Best Possible Outcome

CHAPTER 2ETHICS AND CALIBRATING YOUR MORAL COMPASS

Rules are the instructions that tell us what we may and may not do. But what if the rules were written without consideration of the context in which you are forced to apply them?

Rules are made, laws passed, policies defined by other humans, with all their faults and frailties. When a rule is made, it may have been considered for one context and not another. The world may have changed since it was made. Those who made it may not have understood all the ramifications, or they may simply have been wrong.

Being a good leader means knowing right from wrong and applying this understanding in the decisions you make. This sounds simple, until you start to encounter ambiguous and challenging circumstances.

Achieving the best outcome would be simple if what was ‘right’ was always clear. Leaders also need to make ethically defensible decisions, but making the ‘right’ decisions does not always mean adhering to the ‘rules’.

This chapter tackles the mindset behind ethical decision-making, understanding the competing ethical models that shape our moral decisions, and the tension between these models that balance our views.

TRAINING ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING

Training military officers in complex problem-solving, strategic planning and crisis management is always extremely satisfying, but even more rewarding is instructing them in ethical decision-making.

We might start with the ‘trolley car problem’ (see figure 2.1) to think through the ...