Questions On Teaching Of Jesus Essay - 957 Words

Please address each question below with complete sentences and clear, specific explanation. The total word count (including all questions and your answers) should be between 750-1,250 words. 1. Select one teaching of Jesus from one of the following Bible verses (underline passage): Matthew 5:21-24, Matthew 5:43-48, Matthew 6:19-24, Matthew 7:15-23, Luke 15:1-32, John 13:1-17, 34-35, John 15:1-11. Answer the following questions: a. What was Jesus’ point in the teaching? Jesus deeply loved his disciples. They were his closest friends and he spent a great deal of time with them. This act of washing feet was symbolic. It was an act of love. Jesus deeply loved his disciples. They were his closest friends and he spent a great deal of time with them. He loved them now and until the end (John 13:1, NIV). He knew what lay ahead (John 13:1). It was Jesus’ way of underscoring an important message of his ministry on earth, which was to love and serve others. Washing of feet is a lowly act that servants do for their masters. By rights, the disciples should have washed the feet of Jesus. Jesus was their teacher, and their Lord. He was God. Instead, he humbled himself to do this lowly act for those he so dearly loved. He stressed to his disciples that they too should wash the feet of each other, to humble themselves, serve others, and not expect others to serve them. Jesus also knew who would betray him. Yet it does not stop him from washing the feet of Judas. That actShow MoreRelatedThe s Social Status Of The Community Essay982 Words   |  4 Pagesaudience might have question about establishing the limit of who was with them and who was not with them instead of focusing against the enemy, Satan. Mark wanted the audience to follow Jesus’ teaching that whoever wanted to be first must become last of all and servant of all. He also wanted them to know that a man could not use Jesus’ name to do mighty work and speak evil of him later. He concluded that â€Å"for whoever is not against us is for us†. Mark mentioned Jesus’ teaching on selfless serviceRead MoreThe 10 : 1-12, The Pharisees Test Jesus1479 Words   |  6 PagesIn Mark 10:1-12, the Pharisees test Jesus by questioning whether divorce is lawful. Jesus first tells the Pharisees to remember what Moses commanded them. Then, he recalls God’s original intentions around marriage by talking about the beginning of time, stating that from the beginning God made male and female to join and become one flesh that no one can separate. Later, the disciples ask Jesus again about this matter. Jesus teaches that if a man or woman divorces and remarries, he or she is committingRead MoreEssay on CWV101914 Words   |  4 Pagesaddress each question below with complete sentences and clear, specific explanation. The total word count of your writing should be between 750-1,250 words. 1. Select one teaching of Jesus from one of the following Bible verses: Matthew 5:21-24, Matthew 5:43-48, Matthew 6:19-24, Matthew 7:15-23, Luke 15:1-32, John 13:1-17 34-35, John 15:1-11. Answer the following questions: a. What was Jesus’ point in the teaching? In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus is teaching that In Matthew 5:21-24, Jesus addresses hisRead MoreChristianity and Jesus Essay example750 Words   |  3 PagesLlanes Please address each question below with complete sentences and clear, specific explanation. The total word count of your writing should be between 750-1,250 words. 1. Select one teaching of Jesus from one of the following Bible verses: Matthew 5:21-24, Matthew 5:43-48, Matthew 6:19-24, Matthew 7:15-23, Luke 15:1-32, John 13:1-17 34-35, John 15:1-11. Answer the following questions: a. What was Jesus’ point in the teaching? In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus is teaching that one should love theirRead MoreThe Teachings Of The Bible933 Words   |  4 Pagesto uncover to the teaching of the bible, the nature of Jesus Christ, or the purpose of his ministry. . The teachings of Jesus are seen through the bibles not directly but though different parables. In Jesus teachings, He uses parables to teach his people how to live their lives. He does this by comparing life on earth to the kingdom of God. To help people understand, he used examples of people in everyday life to base his stories on, so that the people to whom he was teaching could relate to whatRead MoreThe Teaching of Jesus Essay1183 Words   |  5 Pages Will the teachings of Jesus Christ be able to survive the 3rd millennium? Jesus emphasized the actions and teachings of God by using his life as an example of Gods ways. He was an exact representation of God which made him God as well. Jesus referred to the history of God in his teachings. He used the basis of Gods teachings that God demonstrated through Adam, Abraham and David. There were approximately 4000 years between the start of man up to the time of Christs birth. Then for the last 2000Read MoreJesus There Is An Important Quote That Summarizes The Complete Chapter And What929 Words   |  4 Pages The question focused on in Chapter four titled â€Å"Jesus† there is an important quote that summarizes the complete chapter and what is the identity of Jesus. â€Å"If Christ was only man, then He is entirely irrelevant to any thought about God; if He is only God, then He is entirely irrelevant to any experience of human life† (75). This explains that God is a different figure than Christ but they are the same person. The study of Jesus is called Christology and there are many names in the bible that JesusRead MoreThe Christian Worldview Is The Most Radical And Counter Culture Belief955 Words   |  4 Pagesteach Jesus Christ. One of the major examples of this is when it comes to how Christianity views people who have other beliefs. In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus commands his followers and disciples (like Matthew) to love their enemies instead of hating them. This is apparent when he says â€Å"I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you† (Matthew 5:44. NIV). Jesus gives this commandment during