a “0-60 mph” corrective approach with people. Indeed, I still feel this is true.

The second leader is someone I believe is in clear contrast to the first leader. This senior military leader had quite the opposite relationship approach and results; thus, causing polarization. Although I did not have the same daily interaction with this leader, as a senior leader within my rating chain, there was a consistent level of interactions. Through these interactions, I perceived this leader to gain compliance through positional power alone. In fact, while conversing with this leader, I found her attempts to be involved or show concern to be disingenuous and shallow due to the lack of sincerity. Furthermore, much of the feedback or comments from this leader seemed to focus on petty things that had little to do with mission effectiveness or leadership. I took from these interactions that we as subordinates were required to “feel out and adjust” to the situation as she perceived it. This resulted, in my view, the widening of the gap between reality and her perception; thus, being out of touch with her subordinate leaders. In the military, this is not uncommon. In fact, one learns how to deal with this by carefully shaping communication with the out of touch leader to feed their appetite and then move on to what really matters. According to Boyatzis and McKee (2005), “Many organizations overvalue certain kinds of destructive behavior and tolerate discord and mediocre leadership for a very long time, especially if a person appears to produce results” (p. 5). In this situation, this leader created the organizational value of blind compliance from other leaders and emphasized how likeable you were to her. This point is highlighted by Boyatzis and McKee (2005) as they note that “dissonant leaders wreak havoc. They are at the mercy of volatile emotions and reactivity. They drive people too hard, for the wrong reasons, and in the wrong directions” (p. 6). Needless to say, I found myself going out of my way to avoid interacting with this leader. This was a challenge, again she was in my rating chain, but I always did my best to display the proper customs and courtesies during these interactions and tried to move on as soon as I could. I am sure this was obvious at some point, as she was used to others going out of their way to acquiesce to her every word. Trying to look at this situation on a positive note, I use this leader’s examples of “what not to do.”

Reference

Boyatzis, R. (2012). Resonant Leadership. UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/

Boyatzis, R. & McKee, A. (2005). Resonant Leadership (5^th ed.). Harvard Business Press.

A Reflection of Our Learning

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Reflect on the three key lessons you take away from the course. Reflect on your perceived value of this course.

Going into the Leadership Ethics & Corporate Social Responsibility course I felt I have a good understanding of what ethics and morality entailed. Throughout the course however, I learned that I fell into the “blind spot” category as the text author reveals. LaFollette (2007) states that, “We all have restricted moral vision; many of us have vast moral blind spots. Most of us are ignorant of historical, political, economic, sociological, and psychological logical insights that can inform moral action” (p. 93). While I had some awareness of many of these factors, I came to the realizations that I was only scratching the surface in my understanding.

There were many interesting and enlightening discussions on ethical and moral concepts. The three take-aways that I valued most was 1) consequentialism & deontology 2) generational factors, and 3) everyday morality.

Consequentialism & Deontology

I found consequentialism and deontology to be a very interesting topic as both significantly impact the way people reason and make decisions. As a leader, I am fully aware that people do not always share the same frame of mind and/or perspective. In fact, as people evaluate and analyze situational factors to solve basic and complex issues, understanding how these two ethical theories shape our decision making is vital. Whereas consequentialism states that we are morally obligated to act in a manner that results the overall best consequences, deontology holds that we should act in accordance with moral rules or rights that are partially independent of consequences (LaFollette, 2007).

Why this is important is because it allows us to have a better understanding of someone’s (even ourselves) reasoning of ethical or moral issues. Thus, if someone else arrives at a decision that differs from our own, this does not necessary mean that they are wrong and you are right (and vice versa). Instead, this conclusion should spark a discussion of the situation and factors in order to shed light on the differences in reasoning. According to LaFollette (2007), “Knowing someone's theoretical commitments does not tell us which actions she thinks are right or wrong. It tells us only how she reasons about moral issues although, as we shall see, that tells us a lot” (p. 362).

