Ethics matters more than ever (a competitive advantage for Objectivists)
We have left the Industrial Age. We are now in the Digital Age. Some call it the Connected Age.
Among the many disruptive innovations this causes in our world, here is one of them: our reputations travel far and fast. Every interaction we have with someone becomes a story that they can tell to someone else. In the Connected Age, any story has the potential to be spread far and wide.
We can (and should) celebrate the ability to learn about the true character and ethics of people we want to associate with. To do business with. To elect. It is an unprecedented ability to learn the real facts about a person through their actions and habits.
How many of us realize that this doesn't just present another selfish reason to be consistently honest and ethical, for defensive reasons. It is a great opportunity to see the Objectivist code of ethics as a powerful advantage to separate ourselves from others living and working in our world today.
Maybe someone reading this post will see this angle as the genesis of a new book or new marketing campaign. If you see the value of that, I would be honored to explore if we might create more value together with some collaboration.
But mostly, I hope everyone reading this sees the unique value in being consistently ethical and rational in all of our interactions. It is more valuable today than ever before.
I saw a poster in a classroom earlier this year:
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become your character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
Others are able to watch what we say and do more than ever before. And they are able to tell others about it, more than ever before. Will you chose to see that as a bad thing or a good thing?
For those of us who value honesty, integrity, and free trade, it is a great opportunity. Let us embrace and celebrate these values so that we can attract those who share them, and separate ourselves from those who don't. Then we can be a positive force to move the world into the type of Gulch where we would want to live. Not in some mystical future, but where we are now, today.
We need this type of world more than ever today. And today is when we've had more power than ever before to make that vision real. My call to action for everyone reading this is to rededicate yourself to building an honorable and worthwhile reputation for yourself. You are building that reputation, whether you choose to or not. And it is going to spread farther and faster than ever before, whether you like it or not.
Make it a story worth knowing and spreading.
A virtual hat tip to Seth Godin who made a similar point with his daily blog post from earlier today. It inspired me to write this down and share it for you all.
Among the many disruptive innovations this causes in our world, here is one of them: our reputations travel far and fast. Every interaction we have with someone becomes a story that they can tell to someone else. In the Connected Age, any story has the potential to be spread far and wide.
We can (and should) celebrate the ability to learn about the true character and ethics of people we want to associate with. To do business with. To elect. It is an unprecedented ability to learn the real facts about a person through their actions and habits.
How many of us realize that this doesn't just present another selfish reason to be consistently honest and ethical, for defensive reasons. It is a great opportunity to see the Objectivist code of ethics as a powerful advantage to separate ourselves from others living and working in our world today.
Maybe someone reading this post will see this angle as the genesis of a new book or new marketing campaign. If you see the value of that, I would be honored to explore if we might create more value together with some collaboration.
But mostly, I hope everyone reading this sees the unique value in being consistently ethical and rational in all of our interactions. It is more valuable today than ever before.
I saw a poster in a classroom earlier this year:
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become your character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
Others are able to watch what we say and do more than ever before. And they are able to tell others about it, more than ever before. Will you chose to see that as a bad thing or a good thing?
For those of us who value honesty, integrity, and free trade, it is a great opportunity. Let us embrace and celebrate these values so that we can attract those who share them, and separate ourselves from those who don't. Then we can be a positive force to move the world into the type of Gulch where we would want to live. Not in some mystical future, but where we are now, today.
We need this type of world more than ever today. And today is when we've had more power than ever before to make that vision real. My call to action for everyone reading this is to rededicate yourself to building an honorable and worthwhile reputation for yourself. You are building that reputation, whether you choose to or not. And it is going to spread farther and faster than ever before, whether you like it or not.
Make it a story worth knowing and spreading.
A virtual hat tip to Seth Godin who made a similar point with his daily blog post from earlier today. It inspired me to write this down and share it for you all.
The history and ascendency of religion makes for interesting reading inasmuch if you have a rational mind you'll quickly realize that for the most part, it is a load of horse pucky.
Whistleblowers are the only time I would consider trusting someone anonymous. Then they need evidence strong enough to stand on its own.
