Values, Morals, Ethics, where do we begin in 2020?

This year, I had an epiphany that has made a profound change in my outlook on life. I decided to stop debating and arguing about ethics and morality because I believe that these elements do not exist as standalone concepts in the world that we live in. At the core of morality and ethics is the idea of values that are epitomized through the results that we receive in the human systems and constructs that we have created. If you do not believe me ask yourself the following questions:

1) Is it morally or ethically just for an achievement gap to exist that has the potential to ultimately dictate the life expectancy of children as early as the third grade? Is it morally or ethically just for a parent to tell me that they do not want their child to be a statistic? With an increasing achievement gap amongst our students of color, how do we make sense of morality and ethics in education?

2) Stealing is wrong. Is it morally or ethically just to penalize a person that stole to feed their family if they did not have access to any other options? Is the actual problem hiding within the fact that morally and ethically, we have individuals that could not obtain the food to feed their family to begin with?

3) Taking another life is wrong, morally, and ethically wrong. Does this concept apply when countries were engaged in war? What about if the life was taken in self-defense? Is the consequence the same based on our morality and ethics?

These three questions, if based on Morality and Ethics, would be crystal clear. We have this desire to create a world that defines the outcomes without identifying the source of the problems. Based on the concept of Morality and Ethics, we would take proactive measures to ensure that the root cause of these problems would not exist in our society.

A quick Google search produced the following definitions:

Values were defined as "the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something" or "a person's principles or standards of behavior; one's judgment of what is important in life."

Morality was defined as "principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior.

Ethics was defined as "moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity." The term ethic added to this definition by placing an emphasis on, "a moral set of principles, especially ones relating to or affirming a specified group, field or form of conduct."

Values, Morality, and Ethics are often seen as interchangeable and synonymous with one another. However, a quick google search demonstrated the interconnections and created an order that I believe to be Values, Morality, and then Ethics.

I believe that values provide a definition for our lives that is validated by our experiences. This is why we must connect with one another. It is only through our connections that we can create shared values that enhance our society. Please do not assume that we have the same values because we work for the same organization or that there is a policy in place. Shared vision comes from an alignment of interconnected individuals towards a common goal. Our interconnections allow us to learn from one another and garner another perspective. We will not always alter our values, but we may be able to understand one another, and that in itself has the power to impact our ideology of morality and ethical behavior.

This year, with my staff, we assessed our values by doing a value self-assessment. A value self-assessment allows you to understand your espoused values and your values in action.
Then we wrote personal mission statements using our values.
We shared our mission statements.
From the shared value self-assessment and personal mission statements, we will be able to create a shared vision based on the values of the individuals in our organization.

This year, I will be choosing three words like my Courageous Leadership Partner Jennifer Hogan. My second word is Duality. I will be sharing that with you tomorrow.