Generational Factors

Friction among generations is hardly a new revelation. In fact, generations sharing the same society and workplace is as common as difference cars sharing the same road. Yet this topic is important because each generation hold different values and behavior patterns that are associated with that generations experiences; the key for leaders is to understand the wants and needs of these generations in order to create a cohesive workforce culture (Deyoe and Fox, 2012).

For leaders (or anyone for that matter), it would be easy to overlook or dismiss an older person’s thoughts or ideas as being outdated or irrelevant. Likewise, to conclude that a millennial’s behavior as irresponsible or to casual.  Thus, the challenge for leaders is to be able to negotiate their way through these generational gaps and unite the qualities each one brings to the workplace and create productive and cohesive work culture. One can only do this is they are aware of these challenges and are willing to look beyond the surface of the potential friction.

Everyday Morality

Thinking, behaving, and living morally should be an important aspect for everyone. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. What is important about everyday morality is that we have a large controlling investment in the end result we actively work at it to improve the benefits of our lives and those around us. LaFollette (2007) provides five factors that strengthen moral behavior:

• knowledge of the morally relevant facts;

• knowledge of the effects of our actions;

• having a vivid moral imagination;

• caring about others;

• interpreting others' behavior (p. 3082).

It is easy to see how these factors contribute to greater self-awareness and potentially greater understanding of others. As leaders, it is more likely than not that we deal with and collaborate with others daily; many times, in different and dynamic situations. It is essential that leaders understand how their behaviors affect others and most importantly, how and when to adjust their leadership style to get the most out of their people. Leaders must be flexible, insightful, and be accountable. Keeping the above five factors in mind is a great start.

References

Deyoe, R. H., & Fox, T. L. (2012). Identifying strategies to minimize workplace conflict due to generational differences. Journal of Behavioral Studies, 5, 1-17.

LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics. [Kindle edition]. Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell.

Gun Control: What is the Answer?

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Do citizens have a right to bear arms? Answer the question in your reflection blog. State your opinion and follow up your position with supporting documentation. Next, present the opposing side to your stance. Use external sources to enhance your claims.

The question of whether U.S. citizens have the right to bear arms is easy to answer. For this, I point to the United States Constitution, Bill of Right, Amendment II, which states, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” What is not so ease to answer are the conditions and/or limitations of this right.

Gun control has long been a polarizing topic. In fact, organizations such as the National Rifle Association (NRA) which exists to preserve gun owner rights and pro-gun control organizations like The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence which seeks great gun control, continuously jockey to influence voters and law makers alike. For many Americans, because of the high emotional impact of violent events such as Columbine high school shooting, the Sandy Hook elementary shooting, or even the shooting of politician Gabrielle Gifford in Tucson, AZ; they feel compelled to support some form of gun control. Indeed, LaFollette (2007) notes that there are alternative to this topic that include three scales of gun control: 1) the degree (if at all) to which guns should be abolished 2) the restrictions (if any) on those guns available to private citizens and/or 3) the combination of the first two (p. 2766).

Some believe that significant gun control is not only needed, but vital to public safety by limiting the instruments that are used to carry out violent and mass killings. In fact, according to ProCon.org (2016), “Firearms were the 12th leading cause of all deaths, representing 1.3% of total deaths topping liver disease, hypertension, and Parkinson’s disease, as well as deaths from fires, drowning, and machinery accidents” (par. 5). So, if guns are taken out of the equation, the belief is that there will be less deaths as a result of guns.

Another popular pro-gun control position is that there is no law-abiding need for high-capacity magazines for any gun. Especially since mass shootings between 1982 and 2012 involving guns indicated that, 50% of these violent events involved a high-capacity magazine gun and that when such magazines are used, the death rate rose 63% and the injury rate went up 156% (ProCon.org, 2016).

The right for a citizen to bear arms is provided and guaranteed. Having to ability to possess a gun (hand gun/long gun) for self-defense, hunting, or overall protection is deeply rooted in American history. This is one of the reasons why the creators of the US Constitution made it a point to 1) establish this right and 2) prevent the government from infringing on this right. It goes without saying that the conditions that existed when this right was created have long since evolved.

