Moore 603 Assignment Analyze Writing Samples
Starting the introduction in the book with William Stafford Poem “The Way It Is” is brilliant. “Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding. You don’t ever let go of the thread.” It is essential that one knows and release what is important to them. Through all of our professional careers there will be a lot of noise and distractions the ability to focus and not letting go of the thread is a must for success. Working in the financial industry for twenty seven years I have learnt to always be focused on doing what is in the best interest for the client. The book shares so many different examples which are an eye opener. It helps one think and access different experiences for different leaders. The book put emphasis on an important point of view that even though one should strive to always do what is in the best interest for the client, if the industry is faced with challenges and has a bad reputation that will result in a negative impact on the industry and will affect the industry reputation and requires more work and awareness to gain clients trust back.
It is very important for leaders to have good (IQ) intelligence and technical ability that will help them do a good job. Technical intelligence helps also establish trust and respect between team members and managers and it will help leaders excel in their role. In addition to technical intelligence for a leader to become exceptional leaders they will also need to acquire and learn to develop moral intelligence. Moral intelligence is defined as “ our mental capacity to determine how universal human principles—like those embodied by the “golden rule”—should be applied to our personal values, goals, and actions”
The book focuses on four principles integrity, responsibility, compassion, forgiveness. Integrity is acting truthfully; being honest and having the right believe to always strive to do what is right. Responsibility is another pillar of moral intelligence; leaders need to be able to accept responsibility for mistakes they make and being able to admit when an error or failure happens. Being transparent with team members and creating a good work environment will encourage team members to acquire the same behavior which will result in team improvement and advancement. Forgiveness and Compassion is another important measure of moral intelligence that has a role in success of leaders. “ If we are not gentle and forgiving of ourselves, we will not have the energy to move forward to build our moral capacity. Similarly, to inspire others to enhance their moral intelligence, we need to treat others with compassion and forgiveness.”
The authors did a great job interviewing different leaders from different line of businesses that put emphasizes on different views, values and goals. The author shares the leader’s experiences and how they were able to face and handle challenges throughout their career. When learning about real life experiences it helps the reader reflect on their current role and style of management.
The author did not differentiate between applying forgiveness and compassion publicly verses internally in an organization. He lacked the depth of addressing Public criticisms. The public is ignorant in regard to the internal process. (Clarken, 2009). When applying moral intelligence and forgiveness, a leader will be viewed as a failure publicly if the focus is being assessed through media and focusing on part of the story and not the full picture. On the other hand applying the same concept internally within an organization forgiveness and compassion would become very effective way of management it will encourage a transparent atmosphere because the team members realize they are allowed to make errors and learn from their mistakes and not being scared that they are not forgiven or being judged.
Moral intelligence alone cannot be the main factor resulting in a successful business. There are so many other factors that are important as well. Counting only on the importance of moral intelligence will not guarantee the success of the organization. Moral success is a very important and main factor but need to be accompanied by other factors and not be considered as the sole reason for a business to become successful. (Greenleaf, 1983).
Another challenge that is faced in different industries is that organizational leaders fail to involve junior faculty and ask for feedback and different ways to improve the organization. In order for moral intelligence to work efficiently there need to be a strong connection between different leadership chain of command. Getting the juniors involvement will attain the buy in the idea will help in each generation learning from one another to the better of the organization. (Clarken, 2009).
The author didn’t address challenges that are faced by executive leaders that do not truly believe in moral intelligence. They are not able to share their opinion publicly so they say it to be politically correct yet they never enforce it in their organization which results in less effective process in addressing challenges that leaders face and proposing a solution that will help leader do a better job in addressing the challenges they face. (Burns, 1995).
The book didn’t address the lack of confidence once a problem occurs. It is important that organizations promotes and train their employees on how to deal with problems or mistakes. We all like to think that we are perfect and that we never make mistakes. When we realize that part of being human is making mistakes that that no one is perfect we start dealing better with human errors. When an organization train their employees that mistakes are acceptable within reason and that we have a system in place that address challenges when faced, people will act with better moral integrity and not resort to lying or cheating because they are afraid to lose their job. (Clarken, 2009)
In conclusion the book highlights essential key points for any successful leader to focus on and use to enhance their leadership skills and create a good foundation for the leader and the team members. It is very hard to measure morality for individuals, yet I am a true believer that if leaders focus on moral intelligence and coaching their team to ethical behavior the world and industry will be a better place. I also would like to end by sharing that “your moral intelligence enables one….. to achieve the goals that are most important to you—whether on the job or in the rest of your life.” Moral intelligence is not something that one will apply only at work but should be applied in personal and business life; one should never separate the two.
References
Burns, J. (1995). Leadership. New York, NY: Harper Collins.
Clarken, R.H. (2009).Moral Intelligence in the Schools. School of Education, Northern Michigan University. PP 1-7
Greenleaf, R. (1983). Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness. Mahwah, NJ Paulist press.
Lennick, D. & Kiel, F. (2005). Moral Intelligence: Enhancing Business Performance and Leadership Success. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Wharton School Publishing, 2005. 304 pages. Doi: 10.1002/hrdq.1171.