• Modern affluent societies provide a paradox of choices. More choices make us not freer, but more paralyzed, not happier, but more dissatisfied. More is less.

 

• Practical wisdom is an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. Rules often fail us, incentives often backfire. It will take practical, everyday wisdom to rebuild our world.

 

• You don’t need to be brilliant to be wise. Common Sense is not common. B and C students often employ A-students.

 

• The wise person knows:
  • When & how to make the exception to every rule
  • When & how to improvise
  • How to use moral skills in pursuit of the right aims
  • Wisdom is crafted by experience not birth right
  • Wisdom takes time & experience mentored by wise teachers

 

• Rules and procedures spare people from cognitous engagement.

 

• When things go wrong we look to the short run benefits of:
  • Answers over Insights
  • Solutions over Improvements
  • More and Better Rules over logic, and when all else fails
  • Incentives

 

• Moral development is retarded by mere compliance. Defiance sometimes triumphs conformity.

 

• In seeking the moral high road, we must constantly distinguish between that which serves individual interest vs. that which promotes the common good will of moral responsibility.

 

• During this New Year let us all consider how to Re-moralize our work
  • Develop a Sensitivity Policy toward the many expressions of insensitivity
  • Reimagine that which no longer serves us, and
  • Be the Change we wish to see in others – Celebrate moral exemplary behavior