Can Ethics Be Flexible?

Centered leaders work to develop flexibility in how they operate. Using their key strengths, they develop themselves into a balanced use of clarity, courage, creativity and compassion. That doesn't mean that sometimes they are less clear, or less courageous...it means that sometimes what is most needed is one of the core strengths. Whether or not it is their core strength, they flex to use it. They make it available. They draw on it. And, it grows as they use it.

But what about ethics? Are their times when we need to flex out of our values to get a task done? Do we look the other way in the interest of compromise and necessity? Do we slide down a path of situational scruples?

No.

Be careful about flexible ethics because they are most flexible with those who are least ethical.

Stretch your value, and it tears. Compromise your spirit and you risk it withering completely.

Yes, we are called to compromise sometimes -- on positions, on interests, on decisions. But, never on our values. Never on our morals.

I know full well that ethics is a complicated subject, open to interpretation, and quite often situational. We can be forced to make decisions that cause us nausea and pain. When we are, we should declare our true intentions, square up our actions with our values, and admit our failures as we seek the best possible mutually beneficial outcome.

What do you think?

-- Douglas Brent Smith

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