Postcrisis angst can be seen in expressions of concern like these:
immersion in contemporary business culture seems to lead many people away from fulfillment and well-being and instead diverts them toward vice, making them greedy, materialistic, and avaricious;
such vice is seen in many corporate leaders, such as narcissistic “rock star” CEOs of distressed firms;
the free market appears to sometimes lead to gross unfairness, as witnessed in outrage over excessive executive pay, particularly when lavished upon lackluster and, in some cases, seemingly talentless, chiefs of enterprises; and
toiling away in today's vicious bureaucratic ethos may place the authentic human self in jeopardy, crowding out existential and social values that might otherwise promote responsible business conduct.
If allegations like these hold water, why would anybody contemplate pursuing a life in the business world (even if you get a corner office)? Indeed, coming to terms with such deep moral qualms about business culture requires turning attention to ideas from ancient wisdom. Perhaps the notions of virtue and character as understood in early philosophical thought will provide a good place to begin finding a path toward reclaiming faith in business, or at least gaining a keener understanding of what is at stake in the effort to do so.
Ancient Roots of Virtue
Turning the clock back quite a bit, we find an idea in Confucian and Taoist philosophies that virtue is a precondition for harmonious living. The premise that human society is built upon a foundation of virtue is expressed eloquently in the following passage from the Great Learning (Daxue):
Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning.
The ancients, who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the kingdom, first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their states, they first regulated their families.
Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.
Things being investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere. Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified. Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated. Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated. Their families being regulated, their states were rightly governed. Their states being rightly governed, the whole kingdom was made tranquil and happy. From the Son of Heaven (the emperor) down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of the person as the root of everything else. When the root is neglected, what should spring from it cannot be well ordered. It never has been the case that what was of great importance has been neglected, or that what was of minor importance has been cared for greatly.1
Simply put, in order to attain excellence, and to place everything in a well-ordered state of peace, you must begin by rectifying your own heart.
We find a similar pronouncement in the Tao Te Ching:
Let the Tao be present in your life
and you will become genuine.
Let it be present in your family
and your family will flourish.
Let it be present in your country
and your country will be an example
to all countries in the world.
Let it be present in the universe
and the universe will sing.
How do I know this is true?
By looking inside myself.2
These eloquent passages imply that the most significant task a leader can undertake is to cultivate virtue. Virtue is cultivated not for the leader's own sake, not for her own glory, but for that of others. Listen to Lao Tse:
The Master has no mind of her own.
She works with the mind of the people.3
Perhaps we can distill these ancient insights into a terse message for those holding themselves out as business leaders today: stop acting as if it's all about you and your big ego; get your own act together, then help your people do the same; everyone will be better off as a result.
Moving thousands of miles away from ancient China to the origins of philosophical thought in Greece, we find Aristotle asserting something very similar. Aristotle does not separate living a life that is good for oneself from living a life that is good for one's community, for human beings are by their nature communal creatures.
Let's explore in detail the thought process by which Aristotle, one of the greatest philosophers of all time, establishes this viewpoint.
Aristotle
Aristotle's moral thought is aimed at human happiness. By offering a universal account of happiness, or flourishing, Aristotle stresses the importance of practicing virtue, that is, persistently behaving in a way that satisfies our highest potential.
Pursuant to their nature, people are drawn to demonstrate virtues such as courage, generosity, self-control, prudence, and wisdom, whether inside or outside the sphere of business. Yet virtues are not exercised to reach monetary triumph. Indeed, financial achievement is taken to mean that which is needed to underwrite the life of virtue.
For Aristotle, leaders of associations are among those exemplifying virtuous life.
An Aristotelian approach to business—a virtuosity mind-set—shows that business will rise to the highest moral level by having virtuous leaders, not only at the top, although that is necessary, but at all levels of the enterprise. In turn, such leaders will, by exercising virtue, foster ethical economic cultures.
It is good to keep two points in mind. The first is that the relative degree of prosperity generated by today's market economies accords a substantial amount of time for leisure, offering contemplative opportunities to a larger segment of the populace than existed in Aristotle's time. The second point is that today's business organizations all around the world offer a more extensive assortment of opportunities for leadership as compared to ancient times, when an elevated governmental position would have provided the only real chance to direct a sizeable outfit.
Adopting an Aristotelian outlook on leadership means enabling people to know themselves. It means helping people understand that a vast gulf separates merely living from living well. Virtue comes into the picture the moment we deliberately choose to seek excellence. You display virtue insofar as you opt to cultivate your distinctive talents and abilities, especially your higher-level capabilities of thought and feeling. Should you have the good fortune to hold a position as head of an organization, you display virtuosity to the degree that you are able to assist others to attain happiness and to realize their own human excellence.
When you think about it, we are all, in a real way, already leaders, or could develop into leaders. We just don't realize it. If we consider that parents are “leaders” of their children, and that those who occupy even foundation-level positions in organizations of any size face countless opportunities on the frontier of day-to-day interactions with others (customers, colleagues, supervisors) to set a nobler example, to point to a higher path through excellence and virtuous conduct, then everyone is, from a broadened perspective, truly a leader.
Virtue and the Good Life
Aristotle launched his study of the nature of morality in Nicomachean Ethics with the observation that all paths ultimately lead to the good: “Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared