Customer Reviews

Ethics 101: What Every Leader Needs To Know (101 Series)

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+++++

This book (whose original title was "There's No Such Thing as `Business' Ethics") by leadership expert John C. Maxwell is an easy-to-read, small book that states that ethics is not complicated. Maxwell explains:

"Ethics is ethics. If you desire to be ethical, you live by one standard across the board...Educators, philosophers, theologians, and lawyers have taken what is a simple matter and made it very confusing...This book's goal is to help you find the way to live and work ethically and also achieve greater success."

The one "standard" Maxwell recommends using in all situations is the Golden Rule: the precept that one should behave toward others as one would want others to behave toward oneself.

Maxwell does a good job in explaining why the Golden Rule is the standard to be used in all situations. However, the only situation he uses in his numerous, true, effective example stories is the type (RIGHT versus WRONG). For example, a cashier gives you too much change. The WRONG thing to do is to keep the extra change. The RIGHT thing to do is thus to give the extra change back.

The author gives many quotations from prominent people to get his points across. One of my favorites is a quotation from Ted Koppel:

"There's harmony and inner peace to be found in following a moral compass [he's referring to the Golden Rule] that points in the same direction regardless of fashion or trend."

Maxwell touches on the fact that all people are not the same and that the rule may have to be slightly altered to accommodate them.

A feature of this book is that certain important summary points are taken out of the main narrative and bordered between two horizontal lines for easy reference. I counted almost forty of these peppered throughout the book. Here are two examples:

(1) "There are really two important points when it comes to ethics. The first is a standard to follow. The second is the will to follow it."
(2) "Every day, whenever the issue of ethical behavior confronts you, ask this question: `How would I like to be treated in this situation?'"

As mentioned, Maxwell effectively explains the use of the Golden Rule in (RIGHT versus WRONG) situations. However, he does not explain how to use the rule in (RIGHT versus RIGHT) situations. This is called the ethical dilemma. To be fair, Maxwell does mention the ethical dilemma but his explanation of it is rather simplistic.

Here is an example of a dilemma. You are asked in your high-paying job to do something you feel is not right or else be fired. (It took years of hard work to get the high pay you're now getting.) The RIGHT thing to do according to the golden rule is to quit your job and get another lower paying one. However, there are ill members of your family who depend on your high income. So the RIGHT thing to do is not to quit your job. Maxwell spends no time in explaining such situations.

Despite not explaining how to handle dilemma situations, I still feel that this is a useful book that takes the technical jargon out of understanding ethics. Maxwell gives numerous true cases that prove how the Golden Rule builds morale, increases productivity, encourages teamwork, lowers employee turnover, and keeps clients coming back.

In conclusion, this is an effective book that explains some major ethical concepts. It demonstrates how doing the right thing is the best way to live and fosters a winning situation for all!!

(first published 2003; acknowledgements; preface; 7 chapters; conclusion; main narrative 105 pages; notes)

+++++

Author John C. Maxwell has spent years thinking about leadership and ethical action, and it shows. In this short volume, he condenses his years of reflection into clear, accessible principles that any reader can immediately apply. He supports his points with anecdotes, and with quotes from sacred texts and authors from a variety of cultures. His clarity makes his work bold. There's no way you could mistake what he's saying, and that's refreshing, especially given contemporary concerns about corporate governance. While the simplicity and brevity of the book makes it broadly accessible, we especially recommend it to two readerships: those already dedicated to living ethically, who are looking for tools to apply, and those who are skeptical about the utility of ethics. The book (which was previously published as "There's No Such Thing as Business Ethics") has only two real weaknesses. The first is that Maxwell's definition of an ethical dilemma is far too simple, and he treats it too briefly. (What do we do when love and duty clash? What do we do when directly ordered to do something unethical by a superior, who thinks the action is correct - and someone else depends upon our income?) The second is that Maxwell discusses how to treat others as if we were all the same deep down. Perhaps we are - but he doesn't fully address the many personal and cultural differences that one must negotiate along the way. Our moral dilemma: is it right to dwell on such relatively minor flaws in a book we basically respect, agree with, appreciate and recommend warmly? You be the judge.

John C. Maxwell, a minister, management consultant, and prolific author of inspirational and insightful business related books, believes that ethical principles can be summarized by the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. He documents that this rule, or some close variation of it, is found in all of the world's major religious traditions.

This is not the book that offers guides to how the definition of ethics can vary from one legal code to another. It is rather a book that offers guides on how to live one's life and do one's job with longterm success.

"If you want to do something that will make an impact beyond your own life," Maxwell writes in summary, "then treat people better than they treat you, walk the extra mile, help people who cannot help you, do right when it's natural to do wrong, and keep your promises even when it hurts."

He divides the world into people who "go for the gold" and people who "go for the golden rule" and finds the latter are much more successful in ways that really matter than the former.

This book is an excellent supplement and response to much narrower attempts by lawyers, college professors, numerous professional groups, state government ethics commissions, good government advocates and others to treat ethics as a legal code which one needs legal advice to interpret, honor, or defend oneself from.

Ethics, Maxwell says, is not a complex issue. Ethics is about living a life worthy of self-respect, and the respect of family members, colleagues, and competitors.

I got this book for a VERY good price, and although used it was in great condition. A few pencil markings on the inside, but nothing too distracting. Many of them actually helped me pull out key points for my class! Overall, I'm very satisfied with my purchase.

The book basically discusses how the golden rule should help in every ethics question. He later gets into what he calls the platinum rule. I really like the books coverage of ownership.

So you think you want to be a leader? Well what are the core essentials of leadership? If ethical behavior is not one of your answers then guess what a leader you will never be.

Knowing right from wrong and applying it in one's life is essential and becomes crucial if one aspires to be leadership. You cannot be at peace in your life, nor a success in life if you don't know what it means to be ethical. Being an ethical person is not something that you switch on and off like a light switch, when it suits your needs.

Maxwell in this book provides the primer to those starting on their leadership journey about the importance of ethics. For those who have drifted off course, Maxwell will help you set your course and life on the path that we all should follow.

This book holds no mysteries about what is important in relation to ethics. It provides some useful statistical data, plus some different angles at why ethics can be important.

The book itself is not revolutionary, it will not break new ground, but it is an easy read that helps the reader to remember some of the important things in life when living by certain personal standards.

Go ahead, get the book and enjoy an easy, solid text that will remind you of why there is only one way to do things.

JP

This little book reminds the reader of what he/she has hopefully learned before but spends a lifetime trying to apply. The negative reviewer who is an academic finds this book disdainful because it offers "nothing" for he thinks the real dilemna of ethics seems to belong to to the halls of academia for only within those confines can one truly understand the ancients. Maxwell is delightful because of this lack of intellectual snobishness.

This book is fabulous! I used it for an Ethics book club class and virtually all the participants gave it high marks for readability and clear ideas. It's a little book with big ideas to live by.

If you remove the boring real life stories examples, add some practical 'How Tos' and let the sequence of ideas be more related to each other, you would have a readable book on 'Ethics 101'.