Letter from the President, John D. Willis, PhD

Leadership Ethics Online was created in 2006 to address the decline of ethical leadership in America, in every area of life.  I was director over a challenging Master of Science in Dispute Resolution degree I had created in 2003; however, I wanted to use my own academic studies in the history of comparative ethics to serve professionals needing special help.

At the time, leadership programs were springing up like mushrooms, and every professional association had its own ethics code “holding accountable” its members.  Everyone had a certificate on the wall, easily acquired after three hours of listening, and a tasty lunch.  This still is the case.  For the few professions where Ethics Continuing Education annual updates still are required, these are more about how “not to get sued,” rather than doing the right thing for the right reason.  The latter could cut into profits!

Certificates and degrees on the wall mean nothing, even from the most famous institutions in the world:

• A high school diploma does not assure a person can read or write
  
• A marriage license or certificate does not assure a good husband or wife
• A letter of acceptance of an offer of employment does not assure a good employee
• A certificate of ordination does not assure the clergy knows, loves, and obeys God
• A degree or two or three in law enforcement does not assure a good policeman or judge
  
• A sentence to prison for being guilty ought never allow a later pardon by a President or Governor, just because one has the money and can get it to the right person
  
• An Oath of allegiance to the U.S. Constitution does not assure that the oath will be obeyed, or that private deals will not gouge the Treasury, or harm the Common Good
  

Are you as tired as I am of bad deeds being done by bad people, who have plenty of official credentials? Who have plenty of legal authority which they manipulate to do the bad things they are doing?  Who have more than plenty of financial backing, and plenty of attorneys, and plenty of court rulings, which empower them to continue doing what they are doing, without fear?  Can anyone out there hear me?

Leadership Ethics Online educates, publishes, and networks with Positive people who understand and do their daily best to live these things:

• People who do the Right Thing for the Right Reason, whether someone sees or not
• People who know and practice the Golden Rule, loving all people everywhere as the “Neighbor”
• People who understand each day is a gift, to be used for Love, Service, Mercy, Compassion
• People who know God is bigger, better, and beyond all religious forms and rituals

Live Well Today: Do What you Can Now for Others, and for Yourself

Few people remember him now, but millions around the world once knew well the captivating face and career of Dr. Albert Schweitzer. He earned three doctorates by the time he was 30.  In 1952 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his doctrine, Reverence for Life (Ehrfurcht vor den Leben).  Because of important scholarly books published quite early in his academic career, he was offered many opportunities to teach in universities up to the end of his life.

Yet he had made a promise to God that, up to age 30, he would live for “science and art,” then after that, “to the direct service of humanity.”  He believed Jesus’ promise in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 6, Verse 23, “For if whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever should lose his life for my sake shall find it.”  In 1905, after having read a French missionary organization’s call for more physicians, he decided to turn away from the soft and easy life of an academic, in order to become a physician to poor Africans in a remote primitive location on the banks of the Ogooué River, in today’s Gabon.

His family and friends ridiculed this idea, but he ignored them. He enrolled in medical school and earned his third doctorate.  He served the Africans for half a century, who had no idea of his reputation back in Europe.  They all loved him for the medical care he gave.  He nursed many animals back to health as well, and we have photos of him with them.  Schweitzer, also a scholar of J.S. Bach, played on his portable organ late at night, a time when he also worked on manuscripts of important books, and wrote correspondence, all written in tiny handwritten script, to save paper.

In his lecture given in Oslo in 1953, when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, Schweitzer addressed the grave question of nuclear weapons, which had been used by the United States, with their demonstrated power for mass annihilation.  On 24 April 1957, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee sponsored a special worldwide radio event, so Schweitzer could address millions at once, on the global threat posed by nuclear weapons in a speech, “A Declaration of Conscience.”

Schweitzer knew well, as a triple-doctorate holder, that the Bible statement in Ecclesiastes 12:12 was (and is) true:  “Be warned…there is no end to the making of many books, and much study is tiring to the flesh.”  So he decided to become weary by serving other people who had nowhere else to turn for help.  Schweitzer wisely decided using his life to serve the poor would be a stronger argument, a living argument, than any intellectual debate among scholars.

“Instead of trying to get acceptance for my ideas … I decided I would make my life my argument.  I would advocate the things I believed in terms of the life I lived, and what I did…. I would attempt to have my life and work say what I believed.” (Norman Cousins, Albert Schweitzer’s Mission: Healing and Peace, W.W. Norton, NY, 1985, p. 125). 

Take charge of your life today, by waking up and being part of the human family.  Make your life-energy count for Love and Service.  Stop wasting time on politics and consumerism.  Invest in love and people.

The Golden Rule: Jesus Said It, Among Others

One of our foundational principles is The Golden Rule.  There are two places in the Christian New Testament where Jesus was reported to have taught this.

The simpler, more familiar saying is found in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 6, Verse 31:  “And as you desire that people should do to you, likewise do to them.”

In the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 7, Verse 12, we have the other saying:  “If, in as many things as you might wish that people should do to you, so also do to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

The Golden Rule appears in religions around the world, as illustrated by the poster to the left, developed by Scarboro Missions, a fine Roman Catholic organization.  You may click here to read a better resolution of the poster.

Leadership Ethics Online reflects in everything you see here, or in the future, a love for ALL People.  We all share the one common genetic map of the human species. We all were born. Where we were born is where we were born, but the different times and places cannot alter our fundamental Unity as human beings.  We all had parents.  Some of us had wonderful and sweet parents.  Some of us had horrible and bad parents.  Some of us had parents who were sickly and died, unable to see us grow up.  Some of us had parents, or one parent, who abandoned us.  Even in all these variations, these actually are Universals, because they all appear in every human group around the world.  We ARE united with all other people still united all over the world.

More than these things, all human beings are united in their Need for Love, and their need to Be Loved.  The politicians and warmongers around the world fail to remember that they are just like their people, and just like the ones they oppose in politics or on the field of battle.

Join with Me to Live Better as a Person, Professional, and Powerful Presence!

The world needs more Love. The world needs more Ethical Values. The world needs more Ethical Thinking and Planning. The world needs more Moral Speech that builds up, not tears down. The world needs more Moral Action that demonstrates behaviors making others want to follow our leadership.  The world needs ME. The world needs YOU.

There are people talking about more wars, even uses of nuclear weapons. Join with me in becoming more peaceful professionals, able to lead others into more peaceful relationships, and more productive careers. Learn how to have Peace within, and to Share that with everyone you meet, at Home, at Work, at Play! “Blessed are the peacemakers….” (Matthew 5:9).

Encouraging You,

 

 

jwillis@leadershipethicsonline.com