the famous Sermon on the Mount. Which arguably had the largest crowd of any of His teaching so itRead MoreAnnouncing The Reign Of God835 Words   |  4 Pagesillustrations for Christian evangelism based on the teachings of Jesus. Which is grounded in the ministry of Christ and affirmed by evide nce and experiences contributed from a diverse group of witnesses. Arias’, main point of view, analyzes the Kingdom of God as the governing authority for the proclamation of the gospel in word and deed. He explores biblical sources, particularly the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke with the intent to examine Jesus evangelization. The titles for the readings appraisesRead MoreEssay on Differences About Jesus in Islam and Christianity743 Words   |  3 PagesDifferences About Jesus in Islam and Christianity First off, by way of clarification, in the Christian faith, Jesus is considered to be much more than a Prophet. The Christian belief is that He was and is the Son of God. Moreover, Christ is considered to be superior to the Old Testament prophets (Hebrews 1:1-14). Jesus then commissioned His apostles to preach His words and doctrines (Matt 28:19,20). As such, the writings of the apostles, as found in the New Testament

Business Communication Economic and Environmental

Question: Discuss about the Business Communication for Economic and Environmental. Answer: Introduction: Climate includes patterns of the temperature, rainfall, wind, humidity and seasons. The patterns play an important role in shaping the ecosystem. Climate is continuously changing with disturbing impacts, and the change is progressing faster than ever (Change 2013). The earth is getting warm day by day with the rising level of the carbon dioxide and heat trapping gases in the atmosphere. Climate changes have also affected the rising of the sea level, melting snow and ice, fires and dearth, rainfall and floods. Climate change effect in Australia Australia faces great economic and environmental influences because of climate change. It impacts several sectors like agriculture, water security, coastal communities as well as the infrastructure (Rogelj 2013). The threats and effects are great and must be dealt with utmost care to minimize them. Predictions show that global warming negatively affects the diverse continents weather, climate and the whole ecosystem. One of the significant changes can be noticed in Australias costal ecosystem and temperate zones. The important wetlands have degraded. Australia is highly affected because of the presence of arid and semi-arid areas, variability in the annual rainfall and the ever increasing pressure on water supply. This increases the chance of forest and bush fires. The savanna grasslands are affected highly because of the frequent bush fires. The habitats in the alpine system have shifted to high altitude (Head et al. 2014). The alpine area has also reduced in area coverage. The Great Barrier Reef, which is one of greatest tourist attraction of the country, faces significant threat because the extreme climate changes. The tourism industry faces great set back because of this. More importantly most the population of Australia is concentrated on the coastal areas. The lives of the people require to be safeguarded too. The warmer climate is forcing the marine life to move and this in turn is degrading the ecosystem of the reef. This also leads to relocation of human settlement as well. Bush fires are one of the biggest concerns of the firefighters. With the climate change the intensity and frequency have gone up. Australia is one of the three most fire-prone places in the whole world (Nyberg et al. 2013.). Southern Australia faces higher risk of such fire break outs and extended fire season. Weather conditions have become extreme because of human interference. The whole continent faces heat waves, which pose threat to the human health. People suffer from heat stress, especially the young children and the elderly people. Many people lost their lives during the heat waves in 2009 (Burton 2014). The changing weather and climatic conditions have great impacts on the infrastructure of the country. Mostly the transportation and the electricity industry face great challenges. The demand for electricity rises with the rise in temperature during the extreme heat waves in the summer. Several trains and bus services are called off during the heat waves for issues like air conditioning failures. Infrastructures are at risk because of the rising sea levels and erosion of the coastal areas. Those who are responsible for climate change Global warming and climate change all over the world is the result of human interference. The excessive human activities are harming the environment from where it cannot repair itself. The regular work and daily routines of human beings have increased the greenhouse gas emission. These gasses are trapping more heat in the atmosphere leading to significant rise in the temperature. The icecaps of the poles are melting; as a result the sea level is gradually rising. Carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the greenhouse gases is responsible for trapping the heat within the earths atmosphere. Enormous amount of CO2 is released into the atmosphere everyday as human beings exhale, plants and animals decay, emissions from the motor vehicles and so on. For hundreds of thousands of years the carbon cycle of the earth was steady and balanced. Since the industrial growth in the nineteenth century CO2 emissions spiked because of the CO2 released from the fossil fuel powered motor vehicles and machineries, cement manufacturing, deforestation and many more. The equilibrium was lost as humongous amount of CO2 was being released into the atmosphere faster than the hydrosphere and biosphere and land could take it up. Almost forty five percent of the emission remained and accumulated gradually in the atmosphere (Sinha et al. 2012). The changes in the earths carbon cycle can be known from the measurement on land, in the ocean and the atmosphere from various modeling studi es. This accumulation