“Following the rules” is no longer good enough. In the “post-truth,” artificial-intelligence-driven, find-the-answer-on-Google world, wisdom may be the only way to navigate an organization, a career, or a life ethically. This course explores the ancient concept of wisdom with a modern perspective and tools to tackle some of the toughest decisions you face.
Course ID: WISDOM
Ethics: What’s Wrong with Being “Right”? Ethics and the Quest for Wisdom
Learning Objectives
Compliance is like high school geometry; wisdom is like quantum mechanics. No one course can make you “wise.” This course seeks to:
- Open the door to other ways of looking at ethical issues that could improve your decision-making
- Reduce stress, and, in the long run,
- Lead to a higher quality of life for you and those around you
Major Topics
- What is wisdom? It’s NOT just being “smart” or “logical.” And it’s not about “knowing stuff.” Socrates, believed to be one of the wisest persons ever, “invented” ethics. Yet he frequently claimed “to know nothing.” Wisdom is a different kind of “critical thinking.”
- Which “brain” are you using? Whether you call it the “head, heart and gut” or the “mind, body and soul,” ethical decision-making harnesses the whole human being. What to do if the three brains disagree.
- What if you’re wrong…AND right…and so are they? This could be the only way to function productively in an increasingly polarized world.
- Are you as bad as the worst thing you’ve ever done? Why we need to get over our reluctance to forgive each other…and ourselves.
- Would you rather the computer decided? Computers are great at following rules; people, not so much. That might be the most valuable quality you bring to the table.
- What’s love got to do with it? Wouldn’t you love to work at a place where everybody loved what they did and loved helping their clients and each other? That just might be a more ethical workplace, too.
- What’s an Enneagram? It could be the most valuable tool yet for understanding yourself, your strengths and your potential ethical pitfalls.
Advanced Preparations
None
Who Should Attend
Leaders and others who want to make better decisions about ethical issues, themselves, and the rest of the world
Fields of Study
Behavioral EthicsPrerequisites
None. It is recommended, but not required, that course participants take the Enneagram test, widely available online for free.