In the wake of high profile mass shooting as noted above, Americans have been forced to re-examine the right to bear arms and how much (if any) limitations should be imposed. Because of instant access to violent acts involving guns, the general conception is that guns are the main cause of such carnage. In fact, often many news outlets constantly publish figures that involve gun violence that can be somewhat misleading. According to Jacob Davidson (2015):

People should also be aware that most gun-related deaths are suicides, not murders. There are twice as many suicides in the U.S. by guns as there are homicides and I think most people find that very surprising. Over and over again one reads that 30,000 people have been killed with guns, but what’s not said is that 20,000 of them took their own lives (para. 4).

While the loss of any life as a result of violence (to include suicide) is unfortunate and unacceptable, I believe the focus needs to be directed at the factors of the crime/violence as much (or even more) than just the tools that were used to carry out the crime. By and large, the majority of gun owners are law-abiding citizens. Yet, those with criminal backgrounds or mentally unstable have been known to acquire guns legally and illegally. Thus, in order to address this issue, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System was created in 1998 to identify those unfit to purchase guns from a federally licensed firearms dealer (FFL). Headed by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), this system checks a person’s background such as: criminal history, mental issues, dishonorable discharge from the military, immigration status, any type of warrants, and know drug use (Kohrman and Mascia, 2015). This background check, however, is not required for private gun sales.

I believe that some form of gun control is necessary to identify and prevent those with criminal histories, mental defects, and those under investigations or indictment. While owning a gun is a right, so is the right to public safety. Thus, if a person has shown or is showing that they are not fit to possess a tool such as a gun, then they should have their right to own a gun either temporary or permanently revoked by a judge and not necessarily a politician. Furthermore, I do believe that in order to extend this identification and prevent, background checks should be extended to private gun sales. A system should be established for private citizens to run a timely background check for anyone wishing to purchase their guns. I would be important to not be used in a manner that creates a registry, tracks who is selling or buying what guns, affordable, and easily accessible. If the point is to ensure the suitability of a gun owners status, then a simple background system should assist in keeping guns out of certain people’s hands.

Another important aspect of gun control is the enforcement of existing laws. While introducing new gun control laws to prevent certain grades of guns from entering the civilian population may be warranted and requires greater discussion. However, laws should promote great vetting oppose to outright stopping interested gun owners. In other word, swimming with the current oppose to against it may be more affective. Another angle to approach better gun safety and handling is improving or increasing gun safety courses. Training and education is an important ingredient to responsible gun ownership.

There is no doubt that guns have played a part in violent events, yet they have also prevented events from become more severe. The true issues from my point of view involves the humane being on the other end of the gun. The gun is the tool, people with the intent to hurt or kill others will accomplish their plan whether with single gun or a bomb. Take for example the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995. This event orchestrated by Timothy McVeigh killed 168 men, women, and children without the use of one gun.

Many times, people will fly under the radar of law enforcement (such a McVeigh), but infringing on Constitutional rights because of a possibility is inconsistent with American values. More effort and resources should be available to enforce existing gun laws, improve gun training and education, and create background system available to private citizens wishing to sell their guns to other law-abiding citizens.

Resources

 Davidson, J. (2015, December). A Criminologist’s Case Against Gun Control. Time. Retrieved from http://time.com/4100408/a-criminologists-case-against-gun-control/

Kohrman, M. and Mascia, J. (2017, March 14). Everything You Need to Know About Federal Background Checks. The Trace. Retrieved from https://www.thetrace.org/2015/07/background-checks-nics-guns-dylann-roof-charleston-church-shooting/

LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics. [Kindle edition]. Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell.

ProCon.org. (2016). Should More Gun Control Laws Be Enacted? Retrieved from http://gun-control.procon.org/

United States Constitution, Bill of Rights, Amendment II.

Ethics and Behaviors

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Watch the two videos from business ethics speakers and discuss how your organization portrays its values. Share any examples where behaviors were portrayed positively by your leaders or an instance where someone was unethical in your work environment.

Organizational values are an important element to establishing desired behaviors and expectations. Values are traits or qualities that are considered worthwhile; they represent priorities and held driving forces for behavior(s) (Heathfield, 2016). These behaviors ultimately contribute to the organization’s culture and brand. Thus, it is no wonder that many organizational leaders apply significant time and energy towards identifying and promoting their organizational values.

There have been many high-profile companies that have demonstrated that establishing organizational values is one thing and living up to them is an entirely different thing. Take Enron for example or even the recent Volkswagen emission scandal. According to Patrick Lencioni (2016), “If you’re not willing to accept the pain real values incur, don’t bother going to the trouble of formulating a values statement. You’ll be better off without one” (para, 6). Indeed, it almost seems pointless to create a measuring stick and through it out the window as soon as the work begins.

A values based organization I had the honor and pleasure to a part of was the U.S. Army. The military culture is hierarchal in nature and places a premium on initiative and leadership. In fact, the 7 Army values include: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage (Army.mil, n.d.). These values served as an expectation for all, regardless of position or rank. Furthermore, as service members, we were expected to live by these values on and off duty.

In the profession of arms, leaders were highly encouraged to seek personal and professional development opportunity beyond unit level leadership professional development events. In fact, I have had supervisors that actively supported me in such cases. For example, as a military police officer, I took every opportunity to advance my knowledge and skills by attending civilian law enforcement training and certification courses. In the majority of these cases, I came out of my own pocket because the military has its own training and certification courses. Nevertheless, I had two very influential supervisors that supported my personal and professional development by authorizing me to either take leave from work or do so in a permissive TDY (temporary duty) status, which had to do mainly with administrative and accountability purposes.

These two supervisors backed the organizational values with action by allowing me to take time off work to participate in law enforcement related training. While this training and certification had little direct benefit to the organization, they were highly encouraged to support the initiative to grow. Instead of seeing this a way to take time off, which some may consider unethical. These two supervisors viewed the specialized training as a way to support the organization’s and Army’s vision of having better trained and well-round leaders throughout the ranks.

This had a major impact on me in that, I too, went out of my way as a supervisor to promote designated and uninterrupted time for schooling or external training for those seeking their own personal and professional development. I even went so far as to identify certain weeks that were less hectic according to our training calendar or known scheduled events. This sent a strong signal that continued growth was a priority and that organizational leaders would go out of their way to supply the action necessary to live up to the organizational values.

Indeed, recognizing others desires to improve and grow is an ethical quality not many others value. It is important for organizational leaders to only see the short-term benefit of having an employee at work than view the long-term benefit of supporting growth and demonstrating compassion for the employee’s efforts and provide actionable support. Doing so has the potential to make for a more capable, better trained, and happier workforce.

References

Army.mil (n.d.). Army Values. Retrieved from https://www.army.mil/values/

Heathfield, S. (2016, November 07). Build an Organization Based on Values. [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/build-an-organization-based-on-values-1919185

Lencioni, P. (2002, July). Make Your Values Mean Something. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2002/07/make-your-values-mean-something

What are Virtues?

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Select three of Franklin's virtues and reflect upon them in your blog. Ask yourself, how can I include them in my daily life?

Virtues play an important role in our personal and professional environments as they demonstrate our moral standards through behaviors, interactions, and decision making. LaFollette (2007) notes Aristotle’s position of a virtuous person as: (1) do the appropriate action; (2) do so habitually (regularly, and in a variety of circumstances); (3) enjoy acting virtuously; ously; (4) know that it is virtuous; and (5) know why it is virtuous (p. 3209).

An important figure synonymous with virtues and their commitment to self-improvement to be more virtuous is Benjamin Franklin. In fact, Ben Franklin established 13 virtues that he actively set to improve. Ben’s 13 Virtues included (PBS.org, 2002):

1. Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2. Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
3. Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4. Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5. Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
6. Industry. Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9. Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.
11. Tranquility. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12. Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
13. Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Of Ben Franklin’s 13 Virtues, the three that I believe have the most impact in my situation and can always be improved are: Temperance, Resolution, Tranquility. Before going into each virtue, it is important to note that I am an Aries. Although I am not fully committed to the astrological frame of mind and practices, I do feel that there are important traits and characteristics that closely represent zodiac signs and individuals. Understanding this, I do acknowledge certain traits that closely represented some of my own traits.

