Ethics: Finding True North: Formulating and Deploying a Systematic Approach to Ethical Decision Making

Leadership takes place not in theory but in action, and the practice of ethics is an important component of leadership activity. The approach to ethical decision making adopted in this book is designed to provide an effective road map for ethical action, effective decision making, and the exercise of conscious choice. The 21st Century promises to challenge the human race as never before, especially in the West, where cultural evolution has moved through the post-modern Information Age into a Knowledge Age, an era of escalating dynamic and detail complexity. In this new era, we will need more than just the knowledge distilled from raw information. We will need the wisdom that comes from using our knowledge effectively in our decision making. We will need new worldviews, new mental models, and new understanding of consciousness. And we will need a new approach to ethics.In Ethics: Finding True North, Peter A. Schuller develops a new decision-making model that can be deployed to handle emerging ethical issues, within the larger context of the ?system? that is American society. Drawing on systems thinking and behavioral concepts derived from in 21st century neuroscience, Mr. Schuller takes both a theoretical and practical approach to this ethical decision making and demonstrates how it can improve the operating efficiency of all types of organizations. Specifically, this ethical decision-making model adopts the following approach: 1) it is systems based, just as organizational development thinking is systems based; 2) it is process oriented, because efficient organizations understand and know how to implement process; 3) it goes beyond the traditional categorical orientation of ethics (deontological, situational, utilitarian), yet encompasses all the critical moral concerns of those approaches; 4) it can be applied at different levels of complexity, depending on the exigencies of any given ethical dilemma; and 5) it approaches corporate ethics in particular, emphasizing

Peter A. Schuller has written on a variety of topics, including spirituality and intelligence, in both fiction and non-fiction. He is currently working on a series of novels that tell a story about how keys functions of the human brain create critical aspects of mind that drive our decision making, spiritual journeys, and search for meaning. Mr. Schuller is a former practicing lawyer who has taught Law and Ethics at Pepperdine?s Graziadio Business School and whose management consulting activities have covered numerous different ethical issues and practical applications. In addition to his management consulting and writing activities, Mr. Schuller is currently engaged in forming a think tank to promote cross-disciplinary research and publication work among scientists, theologians, and philosophers. In preparation for this initiative, he completed a fellowship (in 2006) during which he studied neuroscience at Harvard and theology at the Episcopal Divinity School. Mr. Schuller grew up in Beirut, Lebanon and has traveled extensively, in his work and for pleasure. He holds degrees from Trinity College and Vanderbilt Law School.