of CO2 along with chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) further degraded the situation. Regular appliances like the refrigerator and the air conditioner give out huge amounts of CFCs. The changing weather and climatic conditions will make Australia drier and will eventually lead to food shortage. The foliage will dry out during the extreme summer heat waves and the grasslands will be decreasing in number. Agriculture as well as cattle rearing will face setbacks. The problem of water supply will increase as wetlands will decrease in number because of the heat as well as low rainfall. Human lives will also suffer greatly. People have lost more lives because of the heat waves than the cold season. There is a change of flooding in the coastal areas as the sea level rises. There will be stronger winds and storms and extreme temperatures. The ecosystem will change so people as well as animals will migrate to other parts of the continent. Cost of living will go high with such reallocation and settlement. The ways that the climate change can be prevented in Australia First and foremost step towards reducing the effects of global warming is awareness. The citizens of Australia must be aware of the ways they should practice to bring down the CO2 emissions. This can be achieved by introducing the young children to present state of global warming and teaching them the ways to reduce greenhouse gasses (Fankhauser 2013). There should be awareness programs in the offices too. When people will be aware that their simple actions can save the earth they will be more careful with what they choose to do. They will think of the future when buying a car with low carbon emission. Children who learn about the problems of climate changes will be more sensitive to the issue and will become more capable adults. Australia must implement a plan which includes the whole nation rid the country of pollution. Fossil fuels are major factors, which lead to emission of greenhouse gases. Switching over to renewable energy like wind, thermal and solar energy will reduce the use of fossil fuels. It will also help the country prepare for a phase out exports of fossil fuel. The renewable energy is cleaner and sustainable. Australia should aim to reduce the carbon pollution by thirty percent by the year 2020 (Warren et al. 2013). The country should make greater improvement in the renewable energy and arrange a fair price on carbon. This will lead to further reduction in the carbon emission. By 2030 they should be able to retain as well as increase the target of renewable energy to 50%. Another step that the government can take for the electricity generators is to provide an emission performance standard. A supportive framework must be created to curtail the emission of the motor vehicles and transportations. Electrifying the transportation system will bring the carbon emission significantly. Australia is on its way to implement the best possible practices which will make them efficient in use of energy (Harvey 2015).They should implement new and innovative methods to manage the carbon in the atmosphere and the landscape. They should work to reduce the carbon footprint in the agriculture as well. The whole world is interconnected and Australia too should start working with the other nations to save planet earth. They should come to terms with climate agreements which are reasonable and legal. Conclusion Due to many manmade disasters and use of fossil fuels, the atmosphere of the earth is filled with greenhouse gases, which are trapping the heat. It is necessary to take charge and change the habits to save the only planet that is capable of sustaining humankind. The whole world is facing severe threats because of the climate change. The countries need to come together to solve this problem. It is important to think about the future generation and build a sustainable future for them. Australia must take quick actions to save the nation from downing, food shortage and infrastructural failure. Simple ways of using pool to reach office, reducing use of fossil fuels and saving water will make the world a better place for the next generation. The more time is lost in acting against this problem the more severe the threats will be for Australia. Australia is an educated, healthy and wealthy society. They are well prepared to adapt to the climate change. They have the capacity to address and influence the climatic changes that are taking place in other places of the world too. References: Burton, P.A., 2014. Policy responses to climate change in Australia: contestation, complexity and uncertainty. Change, I.C., 2013. The physical science basis. Contribution of working group I to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change.K., Tignor, M., Allen, SK, Boschung, J., Nauels, A., Xia, Y., Bex, V., Midgley, PM, Eds, p.1535. Fankhauser, S., 2013.Valuing climate change: the economics of the greenhouse. Routledge. Harvey, L.D., 2015.Global warming. Routledge. Head, L., Adams, M., McGregor, H.V. and Toole, S., 2014. Climate change and Australia.Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change,5(2), pp.175-197. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2015.Climate change 2014: mitigation of climate change(Vol. 3). Cambridge University Press. Nyberg, D., Spicer, A. and Wright, C., 2013. Incorporating citizens: corporate political engagement with climate change in Australia.Organization,20(3), pp.433-453. Rogelj, J., 2013. Long-term climate change: projections, commitments and irreversibility. Sinha, R., Pearson, L.A., Davis, T.W., Burford, M.A., Orr, P.T. and Neilan, B.A., 2012. Increased incidence of Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii in temperate zonesis climate change responsible?.Water Research,46(5), pp.1408-1419. Warren, R., VanDerWal, J., Price, J., Welbergen, J.A., Atkinson, I., Ramirez-Villegas, J., Osborn, T.J., Jarvis, A., Shoo, L.P., Williams, S.E. and Lowe, J., 2013. Quantifying the benefit of early climate change mitigation in avoiding biodiversity loss.Nature Climate Change,3(7), pp.678-682.

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Monetary Policy and the Economy essays

Monetary Policy and the Economy essays Using the tools of monetary policy, the Federal Reserve can affect the volume of money and credit and their price-interest rates. In this way, it influences employment, output, and the general level of prices. THE FEDERAL RESERVE ACT LAYS OUT the goals of monetary policy. It specifies that, in conducting monetary policy, the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Open Market Committee should seek to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates. Many analysts believe that the central bank should focus primarily on achieving price stability. A stable level of prices appears to be the condition most conducive to maximum sustained output and employment and to moderate long-term interest rates; in such circumstances, the prices of goods, materials, and services are undistorted by inflation and thus can serve as clearer signals and guides for the efficient allocation of resources. Also, a background of stable prices is thought to encourage saving and, indirectly, capital formation because it prevents the erosion of asset values by unanticipated inflation. However, policymakers must consider the long- and short-term effects of achieving any one goal. For example, in the long run, price stability complements efforts to achieve maximum output and employment; but in the short run, some tension can arise between efforts to reduce inflation and efforts to maximize employment and output. At times, the economy is faced with adverse supply shocks, such as a bad agricultural harvest or a disruption in the supply of oil, which put upward pressure on prices and downward pressure on output and employment. In these circum-stances, makers of monetary policy must decide the extent to which they should focus on defusing price pressures or on cushioning the loss of output and employment. At other times, policymakers may be concerned that the publics expectation of more infl...

Teaching and Learning Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Teaching and Learning Strategies - Essay Example Minority ethnic pupils are admitted more frequently than the past. In interviews with children from different minority ethnic groups there were some principal findings, the most important features of their self characterisation stemmed from their families. Most parents teach their children about their ethnic culture, home language and religion, making them to contact with the net work of the relatives or friends from the same ethnic background. Another factor that is influencing how they their ethnic identity is how they are perceived and treated outside home. Two thirds of the children had some exposure to community language within their household; regular attendance posed considerable challenges to the children who were at a distance from the centre of religious life, a number of alternative individual and private arrangements were made by the parents. Mixed heritage children formed a significant group among the minority ethnic groups; it was the common belief of many parents that this heritage posed additional problems of their child's development of the clear sense of identity. Sometimes there is a chance that these mixed heritage children are not accepted into the community and the teachers are rarely aware about this fact, moreover the uncertainty in dealing with the minority ethnic groups particularly with reference to the heritage group is acute. The majority of the children who had been at their school for a significant time were well integrated socially and enjoyed the same pattern of friendship with their peer group. Very few were harassed physically in the racist incidents, and the verbal abuse or hurtful calling in the school or during the school journey is

Statistics NonParametricTests Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Statistics NonParametricTests - Essay Example A chi square test to determine whether there is a difference in three or more samples proportions has a number of conditions, the main difference for the Chi square when comparing two independent sample proportion and more than three independent samples proportions is the value requirement in each cell. For the two samples test cells must have a value equal or greater than five while for the three independent samples the value should be greater than one. One of the conditions is that the observations must be independent. The other condition is that the data should be numeric and not percentages or proportions. Another condition is that the cells should have an expected value greater than one. Another condition is that the data should be categorical. A chi square test can also be undertaken to determine whether two samples are drawn from the same population, there are a number of conditions for this tests and one of them is that the samples should be random, the sample sizes should be relatively large because small sample sizes will yield inaccurate conclusions. The other condition is that all cells should have a value greater than zero and that all cells should have an expected value greater than 5, the other condition is that the observations should be independent. The McNemar test is a non parametric test that is used to compare two sample proportions when the two samples are correlated or related. When comparing two sample proportions the Chi square test can be used when the samples are independent, however if the samples are dependent the McNemar test is used. One of the conditions that need to met when using the McNemar test is that the test is comparing proportions, the two samples are dependent or related, when comparing nominal or categorical data and if the samples are matched pair, matched pair means that data contains before and after

