The US Navy helps us find out more about ethics and how they impact our decisions. Try the Ethics Simulator for yourself.
A good friend of mine over in the US sent an email pointing me to the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, where he used to be an instructor.
On the website they have a new Ethics Simulator that anyone can download and use (as long as you are on a PC – it won’t work on a Mac without some translation).
As part of the global business meltdown and accompanying bad behaviour, ethics are in the headlines and on people’s minds again. To my way of thinking, they should never have left.
The person the centre at USNA is named for, Admiral Jim Stockdale, was highly admired for his personal ethics during and after some very trying times. You can read more about him here.
But it doesn’t have to be just trying times that bring out the best (or worst) in people. The every day fabric of your actions and decisions say the most about your ethics, about what matters to you.
If you want to get a better idea of how your ethics shape your actions, I recommend trying out the Ethics Simulator. You will need to download it as an application and then in the words of my friend Chris King:
“In this simulation, you are a character in a movie where you get to make decisions. These decisions drive the next scene. There is also a tutorial for a basic ethical decision making model. Give yourself about an hour to go through the scenario. This scenario gives you just a taste of what is going on today at the Stockdale Center and the Leadership Ethics and Law department in Annapolis. I suspect it will be a thought provoking experience.”
I hope you find it ethically “simulating”!
See you next week.
Michel is a Brand Advocate. Through her work with Brandology here in Australia and in the United States, she helps organisations recognize who they are and align that with what they do and say, to build more authentic and sustainable brands. She also publishes the Brand thought leadership blog – Brand Alignment.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