In identifying the traits that could potentially be negative (in and of themselves), I have committed significant effort to use these traits to produce positive results and sustainable habits. It just so happens that the traits that I work on continuously for my own self-improvement, directly affect my temperance, resolution, and tranquility. For example, Aries are known to have the following traits (astrology-zodiac-signs.com, 2017):

Strengths: Courageous, determined, confident, enthusiastic, optimistic, honest, passionate

Weaknesses: Impatient, moody, short-tempered, impulsive, aggressive

Aries likes: Comfortable clothes, taking on leadership roles, physical challenges, individual sports

Aries dislikes: Inactivity, delays, work that does not use one's talents

As one may imagine, keeping some of these traits in check is necessary to positively grow and become more virtuous. Indeed, these efforts require constant monitoring and foresight.

Temperance: Self-control is an important trait for anyone dealing with others, especially leaders. Thus, I am conscious that I sometimes have the natural urge to respond or react according to the situation. I have learned over the course of many years of experience and leadership positions that there are: 1) more than one version (perspective) of the situation 2) factors emerge constantly in fluid environments 3) the human factor can amplify the situation. I have gained an appreciation of the what was known in the military environment as “tactical patience.” By allowing certain situations to develop, one can gain a better understanding of the core issue and the contributing factors. Resisting the natural urge to respond or react without fully understanding the situation can be costly in that improper actions could follow or not enough resources were devoted to address an issue. While many situations are straight forward and require less critical thinking, in a dynamic environment, issues tend to be the result of factors either known or unknown.

Resolution: There are many occasions where my initiative far outweighs my commitment to see a project through completions. In fact, I enjoy the beginning hustle and planning of a new adventure. However, when arriving at a constant or maintenance process, I tend to lose interest. Understanding this about myself, I ensure that during certain portions of a project, I have very capable people to help support or take over as I like to move on to other challenges. This situation allows me to work with other in coaching, developing, and putting others in a position of increased responsibility.

Tranquility: Being driven and competitive can be a positive trait when this energy is focused in the proper direction. There have been many instances when I have allowed small set-backs to affect my overall progress. I have learned that small set-backs/failures are opportunities to try from a different angle or see the situation from a different perspective. Most importantly, my sense of proportion has improved greatly as a result of both of experiences involving victories and defeats. Known this allows me to focus on the factors that I have control of.

References

Astrology-Zodiac-Signs.com. (2017). Aries Traits. Retrieved from http://www.astrology-zodiac-signs.com/zodiac-signs/aries/

PBS.org. (2002). Wit and Wisdom. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_wit_self.html

LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics. [Kindle edition] Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell.

Is Marketing Evil?

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The business of marketing is highly lucrative, which can increase the potential for unethical practices as in other competitive fields. The need for industry ethical standards and regulation has grown significantly over the years as technology has made it easier for markers to reach current and potential new customers. According to Dr. Linda Ferrell (n.d.), “Well-meaning marketers often devise schemes that appear legal but are so ethically flawed that they result in scandals and legal entanglements” (p. 2).

Indeed, the pressure on marketers to “push” products and services on customers can be enough to compel ethical people to behave unethically. For example, Wells Fargo Bank is currently in the process of being held accountable for erroneous (fraudulent) accounts opened by bank employees to inflate company numbers by customers and government regulators. Furthermore, bank employees were pressuring their customers to purchase additional products and services as well. “Former Prudential employees filed a lawsuit in December alleging that Wells Fargo customers were sold Prudential insurance products at bank branches that they didn't want” (Egan, 2017).

