When The Go Along, Get Along Just Won't Do
When The Go Along, Get Along Just Won't Do
Originally shared by Andreas Schou
On Not Being Evil: Making Ethical Decisions Under Pressure
This is really illuminating. Intense social pressure and the routinization of ethical decision-making easily lead to profound ethical failure. So, ten rules I try to follow to keep that from happening:
(1) You cannot exercise ethical judgment if you cannot quit when overruled on an important ethical issue. Save enough money that you can actually exercise judgment.
(2) Expediency is not ethics. Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes the ethical thing to do is expedient. Don't take the easy road, but don't be hostile to expediency just because expediency isn't ethics.
(3) Important decisions are measured in profound human misery. Very important decisions are measured in human lives. Face that down early, then make sure you continue to feel what that means. Understand that you will have to make these decisions regardless.
(4) Circumstances change. The relevance of variables changes. The state of your knowledge changes. Apparent inconsistency will result from that fact. Hurting people is worse.
(5) Make your easy decisions easy for the people you're working with. This will give you enough slack to make the hard decisions hard for them.
(6) Understand the incentives of people who have ethical disagreements with you. People you disagree with are not your enemies.
(7) You will sometimes have to act against the interests of people who are not your enemies. You will tend to overrate the amount you hurt them relative to the amount you hurt third parties. This will suck for you. This will suck for them.
(8) Make your decisions at a point in the process which makes sense. This is usually early, but sometimes the problem will be inchoate until late. Dithering to avoid conflict and deciding late will seem as though it's helping.
It isn't. It's wasting other people's hard work.
(9) There is a difference between "issues you don't fully understand" and "problems which need a solution." It may be that some issues you don't understand will turn out to be problems, but if you feel you don't understand something, find someone who does. Understand that person's interests: if there's a conflict of interest, get multiple viewpoints.
(10) Pay your debts. You will ask people to do hard things to avoid ethical failure. A third of your job is ensuring that people doing the right thing are rewarded for doing the right thing.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/01/what-was-volkswagen-thinking/419127
Originally shared by Andreas Schou
On Not Being Evil: Making Ethical Decisions Under Pressure
This is really illuminating. Intense social pressure and the routinization of ethical decision-making easily lead to profound ethical failure. So, ten rules I try to follow to keep that from happening:
(1) You cannot exercise ethical judgment if you cannot quit when overruled on an important ethical issue. Save enough money that you can actually exercise judgment.
(2) Expediency is not ethics. Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes the ethical thing to do is expedient. Don't take the easy road, but don't be hostile to expediency just because expediency isn't ethics.
(3) Important decisions are measured in profound human misery. Very important decisions are measured in human lives. Face that down early, then make sure you continue to feel what that means. Understand that you will have to make these decisions regardless.
(4) Circumstances change. The relevance of variables changes. The state of your knowledge changes. Apparent inconsistency will result from that fact. Hurting people is worse.
(5) Make your easy decisions easy for the people you're working with. This will give you enough slack to make the hard decisions hard for them.
(6) Understand the incentives of people who have ethical disagreements with you. People you disagree with are not your enemies.
(7) You will sometimes have to act against the interests of people who are not your enemies. You will tend to overrate the amount you hurt them relative to the amount you hurt third parties. This will suck for you. This will suck for them.
(8) Make your decisions at a point in the process which makes sense. This is usually early, but sometimes the problem will be inchoate until late. Dithering to avoid conflict and deciding late will seem as though it's helping.
It isn't. It's wasting other people's hard work.
(9) There is a difference between "issues you don't fully understand" and "problems which need a solution." It may be that some issues you don't understand will turn out to be problems, but if you feel you don't understand something, find someone who does. Understand that person's interests: if there's a conflict of interest, get multiple viewpoints.
(10) Pay your debts. You will ask people to do hard things to avoid ethical failure. A third of your job is ensuring that people doing the right thing are rewarded for doing the right thing.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/01/what-was-volkswagen-thinking/419127
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