Doing the RIGHT Thing

Internationally known psychologist Dr. Daniel Goleman, PhD wrote a book in 1995 titled "Emotional Intelligence" and his point was that recognizing your own emotions and the emotions of other people and responding appropriately was more than twice as important as raw intelligence alone, as a predictor of success and leadership in the workplace.  In other words, when it comes to achieving happiness and success, it doesn't matter how much you know but how well you can get along with the other people at work.

Since then, the concepts of Ethical Intelligence and Social Intelligence have evolved from emotional intelligence to say that it's not enough to just understand emotions but to take the right action based on those emotions.

Integrity: Where your actions match your beliefs.  When someone says that they believe one thing and do another, they lack integrity.  Having and displaying integrity is a prime component of character.

Socrates and Aristotle

Morals and Ethics 
The two words are actually interchangeable because they both refer to the same thing. Morals define a person's standards of behavior concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do. Ethics refers to the moral principles that guide an individual's or group's behavior and can be distilled down to a single word: reciprocity or "How would I like to be treated?". It sounds almost like the Golden Rule, except we say "Do unto others as they would have you do unto them."

Interestingly enough, all the major religions of the world are based on 5 simple principles outlined in Aristotle's "Nichomachean Ethics" written in 350BC. These principles were first written out by Aristotle as an answer to Socrates' question of "How should a man live?" and were adopted by the Church around 1000AD.

1. Do No Harm, and its two corollaries, Prevent Harm and Minimize Unavoidable Harm.
2. Make Things Better,  For others and ourselves.
3. Respect Others,  By protecting confidentiality, telling the truth and keeping your promises.
4. Be Fair,  In allocating resources, disciplining others, rectifying injustice.
5. Be Loving,  Not romance but an ideal for kindness, care and compassion.