Exemplary Leader Philosophy Paper Essay Example for Free

Exemplary Leader Philosophy Paper Essay I never aspired to be an ethical leader before this class. It is not that I acted unethically, but that I never understood the importance of being an ethical leader. As a child, I was constantly changing my mind about what I was going to be when I grew up, but never once did â€Å"ethical† cross my mind. It seems as though this is a common theme among human beings, that we see success through the masculine lens of materialism and consumerism. Being able to acquire the newest, biggest, most innovative thing is what motivates us from a very young age. This is not something to be necessarily ashamed about, because at one point or another, everyone acts out of self-interest and solely for self-advancement. The thing that has to change, however, is the amount of fully-grown adults who still act out of self interest, and more specifically, adults in leadership roles, managing corporations, institutions, cities, states, and countries, that pull their team in the right direction for themselves, and not necessarily for the organization. This class has taught me who I am, both as an individual and as a part of a cohesive team, who I can be, thanks to the concepts and thought-provoking readings and lectures, and how I can get there by utilizing these concepts and strategies. Throughout the course of this semester, I have been able to continue producing the same amount of success as I have in the past, but I have been able to do it the â€Å"right† way. By identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to those opportunities of my personality and character, I have been able to identify my true self. This identification process is the first step toward becoming an ethical and moral example for peers, subordinates, and even superiors, both in a professional sense and in a personal sense. â€Å"History shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is always with economics. Vested interests have never been known to have willingly divested themselves unless there was sufficient force to compel them.† – B. R. Ambedkar This quote, spoken by Indian scholar B. R. Ambedkar, shows the belief in the common phrase, â€Å"business ethics is an oxymoron.† It is this mentality that began the self-fulfilling prophecy that business leaders use as an excuse for unethical behavior. The â€Å"slippery slope† of ethical breakdowns, as Badaracco calls it, begins with a mentality that justifies the diversion of ethics and economics. Throughout the rest of this exploration of the current self, the prospective self, and the presentation of a development plan, I will disprove this mentality. Current Self In order to effectively assess one’s ethical and moral fortitude, one must objectively identify his strengths and weaknesses relative to being an exemplary ethical leader. Furthermore, one must then address each individual aspect of his personality, including character traits, values, and integrity through relative ethical concepts and principles. By executing this process, one can truly learn about oneself and identify the necessary steps to becoming the possible self, or leader he wants to become. The process of identifying your own strengths and weaknesses can be difficult, especially in terms of being completely unbiased and objective. The key to successfully doing this is in relying on factual evidence that supports each strength and weakness. To be considered either, however, there must be a certain consistency in terms of actions as well as intent, which proves the validity of each strength or weakness. During my self-exploration, I thought back to some of my first memories in order to serve as a foundation for my moral potency and character, and to see how my experiences have shaped my personality, both positively and negatively. This process has given me perspective and helped me attain the knowledge necessary to complete an objective report of my own personality, values, skills, characteristics, and motivations. Without this process, I would have been subject to a common decision making fallacy that was taught in my organizational behavior class, known as the tendency to use information at hand, which describes a person’s inclination to make a decision based on readily-available information, rather than fact-based evidence. In this case, the â€Å"readily-available information† would be anecdotes and experiences that â€Å"stick out† in my memory. These examples are not necessarily wrong to use, but basing my process on them wholly would provide data inconsistent with my true personality. Since I can remember, I have always been a fierce competitor. This is shown through my spirited drive to achieve that has permeated my entire life, from academics, to extracurricular activities, to athletics. This competitiveness has both positive and negative effects on my leadership abilities, because I am driven and motivated to achieve goals, but can prove dangerous in team situations where group consensus is necessary. The competitive nature that is ingrained in my personality can lead to a concept called â€Å"me-ism†, described by Badaracco in chapter 4, which explains the phenomenon of being so goal-oriented that you lose sight of the effects that your actions have on other people. This concept can also relate to Badaracco’s inattentional blindness and motivated blindness, which describe occurrences in which one’s personal goals or lack of careful observation override that person’s ability to sense an ethical dilemma. My competitive nature has led to many successes in my life, including winning the New York under-18 state hockey championship, becoming the first non-senior to be an alternate captain on the Wake Forest club ice hockey team, and of course being accepted into this business school. These examples are