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Unlocking Ethical Excellence: Conclusion to the 5-Part Series on Practical Tools for Ethical Decision-Making

Writer: Bill Carlson Bill Carlson
Oct 9, 20244 min read

Throughout this series, we’ve explored the vital role that gratitude, honesty, openness, and awareness (HOGA) play in making ethical decisions. From understanding how gratitude serves as the foundation for ethical behavior to learning practical tools like the Gratitude Pause and Ethical Checklists, we’ve taken a deep dive into how to cultivate better habits that not only help in making ethical choices but also foster personal growth and well-being.


Whether you're an individual looking to improve your ethical decision-making or a business leader hoping to foster a culture of integrity within your organization, the tools we've covered are both practical and powerful.


What Readers Should Have Taken Away


The five blogs in this series were designed to guide you through practical, actionable strategies for living an ethical life—whether in business or your personal life. Let’s recap the key lessons:

  1. The Power of Gratitude in Ethical Decision-Making:

    Gratitude isn’t just about feeling good. As we discussed in the first blog, it’s a grounding principle that enhances clarity in decision-making. When you approach decisions from a place of appreciation, you are more likely to act with integrity, aligning your choices with your core values.

  2. The 10%/80%/10% Rule: Navigating Pressures with Gratitude and Openness:

    This concept, developed by the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers, and Treasurers, shows how a small percentage of people consistently make the right ethical choices. By combining gratitude with openness, as emphasized in Bitter or Better, you can resist pressures—both internal and external—that lead to unethical behavior.

  3. The Gratitude Pause: A Moment for Honesty and Reflection:

    Taking a moment to pause and reflect before making decisions is a powerful tool. This pause allows for honest introspection, helping you assess your true motivations. By pairing gratitude with honesty, you are better equipped to make decisions that are in line with your long-term values, rather than succumbing to short-term temptations.

  4. Ethical Checklists: Adding Awareness and Gratitude to Your Process:

    In the fourth blog, we introduced the concept of an ethical checklist—a tool that helps break down complex decisions into manageable steps. By integrating gratitude and awareness into this checklist, you ensure that each decision is aligned with your ethical compass.

  5. Building Habits of Gratitude, Honesty, and Awareness for Long-Term Ethical Growth:

    Finally, we explored how these elements are not just temporary tools but habits to cultivate for long-term ethical growth. By consistently practicing gratitude, honesty, openness, and awareness, you create a foundation for ethical excellence that endures in both simple and challenging situations.


Actionable Steps for Moving Forward


So how can you start incorporating these concepts into your life or business? Here are a few steps:

  • Daily Gratitude Practice: Whether in your personal or professional life, start each day with a moment of gratitude. This simple practice helps ground you, fostering a mindset that’s open to ethical decision-making.

  • The Gratitude Pause: Before making any significant decision, take a “gratitude pause.” Reflect on what you are grateful for and assess whether your decision aligns with your values.

  • Ethical Checklists: For complex decisions, especially in a business setting, use an ethical checklist. Break down the decision-making process into steps, incorporating gratitude and awareness at each stage to ensure you’re considering the broader impact of your actions.

  • Honest Self-Reflection: Regularly engage in honest reflection. Ask yourself, “Am I being truthful with myself and others about my motivations? Am I staying true to my values?” This ensures that you maintain integrity in all areas of life.


Why This Material is Suited for Organizational and Business Ethics Training


This series has demonstrated that the tools for ethical decision-making are not just theoretical but practical and implementable. They can serve as a foundation for personal ethics, but they are equally powerful when scaled to an organizational level.


  1. Cultivating Ethical Leadership: Leaders who consistently practice gratitude, honesty, openness, and awareness foster trust and integrity within their teams. These traits encourage transparent communication, build a positive organizational culture, and drive ethical behavior across the board.

  2. Enhanced Decision-Making in Business: When integrated into decision-making processes, tools like the Gratitude Pause or Ethical Checklists ensure that choices are made thoughtfully, reducing the risk of unethical behavior due to pressure or short-term thinking.

  3. Building Ethical Workplaces: By adopting these practices, organizations can create environments where employees feel empowered to make ethical choices. When employees are encouraged to reflect on their decisions with gratitude and awareness, it enhances the ethical culture of the entire organization.

  4. Long-Term Impact: Implementing HOGA as part of business ethics training not only benefits individuals but contributes to the long-term success and integrity of organizations. Companies that prioritize ethical behavior build stronger reputations, attract loyal customers, and retain employees who are committed to doing the right thing.


In conclusion, this series has provided you with practical tools rooted in gratitude, honesty, openness, and awareness that can be applied in all aspects of life. As you move forward, remember that ethical decision-making is not just about solving immediate problems but about cultivating habits that lead to long-term success and integrity.




 
 
 

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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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