Moral Compass

A compass is a navigational tool used to guide its user in a desired direction. It has four directions; east, west, north and south. A moral compass, which I have recently learned, is also used to guide its user in a desired direction. A moral compass, when used, will provide its user moral focus as the user learns to lead in an ever more challenging and demanding world throughout their life and career. A good leader needs a moral compass that will keep the leader grounded in his most cherished values while negotiating and collaborating with people who may have radically different value systems and lifestyles. As does a navigational compass, a moral compass also has four major directions, or parts. Moral Vision, Moral Code, Moral Fitness, and Moral Performance make up the directions of the moral compass. While learning about the moral compass, I have reflected on my past and thought about my future, both personally and professionally. I have taken the four directions of the moral compass and applied them to my own life and career.

MORAL VISION

Moral vision is the spiritual and affective aspect of moral identity expressed in the power of myth, narrative, and images representing core values. This, in my opinion, is the most important of all of the moral compass directions. Although my moral vision is constantly being shaped by new experiences, it is my past experiences that affect my moral vision the most. My family life is what has shaped my moral vision to what it is today. First to shape my moral vision was my parents. Growing up, I watched my parents in their interactions with other people and during everyday situations. I attended Sunday school, per their direction, I played sports, and I went to school. While attending these functions, I acted in a manner that was consistent with what my parents were teaching me at home. If my parents had decided to teach me in a way that was negative to social interaction and unethical, I would have acted the same way in my own personal experiences while growing up. If my parents had not forced me to attend Sunday school, I might not have grown up to believe in God or religion in general. Although I personally believe each person is entitled to their own religion preference, without my own knowledge of a religion could be negative. Another element that shaped my moral vision while growing up was my involvement in sports. I was very fortunate to have parents who encouraged my involvement in sports and I was also very fortunate to have grown up in a neighborhood filled with children my age, who were also involved in sports. Participating in these athletic activities, whether they were official or not, helped shape my vision in a positive way. I witnessed how some children acted in regard to winning and losing and formulated my own opinion on their actions. I decided I enjoyed winning but I didn't want losing to affect me in a negative way. Sports, in my opinion, are invaluable in teaching that lesson. I also learned about teamwork. Teamwork is such a major element of my life and I believe sports helped me to become the best teammate that I can be. Another element that shaped my moral vision is the surroundings that I grew up in. I was very fortunate to grow up in a household with both of my parents, siblings and the financial stability to keep me unaware at a young age, of how harsh this world can be. My father seemed fairly successful to me and growing up, I always wanted to have a career like his and support a family like he did. I realize now, that I still hold that desire and it has shaped my moral vision to this day. My moral vision in my past has affected my moral vision in the present and probably the future. I too will demonstrate by example to my children, how to treat others. I will act ethically in while raising them, like my parents did for me. I will force them to experience a religion so that someday, they can formulate their own relationship with a religion. I will encourage them to participate in sports and other extracurricular activities. Hopefully, they too will take away the elements of good teamwork and proper winning and losing as I did growing up. My moral vision will also help to shape my professional future. As my career continues and my experience grows, I will hopefully be looked at as a good leader and teammate. Without the positive moral vision that I shaped while growing up, my future as a leader would not possible.

MORAL CODE

A moral code is the elements and framework used to shape my values and decisions throughout my life. Just as a pastor would base all actions on a bible, I base all actions on my moral code. I have always known that I have a moral code that I am following but until now, I have never attempted to articulate it. In the future, I hope to become a great leader for whatever company I am working for. It would probably be beneficial to me to figure out the major points and elements to my moral code. According to our course manual, "A Moral Code is a coherent system of reasoned beliefs and normative principles to guide behavior". Using the Primer Moral Theory information in our course manual required me to give this definition much thought and allowed me formulate some stances on the topics that were listed. For Cultural Relativism, which says different cultures have different moral codes, I found myself most disagreeing. Obviously, there are special situations and circumstances but for the most part, I believe that all cultures should follow the same universal set of moral values while keeping their religions separated. For Subjectivism, which says morality is based on individual feelings and opinions, I again found myself disagreeing. I believe there needs to be an objective basis for moral truth or fact. Otherwise, emotional morality could be used in a negative way by a society to excuse unethical actions. For Religion, which assumes there is a God and uses the commandments and bible to define good, bad, right and wrong, I find myself neutral. I don't believe business and public education should be allowed to pose their personnel beliefs on others who do not wish for that. I also believe that each individual should be allowed to believe in any religion they want and that should be their own business. They should not be treated in a negative way for this belief as long as this religion does require actions that are considered unethical or illegal. For Human Rights and Justice, which states human rights are inherent and inviolable, I find myself in agreement. I believe in having a basis for evaluating