all evidence of my competitive nature, and describe my desire to lead and win simultaneously. The concept of the future is tremendously fascinating to me. In another BEM class that I took this semester, we did a personality assessment that included over one hundred twenty questions and returned your five biggest personality strengths, and â€Å"futurism† was one of mine. I truly enjoy thinking about the future because of its uncertainty. I feel so much potential and possibility for myself, which is strengthened by my competitiveness. My ability to constantly think about the future while still keeping my â€Å"feet on the ground† and completing my assignments in the present is one of my most powerful strengths. My futurism keeps me on track toward achieving my personal and organizational goals. Becoming a transformational leader begins with the futurist outlook combined with a strong moral potency, which is the combination of three moral factors: moral ownership, moral courage, and moral efficacy. Moral potency, when combined with futurism, provides a leader with a strong moral and ethical foundation on which to base decisions, as well as the ability to envision the potential of a given organization. By acting in this way, a leader can start a chain reaction called the contagion effect, which is the phenomenon that occurs by promoting a transparent, ethical, and fair environment, starting from the C-level executives and â€Å"infecting† every employee underneath. The aforementioned strengths of mine, a strong competitive nature and a futuristic outlook provide me with an ethically-ambiguous foundation, meaning that both highly ethical and highly unethical leaders sport these qualities, and the actions that I make within the next few years will decide on which end of the spectrum I fall. In order for me to ensure that I do not start down the slippery slope of unethical decisions, I must be conscious of the fact that each decision I make has ethical implications, and I also must be weary of my weaknesses that could lead me down the wrong path. Acknowledging one’s weaknesses is critical to the process of defining your current self. As the saying goes, â€Å"nobody’s perfect,† and the only way to minimize the mistakes you make throughout your life is to accept the fact that you do have weaknesses, and to analyze what they are, why you have them, how you act on them, and how to correct them. My competitive drive has led me to have a strong desire to please authority figures, which is a major weakness of my personality, not in the sense that it is bad to desire recognition and achievement, but it frequently leads to Machiavellian, â€Å"ends justify the means† justifications of morally questionable actions. One of Badaracco’s ethical breakdowns, which he discusses in chapter five, the overvaluation of outcomes, directly relates to this personality trait. Two years ago I interned for a brokerage firm on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, and my boss was a task-oriented, results-driven leader, a common type in the financial sector. He demanded that the team of four interns provide a daily projection of trade volume based on an algorithm and spreadsheets dating back to the early 1990’s. After being reprimanded by our boss for presenting him with unfavorable figures, we began to slightly alter the bottom line to get his approval. In this situation, we made a major ethical mistake by overvaluing the results. With the knowledge I have gained from this class, I would have analyzed the decision to alter the numbers using the categorical imperative, and in this situation, especially in the financial sector, it would be a very bad thing if my actions became universal norms. Fortunately, the trade projections were strictly internal, and I found out later in the internship that my boss would assign this project to new interns as a way of â€Å"breaking them in† and showing them the harshness of the business world. This desire to please has affected my leadership skills mostly within the context of leading peers, because, when combined with my competitive nature, I realize that there are few things that I will not consider doing to get ahead, which will ostracize me from my peers and create a divide within the group, decreasing my ability to influence others around me. Another weakness of mine is my tendency to overuse legitimate power when it is given to me. Legitimate power, which is defined as power bestowed upon someone over others, can come as a promotion, as it did in my case, when I was voted captain of my varsity hockey team in high school. This promotion gave me nominal power over my teammates off of the rink, but it was enough to leverage and coerce them to follow my orders. Trevino and Nelson outline the psychology I used to justify this behavior in chapter five, in their discussion of informal organizational cultural systems. The norms usually override formal rules, according to Trevino and Nelson. â€Å"†¦Despite formal rules, regulations, codes, and credos, informal norms are frequently the most influential behavior guides and clues to the culture†. The rationalization that â€Å"it’s the way we do things around here† was understood by my teammates, because the captain before me was the same way. It is this lack of moral potency to realize the unethical behavior and act on my personal values that makes this a weakness of mine. In the heat of the moment, it is hard to stop yourself and think about ethical philosophy, but necessary to promote the organizational culture that is conducive and necessary to running a hockey team. This self-exploration has provided me with a sound basis to analyze myself and prepare to make the jump into the business world with a strong moral compass and the ability to create a working plan to become the exemplary leader that I wish to be. However, first