The Ethical Lexicon #57: Stuck in a rut? Rethink your mastermind

Did you hear the one about the vascular surgeon who walked into a plumbers convention?

Actually, it was a group of vascular surgeons and a group of plumbers, it wasn’t a convention, and this isn’t a joke. It’s one of the most intriguing stories I’ve heard from the world of mastermind groups—the mentoring collaboratives designed to provide support and advice among professional peers.

A mastermind group typically comprises members from the same discipline, whether writers or lawyers, accountants or manufacturers, surgeons or plumbers.

But an alternative school of thought argues that more can be accomplished by mixing people from different, but not totally disconnected, disciplines.

That's the topic of this week's column in Fast Company. Read it here:

Highlights from the past week:

??Just sit back and listen.

NO... LEAN IN AND PARTICIPATE!

That's what ?? Dennis Pitocco had in mind when he conceived the next iteration of platform presentations as part of the international community he has built to serve others and uplift human kind.

No passive absorption of stylized, formulaic pontificating here.

Rather, a dynamic, interactive forum to leverage the insights of individual speakers and blend them with the wisdom of the crowd.

Please register to participate in my upcoming INSTEAD TALK. The virtual doors open at 8:45 am ET for a gathering of original and inspirational thinkers:

What Gets In the Way of Doing Work We Love? by Ozlem Brooke Erol

Authenticity as an Accelerator by Angela Priest

Unleashing Your Inner Potential: The Power of the 3G Cycle by Miriam Zylberglait (Dr.Z) ??

Your Brain Needs a New CEO by Kyle Kane

Authenticity in Practice by Tracy Borreson

I'll be closing the session at 2:00 pm ET with Why Binary Thinking is the Root of All Evil.

Please register to receive your link. I look forward to seeing you there.

??n the summer of 2000, Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore chose Senator Joe Lieberman as his running mate.

Within hours, the phone rang. It was Christine Bertelson, my editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, calling to ask if I could have an op-ed for her within 24 hours.

Of course, I said yes.

I knew little about the Connecticut senator at the time. Over the years that followed, although he never made it to the White House, I learned to respect him as a man of uncommon integrity, especially in the amoral quagmire of Washington, D.C.

He was a true man of character, a true leader of principle. We need more like him, and he will be missed.

Here is the article I published nearly a quarter century ago.

??Along with gun rights, border protection, and trans-athletes, one of our most contentious issues is Daylight Savings Time.

That's the issue the ethics panel takes up when Jennifer H. Elder, CSP, CPA, Diane Helbig, and ?? Mark O'Brien join me in this episode of Grappling with the Gray.

Here is our topic:

It’s almost that time again. Get ready to set your clocks forward an hour. Or is it back an hour?

Some people love daylight savings time. Some people hate it. And some people don’t care, don’t see what the point is, or just don’t like the semi-annual ritual of changing the clocks.

In March, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Standard Time Act, putting daylight savings time into effect for the first time in the U.S. to save energy costs during WWI. In February 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt did the same thing.

When the 1973 oil embargo hit, President Richard Nixon signed year-round DST into law, hoping to ease the national gas crisis. The time change proved unpopular. According to NBC News, Eight Florida children died in traffic accidents that were linked to the time change, which was reversed in October 1974 by President Gerald Ford.

Two years ago, Senator Marco Rubio introduced the Sunshine Act in an effort to make DST permanent once again. And once again, there was great debate.

What are the ethical questions involved in changing the clocks, especially given that the 24 hour clock seems an arbitrary construct? Arguments that DST saves energy usage and saves lives on the highway are widely contested, and the benefits for agricultural work are similarly unclear, especially in our age of mechanization.

Is this all much ado about nothing, or is there really a compelling argument one way or the other? How do we approach the issue in a way that takes all views into account?

Enjoy the conversation here:

#ethics #culture #communication #leadership #perspective