This week’s assignments focus our attention on ethics in our work environment:

1. Do you feel ethical guidelines make a difference to marketers?

I believe it is important that ethical guidelines exist and are practiced in the marketing world because marketing has a unique place in our everyday lives. For example, on many occasions, marketers have the challenging task of convincing potential customers that they need their product or service. Marketers must do this by knowing and understanding the strengths and weakness of their product/service. If a marketer is aware a known harm or defect and attempts to act ethically by informing the consumer; they may never sell anything. To meet quotas, a marketer may choose to downplay the issues or outright omit the fault to make a sale. Moreover, since marketers represent a company, their marketing and sales tactics can affect the company’s bottom line, reputation, and/or future legacy. “Because marketers engage in behaviors impacting many varied stakeholders, their potential to do harm and opportunity to have a very positive impact is great” (Ferrell, n.d., p. 10). Ethical guidelines are necessary to reinforce appropriate behaviors and to ensure the industry at large operates on a professional and respectable level.

2. How can companies balance the need to win with being ethical?

There are short term wins and long term wins. The companies that are mainly concerned with making a quick buck by engaging in unethical behaviors are playing a dangerous game of roulette. In other words, it is only a matter of time until their unethical practices are brought into the light (i.e. Wells Fargo Bank & Enron). One a company’s reputation is associated with such practices, it is extremely difficult for companies to regain customer’s trust and business.

When a company is committed to their product, customer experience, and ethical behavior, winning is what occurs over a period-of-time. They become a trusted brand/company. Furthermore, when a company is view as being ethical and a mistake does happen (as it sometimes will), customers are more likely to pardon a company knowing that such a mistake is uncharacteristic of their business practice.

Take for example the Tylenol scare in the early 1980’s. With customers staying away from the pain relief medication because of poison contamination, many believed it was the end for the brand (Johnson & Johnson). However, because of the proactive communication with customers and cooperation with investigators and regulators, the company was able to win back the trust of the customers and regulators. “Critics who had prematurely announced the death of the brand Tylenol were now praising the company’s handling of the matter” (Markel, 2014). Companies concerned with winning according to the “big picture,” ensure that ethical behavior is associated and practiced. “The value of a positive reputation is difficult to quantify, but it is an important intangible asset that all marketers understand” (Ferrell, n.d., p. 8).

3. Is it ethical to track your buying habits or web visits to target you for marketing purposes?

Tracking consumer buying habits have important pros and cons. Many consumers enjoy when their technology learns their habits. It makes searching for products easier and convenient. Furthermore, new products may be introduced passively without the consumer actively searching for a product. Where this could be problematic is when personal habits tread into the personal privacy realm. Many consumers are required to input personal and financial data in many of the consumer sites. As they become active in searching and purchasing, there information has the potential to be spread many systems. The possibility that a company could sell this information to other marketers could be a major concern. Furthermore, noted above with Wells Fargo Bank, they could use a person’s information maliciously (fraudulent accounts).

I believe marketing companies should handle such tracking capabilities responsibly. That federal and state regulators ensure that legislation exist that clearly states what is acceptable and what is not acceptable practices. Moreover, and most importantly, I believe that the consumer should have the ability to opt out or ensure that such tracking is limited as to prevent undue solicitation or compromise of private information.   

4. As a leader, how will you manage the ethical aspects of your marketing efforts?

I believe that building ethics into the fabric of an organization is essential. In other words, ethical behavior should be prevalent in the organization’s mission, goals, performance evaluations, and highlighted publicly. Furthermore, I also feel that organizations should also have systems and procedures in-place to effectively deal with unethical behavior in a timely manner. Transparency should also be an important discussion point. Leaders are important to ensuring organizations are and remain transparent by word and deed. When an organization understands that ethical practices are woven into daily operations, the company at large is more likely to have a trusted brand and is better suited to deal with potential issues.

References

Egan, M. (2017, March 13). Wells Fargo still faces over a dozen probes tied to fake account scandal. CNN Money. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/31/investing/wells-fargo-investigations-fake-account-scandal/

Ferrell, L. (n.d.) Marketing Ethics. University of Wyoming. Retrieved from http://college.cengage.com/business/modules/marktngethics.pdf

Markel, H. (2014, September 29). 1982 changed the way we consume medication. PBS. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/tylenol-murders-1982/