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#4 in a 5 Part Series: Ethical Checklists: Adding Awareness and Gratitude to Your Process

Writer: Bill Carlson Bill Carlson
Oct 2, 20244 min read


Making ethical decisions can often feel overwhelming, especially when emotions or pressures cloud your judgment. In the Bitter or Better program developed during my incarceration, one of the most valuable tools we created was the use of checklists—simple, repeatable processes that helped manage both emotions and decisions. These checklists provided a practical way to break down complex tasks and situations into manageable steps, ensuring that our actions aligned with our values.


In this blog, we’ll build on that idea by introducing the ethical checklist, a tool that incorporates Awareness and Gratitude—two essential elements of the HOGA framework. This checklist is designed to help you stay aware of your motivations, the impact of your choices, and how to align your actions with your ethical values. Whether you're an individual making decisions in your personal life or a professional navigating workplace dilemmas, this ethical checklist is a practical tool to keep you grounded in integrity.


The Power of Checklists


The concept of using checklists emerged as a necessity during my time in prison. Faced with limited control over our environment, many of us struggled to manage emotions, stay focused on our goals, and avoid falling back into old patterns of behavior. A simple checklist became a lifeline—helping us stay on track by breaking down larger challenges into smaller, more manageable steps. This approach not only provided clarity but also reinforced a sense of responsibility and accountability in our decision-making process.


Incorporating this same method into ethical decision-making allows us to bring structure to situations that might otherwise feel too overwhelming. When faced with a difficult choice, a checklist gives us the space to pause, reflect, and move through the process in a mindful way.


The Ethical Checklist: Awareness and Gratitude in Action


The ethical checklist is a practical tool that can be used in any decision-making scenario—whether in your personal life or at work. The key difference with this checklist is that it integrates Awareness and Gratitude into the process, ensuring that you remain mindful of your values and motivations at every step.

Here’s an outline of how this ethical checklist works:


  1. Pause and Reflect: Before making any decision, take a moment to pause. This is where gratitude first comes into play. Reflect on what you are grateful for in the current situation—whether it’s the opportunity to make a decision, the resources at your disposal, or simply the fact that you have the ability to choose. Gratitude will help you ground yourself in a positive mindset.

  2. Identify the Decision's Impact: With Awareness, consider who will be affected by your decision. Think about the people around you—family, friends, colleagues, or even the broader community. Ask yourself: How will my choice affect others? This step encourages you to move beyond self-interest and think about the ripple effects of your actions.

  3. Check Alignment with Your Values: In the next step, compare your decision to your core values. Does this choice align with the ethical principles that guide your life? For example, if integrity, honesty, or empathy are values you hold, ask yourself whether your decision reflects these ideals. Being honest with yourself during this step is crucial.

  4. Consider Long-Term Consequences: Part of ethical decision-making involves looking beyond the immediate outcome and considering the long-term effects. How might this choice play out in the future? Will it create lasting harm, or will it contribute to a positive outcome in the long run?

  5. Commit to the Ethical Path: Once you’ve reflected on gratitude, awareness, values, and long-term consequences, it’s time to make the decision. Commit to the path that aligns with your ethics, knowing that you’ve taken the time to thoughtfully consider your options.


HOGA Integration: Awareness and Gratitude


The HOGA framework—Honesty, Openness, Gratitude, and Awareness—plays an essential role in this checklist. While Awareness keeps you mindful of the broader impact of your decisions, Gratitude ensures that you stay grounded and appreciate the opportunity to make ethical choices.


During the Bitter or Better program, we found that individuals often struggled with feeling overwhelmed by emotions or external pressures, which made it difficult to make thoughtful decisions. By introducing a checklist that incorporated gratitude and awareness, we were able to create a practical tool that allowed participants to slow down and approach each choice with mindfulness and clarity. This process was particularly impactful because it removed the guesswork from decision-making, instead providing a structured approach that anyone could follow.


The Impact of Ethical Checklists


Research from Harvard Business School highlights the benefits of using checklists in decision-making, showing that structured processes help reduce bias, improve focus, and lead to more ethical outcomes. This research supports the real-world lessons learned in Bitter or Better—when people use checklists, they are more likely to stay on track and less likely to succumb to external pressures or make impulsive decisions.


Incorporating gratitude and awareness into an ethical checklist only enhances these benefits. Gratitude shifts your focus from what’s lacking to what’s present, reducing the likelihood of making decisions driven by fear or greed. Awareness ensures that you remain mindful of the impact your decisions have on others, encouraging empathy and long-term thinking.


Conclusion


The ethical checklist is a simple yet effective tool for making decisions that align with your values. By incorporating gratitude and awareness, you ensure that your choices are grounded in mindfulness and integrity. Whether you're facing a small decision in your personal life or a major ethical dilemma at work, this checklist will help you navigate the process with clarity and confidence.

In the next blog, we’ll dive into the concept of resilience and how it plays a crucial role in ethical decision-making. Stay tuned for more insights on how to stay strong and grounded in your values, even in the face of challenges.

 
 
 

Comments

What the Professionals Are Saying 

"I teach a course on negotiations, during which I spend a good deal of time talking about honesty and ethics in negotiations. As an ethics researcher, I think it is important that students not only understand strategies for successfully claiming value in negotiations, but also learn about the temptations they will face to engage in unethical bargaining, and unethical behavior more broadly in their professional careers. Bill brought this message to life. Bill explained to my students – with openness, authenticity, and scientific insight – the ethical missteps he took in his career. I am incredibly grateful to have had Bill in my class – I learned from him just as much as my students did. I think he would be a welcome, and much needed, addition to any course related to ethics, well-being, power and influence, or negotiations (and likely many more!)."   

                                                                        Professor Emma Levine/ University of Chicago Booth School of Business 

“Bill Carlson has a reservoir of experience that will resonate with college students and professionals from all walks of life. Seldom do you encounter an individual willing to openly share his foibles and mistakes in an attempt to deviate the life paths of those mutually-inclined to make the same errors. Bill lays his life bare in his presentation and shares the detrimental impact his decision-making had on his personal and professional life; yet he lays the foundation for an inroad to a better future built upon his gratitude for life, learning from his mistakes, and pursuit of his new definition of “life wholeness”.  

                                                                         Dr. William C. McCoy, Director/Rutland Institute for Ethics

                                                                         Visiting Professor, College of Education/Clemson University 

"For over 30 years, I have been teaching full- and part-time. For the past eleven years I have been a member of the accounting faculty at Fordham University. This semester, Fall 2021, Mr. Carlson agreed to speak with my students about his story, and I can say that I have had few guest speakers who delivered such a powerful message about the importance of professional obligations. It was the story of a seemingly nice guy who exhibited a lack of judgment and would pay a heavy price for it. Most importantly, it is a story of a man who reflected upon his moral lapse and has made a solid commitment to helping others."              

                                                                                       Timothy P. Hedley, Ph.D., CPA, CFF, CFE

                                                                            Retired Global Leader of Fraud Risk Management Services, KPMG LLP

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