Do All Ends Justify The Means? (Q&A)
Fred Kofman
Executive Coach | President at Conscious Business Center International - CBC
One of the most frequently asked questions posed by the members of the Conscious Business Friends Group during our live teleclasses is, "Do all ends justify the means?"
Henry Ford Said “Whether you believe you can do it, or whether you believe you can’t, you are right.”
I’ll change the quote slightly and say “Whether you believe the end justifies the means, or the end does not justify the means, you are right.”
If you believe it, and you want to live like that, it’s your choice. The justification comes from your own ethical system. I believe that the end doesn’t justify the means, but that is a personal belief. I am willing to advocate that following a personal philosophy that allows you to do anything so that you can be successful is going to bring great grief to you and people around you, because sooner or later you will do something that hurts you and other people. In the short term it may look functional, but in the long term is will be dangerous or a bad idea.
But I do not try to convince people about that. I think it is too personal and dangerous to get into people’s value systems when they are not ready to listen. If people want to consider the issue and are looking to live with more integrity or moral code that involves the principle that the ends don’t justify the means, then I am happy to help. I am happy to show the power of acting with integrity in the long-term: building relationships, taking care of people, taking care of self, taking care of the business. But it is too sensitive to enter into the value system of another person when they are not ready to listen to try to change their mind.
So I would wait until life shows him or her that there are some problematic consequences of their philosophy, and I trust that life will bring awareness to this person, hopefully in a way that’s recoverable. And then at that point there will be an opportunity to share an alternative if they are open to that.
These thoughts are shared in the video below as well:
Should you have any difficulty viewing the video please click here to view on Fred's slideshare page.
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Fred Kofman is Vice President Of Leadership and Organizational Development at Linkedin. Follow Fred Kofman on LinkedIn here. To stay connected and get updates please visit Conscious Business Academy and join our Conscious Business Friends group.
Southern Area Manager, OPMAS-E Program at Vectrus
9 年I personally think Ford's comment was a lot more about success equals (self) motivation than ethics; certainly he had no shortage of the former and many of his practices in these days would lead you to question the latter. There really is no good "business case" where the ends justify the means. The practice, however beneficial the result at the time, will eventually be the complete loss of trust in a person, a company or a society; and without trust, they all will cease to function. Morals aside, this is about survival. All of humanity (and business) institutions have to have trust integrated within them to work properly (or you will have anarchy) and you have to have some kind of regulation/law/self control; when the ends justify the means. all of these are defeated. I've dealt with a number of cases over the years where people felt the ends justified the means (sooner or later, they all ended badly) and in every one of them, in one form or another, they all said it seemed right/fair/good to them. And that was true; it was completely just for them, but pretty unjust/wrong/unfair/harmful for everyone else. The memories of cleaning those messes up was quite enough proof for me of the folly that the idea is.
A lawyer and a whistleblower
9 年Fred Kofman, I happen to think that the answer to such a general question can only be answered with a resonating NO by any moral person, because even the most noble of ends (saving the life of a sick infant) cannot morally justify all means (taking the life of a healthy infant). That's why I can't agree with your amended quote by Ford. I must say I was curious to learn LinkedIn has a resident philosopher (thanks to Milos Djukic comment), I read your impressive profile and can only assume you get frustrated a lot there :-)
Full Professor, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Subject Editor - International Journal of Hydrogen Energy by Elsevier, Reviewer - European Research Council (ERC), Fellow of the ESIS (fesis)
9 年We are not judges, nor are they accused.
Leader. Motivator. Relationship Builder. Procurement Expert. Information Professional.
9 年I agree that the answer "comes from your own ethical system".
Senior Engineering Manager at Apple
9 年never!