The point is, actually practicing this consistently has greater influence on others today and with others. In return it has greater impact on your own success, assuming you plan to have interaction with others. Ethics matters with or without living in a society. Living in a highly connected society makes its influence even greater. I'm trying to give people here selfish encouragement to be more proudly and consistently ethical.
If our constitution did not allow the government to take from one and give to another, elections would be based on efficient administrative ability and judged by dollars and sense expenses incurred to run the government. Trump would probably do a good job by that standard I think. Hillary would do a terrible job by that standard
Btw, I buy only thru prime on Amazon. Tired of getting ripped off by freight charges. For what it's worth I have been impressed by the integrity of Chinese merchants. I buy a lot for our company from China and they have been straight up in dealings. I have to pay in advance mostly, but find they are quite honorable to deal with.
As for internet information Agreed on Sanders but I'm thinking of some candidate from North Dakota...McGovern???? One internet comment was he had a heavy interest in underage children or words to that effect. Directed the reader to his own website. McGovern. One section showed Grandpa an the grand children. playing ball in the yard. That was the cover for that cheap shot and how many bothered to go look? Just cause it's on the net doesn't mean it's true.
most unethical moves are easy to spot. Go to Amazon and find clothing for three cents but when you enter a size it becomes $9.99 Then you look at postage and handling $21.00 Item isn't three cents i's $30 dollars. The way Amazon stopped that or countered was the Prime system. Shipping is included.
If you see .99 cents automatically in your head say one dollar. People are really stupid it's true. In one of my stores we priced everything in even dollar amounts. One day we changed to the .97 or .99 cent system. Sales went up 40% in one month. Just cause people are stupid doesn't mean we have to be the same thing. People get what they ask for and what they pay for. Go to complain and it's a a gone business. No address physical location? Don't do business with them.
As for politicians. if their mouths moving they are lying not by their standards by your standards. People paid attention Hillary and Trump would get zero votes. but some like playing the lottery. Trouble is there is only one partial winner and one major winner and it isn't the ticket holder. The rest are more commonly known as losers. That's your election system. Maybe we need Amazon to run it for us using Prime.
There is quite simply nothing in that idea or theory related to Objectivism or the epistemology of Ayn Rand, it is anti-life. I would refer any interested in the what and why of Objectivist ethics to: http://aynrandlexicon.com/ayn-rand-id..., as a starting point.
An excerpt: "What, then, are the right goals for man to pursue? What are the values his survival requires? That is the question to be answered by the science of ethics. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why man needs a code of ethics.
Now you can assess the meaning of the doctrines which tell you that ethics is the province of the irrational, that reason cannot guide man’s life, that his goals and values should be chosen by vote or by whim—that ethics has nothing to do with reality, with existence, with one’s practical actions and concerns—or that the goal of ethics is beyond the grave, that the dead need ethics, not the living.
Ethics is not a mystic fantasy—nor a social convention—nor a dispensable, subjective luxury, to be switched or discarded in any emergency. Ethics is an objective, metaphysical necessity of man’s survival—not by the grace of the supernatural nor of your neighbors nor of your whims, but by the grace of reality and the nature of life." (emphasis added)
The only bright side of this is that as more and more companies, governments, and other organizations get taken over by SJWs and other bad guys, who then try to use the reputation mechanism to purge them of good guys -- we can benefit from that anonymity ourselves.
Think strategically. Act tactically. Our right to be moral is broadly under attack.
Yes, and it reinforces your assertion of the importance of spreading the word.
Respectfully,
O.A.
I shouldnt have been, but I was surprised at Bernie Sanders when he came out and trashed Trump in a vicious way. He was always the grandfatherly type- lets each help the next person and all. But THAT was all an act. The vicious and controlling part of socialist Sanders finally came out. He is an evil person who just wants to take from all of us and put HIM as the leader. But, I never knew anything about Sanders all these years. I couldnt put in Bernie Sanders into a website and get all the skinny on him.
Interesting business idea that hopefully will catch on.
Those who are wise choose to associate with others not because they need to hear from others that their ethics are correct, but who are drawn together because the underlying principles are correct.
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