I must decide and articulate exactly what kind of leader that is. Possible Self The second step in becoming an exemplary ethical leader is to identify your possible self, that is, the leader that you wish to become at some point in the future. This can be done in a multi-step process, first by identifying exemplary leaders that serve as role models or mentors to you, and then by analyzing their leadership qualities and determining which of those you wish to attain. It is undeniable that every ethical leader chooses to lead with character and integrity, two of the most important characteristics necessary to manage an organization, but just how do you define character? According to Professor Sean Hannah, character is defined by three aspects: moral discipline, moral attachment or attainment, and moral autonomy. The combination of these facets provides a solid basis for the quantification of leadership characteristics. Moral discipline outlines the ability to act in alignment with your personal values, while moral attachment or attainment refers to one’s ability to hold true to your values over time, and moral autonomy is the ability to formulate moral decisions based on your values and decision-making skills, without the influence of outside factors. Both character and integrity play instrumental roles in the development of ethical leaders, as well as in their ability to become role models for lower-level employees. My most recent role model for ethical leadership is Dean Reinemund, because he has been extremely successful as a leader in two vastly different industries, which shows that he has the skills necessary to lead, regardless of the situational context. During his guest lecture in our class, Dean Reinemund spoke about his â€Å"Four C’s of Leadership.† I believe that these four characteristics are immensely important to become a transformational leader with a vision that inspires employees to work at the highest level possible. The first â€Å"C† is character, which Mr. Reinemund describes as having your internal compass point to â€Å"true north†. Having the character to act in correlation with personal and organizational values in the face of adversity is an extremely admirable quality, and is something that I wish to have in my possible self. Mr. Reinemund’s third â€Å"C† is the one that resonated with me the most, particularly because it is the only aspect of his leadership philosophy that cannot be readily learned. Commitment, Reinemund says, is the passionate, internal drive to succeed, and it is something that is ingrained in your personality. Although you can motivate yourself through other, extrinsic means, the â€Å"warrior’s ambition† that Mr. Reinemund describes is a burning internal passion for the work that is being done. This is another facet of an exemplary leader that cannot be left out. Badaracco writes about Aristotle’s â€Å"Golden Mean† in terms of leadership by describing the balance between having a high concern for oneself and having a high concern for others. By attaining this equilibrium, leaders can act ethically and morally to provide the greatest good for the greatest number of people. This philosophy also relates to Badaracco’s four spheres of commitments that leaders have to navigate during each and every decision they make. Managing the four spheres is an integral part of being an exemplary leader and must be included in my definition of an exemplary leader. The last piece of leadership that I would like to emulate as an exemplary leader is the characteristics of a quiet leader. Modesty, self-restraint, patience, and careful, incremental moves can right, or even prevent, moral wrongdoings without blowing the issue out of proportion. The public displays of heroism, as coined by Badaracco, depicted in movies and television are usually extremely unnecessary and their emotionalism and lack of careful planning undercuts their credibility, while simultaneously decreasing the amount of empathy received from the listener. Being a quiet leader means doing the right thing, especially when nobody is looking, and that is why I admire such a quality and desire to be the quiet leader who allows his exemplary actions speak for him. Action Plan The third and final step to becoming an exemplary ethical leader is to formulate and execute an actionable leadership development plan, which outlines the steps necessary to transform the current self into the desired possible self. By identifying my strengths and weaknesses, and then identifying the ideal leader that I want to become, I can precisely calculate the discrepancy between the two, and what specific steps I need to take in order to become the exemplary leader I want to be. By using course concepts and relating them to my current self, I have come up with the following steps for my action plan: 1. Do not underestimate the weight of any one decision, no matter how seemingly insignificant it may be 2. Follow Badaracco’s steps to becoming a quiet leader 3. Apply Trevino Nelson’s 8 steps to recognized ethical dilemmas 4. Read and reflect on the characteristics of an Authentic Leader every day 5. Establish a strong support group to help assist my decision making and provide comprehensive unbiased feedback These five steps, if followed correctly, will create the optimal environment to foster my development as an exemplary leader. My action plan is conducive to the type of leader that I want to be, because it focuses on further improving my strengths, and transforming my weaknesses into strengths by utilizing concepts and strategies learned in class. The first step is the most important one, because due to my competitive nature, I have a tendency to rush decisions in order to complete tasks more efficiently, but in the long run, especially in the professional world, I must be able to recognize the ethicality of