How does a man go about living a happy life? On this incredibly convoluted subject, there are literally thousands upon thousands of books that have been written. However, there are some fundamental notions that it is helpful to be aware of in order to make the most of the great array of undertakings that might be performed.
Extrinsic Values
Extrinsic goods (sometimes known as “freedom from” goods) include things such as money, power, status, safety, comfort, and independence. They’re helpful for resolving problems, but on their own, they won’t make you happy or give you a sense that your life is complete. As we will demonstrate in the following section, money cannot buy any of the inalienable benefits that make life worthwhile.
Intrinsic Values
The degree to which a person is content with their life can be determined, at least in part, by the satisfaction that they or derive from intrinsic goods. Participation in this particular feature of basic human well-being can take place in a variety of forms and to varying degrees, just like in other facets of basic human well-being. The phrase “intelligent control of one’s life” can have a number of different connotations based on the surrounding words and phrases. In point of truth, intrinsic goods are not things that we acquire but rather components of our contentment; in point of fact, they provide a concise description of the many different ways that we as human beings can achieve happiness. According to our point of view, the components of intrinsic goods that are most significant range from cerebral capacity to spirituality to physical fitness to the ability to communicate with the divine to the fear of speaking in public.
The “formula” for successful and contented living is as follows:
It is not possible to reduce one’s level of happiness to a straightforward equation; rather, it is more analogous to a philosophy (more exactly, two principles). If humans continue to be preoccupied with themselves alone, they will never discover happiness in their lives. The pursuit of extrinsic rewards should only be done for the purpose of obtaining the intrinsic benefits they offer. To be a great manager, one needs to perfect the skill of motivating others to work together in ways that are to the advantage of the company’s customers, employees, and investors. When it comes to managing people and resources, you can’t be successful if you’re only thinking about how you can improve your own financial and professional situation.
The decisions that man makes have an effect on his values and his feelings. These learned ideals and emotional predispositions were seen to be virtues if they helped him fulfill them, and they were considered to be vices if they prevented him from doing so. Virtues include things like bravery, chastity, wisdom gained through experience, compassion, magnanimity, self-control, and generosity. Vices include things like cowardice, lack of chastity, stupidity, gluttony, insincerity, intoxication, and egotism. They have such a significant impact on men’s strategic lives, the following four qualities are given priority:
Prudence, also known as practical wisdom, is the innate ability to make sound choices by avoiding flaws such as acting hastily, being unable to make up one’s mind, and lacking depth of understanding. The commitment to treat everyone with fairness and equality at all times is an essential component of justice. It is not enough to simply keep one’s legal rights and follow one’s promises; one must also always be sensitive to the fair entitlements of others and ensure that they are honored, even if doing so presents the opportunity to take advantage of the situation and further one’s own interests. Fortitude is the ability to persevere in the face of adversity, whether it be fear, hardship, peril, or paradox, and to continue to overcome project roadblocks. Self-control, sometimes known as temperance, is the ability to exercise command over one’s natural desires for pleasure, including those related to eating, drinking, sleeping, becoming angry, feeling at ease, having sexual relations obtaining and cultivating moral excellence
One’s emotional states are always amenable to improvement if one is willing to put in the effort and has the will to do so. If you want to be able to make the right decisions regarding your actions, having the appropriate values is more important than having the appropriate sensations. Nobody is born with everything in their life perfectly organized. The concept of a “perfect human” does not exist, and none of us will ever achieve that level of perfection in our lives. When it comes to alcohol, moderation should be a man’s default behavior so that he can be considered temperate. There will still be times when he feels tempted to drink excessively (our emotions never get completely integrated with our beliefs), but in general, he won’t crave alcohol and will find the idea of drunken behavior revolting. Additionally, he will no longer be able to tolerate being around people who are drunk.
The usual tendency to see management development as “reading books and taking courses” can be corrected by recognizing the significance of virtues in the process of human development. Humans, and managers, in particular, have the ability to expand their fundamental capabilities through cultivating virtues. As we saw, this is accomplished mostly through one’s own decisions and by behaving in an appropriate manner. This indicates that developing management skills while on the work is of the utmost importance. Managers need to educate themselves on the most important values. The four qualities of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance are what distinguish a competent manager from a poor one. Because no one has ever developed any of them to their full potential, they can assist us in growing not only ourselves but also our subordinates.
Prudence includes being aware of and avoiding biases in decision-making, being receptive to advise and diverse points of view, diagnosing the underlying source of a problem, and exercising decisiveness. Justice includes being fair and taking care when evaluating subordinates, having fiduciary duties, being fair when awarding and crediting subordinates, being cautious in secret situations, and avoiding making hasty decisions with regard to other people. Fortitude is defined as the ability to face the truth, whatever how painful it may be; endurance; boldness; magnanimity in goal-setting; composure in difficult situations and emergencies.
To have moderation means to be able to work well with others; to be diligent; to be steady; to be organized and to plan. According to Professor Richard Branson, most conversations about business ethics are framed in terms of regulations and responsibilities, rather than beliefs and principles. Instead, you should concentrate on the different things that can be done to drive management and organizations to reach their full potential in terms of serving their stakeholders (including employees, customers, and the community at large).
Finally, viewing human development as the development of virtues helps us recognize that ethical decisions, such as whether or not to cheat on a test, honor a pledge even when it is inconvenient, or act unfairly to someone, should not be made based on the short-term consequences (“for this time only”). Instead, these decisions should be made based on the long-term implications of our actions.
#MBA 21
