Opinion

My work as a Corporate Philosopher takes me all over the world. This column is being written in Shanghai where I'm helping senior executives in a global energy corporation make tough decisions about what's right. This of course is different from what a lawyer might tell you is legal. Doing what's legal will keep you out of jail. But this may not be the same as doing what's right. Let me give you an  example. Losing billions of pounds lending money you don't have, to  people who can't afford to repay it, to buy rubbish you don't need was not only legal, it was widely accepted to be the right thing to do for at least the last 10 years. Most voters, politicians, journalists and of course most bankers believed this to be the right thing to do - until the music stopped and the parcel of empty promises was unwrapped. Now of course most politicians, egged on by the media, are hunting the guilty. Senior bankers, their bonuses and pensions are an obvious and easy target. But as the saying goes, when you point the finger, three fingers are pointing right back at you. Few people are talking about our shared responsibility for this mess. Few are examining what makes our behaviour right or wrong. Few are honestly thinking about what "good" looks like.

So what does the financial crisis tell us about how we decide right from wrong? Well, the way I explain it is to ask people to think about how we learn right from wrong from the day we're born.

The first stage in our moral development is "Ego". As babies, we're born with an overwhelming, simple and primitive will to survive. We are greedy, selfish and fearful. If not, we will die. And not only do our parents tolerate this behaviour, they positively encourage it.

At about the age of 12-18 months, we begin to communicate verbally with our parents and they then begin to tell us what's right and wrong and reward and punish us accordingly. This second stage is "Rule Compliance". Doing what's right means simply doing what you're told. Don't think, just obey. This stage in our moral development will normally evolve by the time we go to primary school.

At the same time, another process begins as we begin to sense another dimension in doing what's right. This is "Social Conscience", when doing what's right is doing what's best for others, the common good. We can also understand this in terms of friendship, altruism and compassion and this stage is normally evolved by the time we become teenagers.

The final stage is "Principled Conscience", the development of an internal moral compass based on character traits such as courage, fairness, willpower, love and hope. What is right may not be what's best for us, or indeed what's best for others - in the short term at least. What's right is about living our lives according to these principles, tough though they are. Moral grown-ups understand that life is not about achieving personal happiness or material success, it's about well-being. We see this most clearly in the self-sacrifice of parents or friends. We see this in the devotion of healthcare  workers or the bravery of fire-fighters.

(Nick, why not insert the attached graph of moral development from the ethicability Moral DNA Report in a box?)

So let's now return to the current financial and economic crisis and ask ourselves how the behaviour we've witnessed over the last few years fits into this model? Well for me it's pretty obvious that the financial and economic boom was a product of Ego, moral infancy and the belief that we can have whatever we want, without consequence. 

What's equally depressing for me is to witness a media and political response based on the assumption that the behaviour of mature adults can be changed by a simple reliance on Rule Compliance, i.e. "tougher regulation" and the moral philosophy of the school playground. Where's the belief in common good and shared responsibilities? What's happened to courage, self-discipline and compassion?

For me, this financial and economic crisis is a gentle warning of yet more devastating consequences for all of us if we continue with this childish philosophy of indulgence, tempered by blind obedience to Big Brother. Yes, we're all rightly concerned about unemployment and repossessions, but global warming, poverty and social injustice pose a greater and yet more fundamental threat to our civilization and the fate of billions. We can only confront these challenges as moral grown-ups. We need to combine tough stoic virtues with a sense of shared responsibility and compassion for all humanity and all life on this planet.

For the cynics out there, this isn't simply wishful thinking. This philosophy already underpins our family lives and the way we are with our friends. We rally round when a child dies or when it snows. At work, we simply need to approach our working lives as human beings first and business people or public servants second. I know this sounds like motherhood and apple pie, but I've never understood why people sneer at this wholesome philosophy. The words "economy" and "ecology" are both derived from "oikos" the ancient Greek word for home. Ecology means caring. Economy means less not more. We forget that most human beings on this planet are peasant farmers, crafts people or shop-keepers, all businesses based on the family unit and the home. On the other hand, most of our multinational corporate organizations resemble machines that suck in, process and then dump "human resources" in the pursuit of relentless material growth, the philosophy of the cancer cell.

Returning to Shanghai, this is a city that epitomizes the philosophy of the cancer cell. The high-rise construction, the freeways and its coal-fired power stations are monuments to a philosophy that is unsustainable. Deep down, the Chinese know this. Their own philosophical traditions of Confucianism and Taoism are in tune with our own ancient traditions of virtue and the common good. The challenge for all of us to confront the brutal realities and consequences of the lives we lead. Truth hurts, but denial kills. We need to return to the true meaning of the word "economy" and the  philosophy that less is more.

Source: Roger Steare www.rogersteare.com

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