each decision I make. By analyzing every decision I make from now on, whether it is my choice of shampoo or a multi-million dollar contract, I will be able to acknowledge the ethical repercussions of each alternative. My second step is to follow Badaracco’s steps to becoming a quiet leader, particularly the second rule, which says to â€Å"pick your battles†, and outlines the concept of political capital. Leadership is not defined by how many times you â€Å"blow the whistle†, but how much of an impact you had when you did decide to take a stand. Consequentially, I must make ethical decisions like Machiavelli’s fox rather than the lion. By building political capital and using it wisely, the respect that colleagues, superiors, and employees show you will increase, and therefore your ability to influence them will also increase, which will allow you to lead with confidence. Trevino Nelson’s 8-Steps to ethical decision making are extremely important, because they provide a framework for which to analyze and come to a conclusion about any decision. The â€Å"action† piece of this step is simple: I have handwritten the steps on a small piece of paper and put it in my wallet, so that I can refer to it in any situation. By slowing down and analyzing each choice I make in terms of these 8 steps, I’ll be able to consistently make the best decision possible, which will instill confidence in my peers as well as show potential to my superiors. On the reverse side of my wallet-sized 8 steps, I have written the characteristics of an Authentic Leader, because I believe that simply being a quiet leader is not sufficient. Being a quiet leader is a great way to get things done, but in the long term may result with my leadership becoming â€Å"silent† leadership, wherein my peers and employees cannot easily see how I analyze ethical dilemmas and may start to infer that I rely on bottom-line statistics only. This is where the slippery slope begins, and my fourth step will counteract the possibility of being perceived as ethically neutral. My final step is to create a support group of people from different parts of my life, including peers such as friends and classmates, superiors (teachers and coaches), and subordinates such as the younger players on my hockey team. By establishing this group, I will be able to ask them to give me feedback on my projected personality. The first four steps of my action plan are important to my development as a leader, however they will be meaningless if what people perceive about me is different than what I want. Moreover, a support group will help me integrate my different lives, as Dean Reinemund spoke about in his lecture, by teaching me that in order to be perceived as an exemplary leader, I must have complete alignment between my espoused personal values and my in-use values in every aspect of my life. Solely having an action plan, however, will not give me the results I desire, which is why I must set both short and long term goals for myself in my journey to becoming an ethical leader. Short-term goals are imperative to maintaining my improvement in leadership skills, because without consistent feedback, it is impossible to gauge one’s progress. The support group I establish will provide me with that feedback. Specifically, I will create a point-based survey and ask each person in my support group to complete it. By doing this, I will have quantitative results at the end of each month to see which areas of my personality need improvement. By setting short-term goals, my competitive nature will enhance my desire to improve, until I reach my long-term goals. Perhaps the most challenging task of this assignment was to envision the evolution of my personality from a college student to a business leader, because I did not know exactly how to set long-term goals. After thinking it through, I believe that the most pertinent long-term goal that I can set is to reflect on my life as a leader, and have no decisions that I regret making. This seems vague, but it must be in order to work. By achieving short-term monthly goals, I will achieve my long-term goal as a result, which is the express purpose of short-term goals. If I can look back on my life as a leader when I retire, and I can honestly say that there is not a single decision that I made or failed to make that resulted in an unethical consequence, I will consider myself a success. Conclusion Throughout the course of this assignment, as well as the class as a whole, I have been exposed to completely new ways of analyzing situations and have been able to integrate those concepts and strategies into my daily life. By creating this action plan for the development of my character and leadership skills; I have begun the preparation necessary to successfully lead in the business world, which is an incredibly valuable head start on students in other business schools around the country. B. R. Ambedkar’s pessimistic quote regarding the ethics versus economics dynamic that I used earlier in the paper was a perfect way for me to gauge the effectiveness of my action plan. I believe that through the analysis of my current self, the reflection and projection of my possible self, and the creation of my leadership development plan, I have been able to disprove the mentality that â€Å"business ethics is an oxymoron† and begin to strengthen the mentality that â€Å"ethics is good business, and good business is ethical.† References 1. Sean Hannah, class lectures and PowerPoint presentations, 8/29/2012-12/4/2012 2. Hannah Avolio, Moral Potency: Building the Capacity for Character-Based Leadership 3. Trevino Nelson, Managing Business Ethics 4. Badaracco, Defining Moments 5. George, Sims, McLean, Mayer, Discovering Your Authentic Leadership 6. Badaracco, We Don’t Need Another Hero 7. Reinemund, class lecture 10/4/2012 View as multi-pages