Making Ethical Decisions

Bryson Payne — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 17:50:27 +0000

Click above to download Dr. Payne’s Ethical Decision-Making presentation in PDF format

I gave a presentation today for Junior Achievement to 250 high school students from surrounding counties during their visit to UNG thanks to the BB&T Center for Ethical Business Leadership in the Mike Cottrell College of Business. It was an honor to be able to share my perspective on ethical decision-making with future college students to help them make better choices now that help them become who and what they want to be.

I’m attaching the PowerPoint slides in PDF format [Ethical Decision-Making – Junior Achievement – 2013 – 0.3MB PDF] , and just the notes version is given here for convenience:

Ethical Decision-Making

A presentation for Junior Achievement September 24, 2013

Dr. Bryson Payne
Department Head of Computer Science

Ethical Decision-Making

•Identifying ethical dilemmas

•Knowing your values

•Gathering information

•Weighing the options

•Deciding and acting

•Making hard choices

•Dealing with the tension

•Becoming who you want to be

Identifying ethical dilemmas

•Problem

•Opportunity

•Options

•Ethical dilemma – when two options/outcomes both meet, or both violate, one or more values

Knowing your values

•Your values… vs.

•Integrity

•Trust

•Loyalty

•Honesty

•Courage

•Responsibility

•What you value

•Money

•Time

•Family

•Love

•Health

•Respect of others

Gathering information

•Information – facts, unknowns, stakeholders

•Options – ask for advice/help, get creative

•Alternatives – evaluate the options, test or try

•Solutions – which option is best (or least bad)

•Pros & Cons

•Short-term & Long-term

Weighing the options

•Four ethical & philosophical approaches presented by Junior Achievement, plus three “bonus” frameworks:

–Idealism

–Cherokee long-life perspective

–Ask yourself “what story do I want to tell?”

Ethical & philosophical approaches

•Act after weighing the consequences. Choose what does the most good for the most people.

•Act on what you were taught or trained by parents, family, teachers, coaches, friends.

•Act on what is required by your job or the law. Review your responsibilities and commitments.

•Act after referring to your belief in a right way. Review your virtues, faith, or conscience.

•Rotary four-way test

Idealism: Begin with the end in mind

•Start with the ideal state, and work your way back

•Stephen R. Covey (7 Habits of Highly Effective People) called this “Beginning with the end in mind”

Cherokee long-life perspective

•Cherokee storytellers speak of a concept their ancestors used in making important decisions:

•The Long-Life Perspective – picture yourself as an old man/woman, and think about what you would tell yourself in this moment or situation

•Are there things you wish you knew 5 years ago? Try to imagine yourself five years from now, giving your present self the same advice.

Ask yourself
“What story do I want to tell?”

•Author and pastor Andy Stanley frames this as a question: What story do I want to tell?

•In 5, 10, 15, 50 years… what kind of story do I want to be able to tell about this time, or about my life

•His advice: Never make a choice that will make you a liar for life – in other words, make decisions you can tell, truthfully, in your story

Deciding and acting

•However you arrive at your choice, you have to decide – you have to act on a decision

•Evaluate who you are, what you value, what you’re passionate about, where you want to go, how you want to be known

•Make a decision and be prepared to stand by it – be ready to take responsibility for the outcome, good or bad – or correct it

Making hard choices

•Most of our decisions are “default” decisions – some psychologists estimate 80% or more

•Set yourself up for good “default” decisions

•Willpower usually loses in the long run

•Discipline is the ability to plan ahead/work ahead to avoid willpower failures

–Don’t go to the grocery store hungry, pick a designated driver BEFORE going out, decide what you WON’T do – think ahead, avoid bad situations

Dealing with the tension

•Recognize the tension that comes from two conflicting values – ethical dilemmas:

–telling the truth or being loyal to a friend when they ask you to cover for them;

–wanting to keep a job but needing to tell a boss about inappropriate behavior;

–taking personal responsibility or saving money by not reporting an item you broke…

Becoming who you want to be

•You can’t just BE what or who you want to be – you have to BECOME

•A life, a reputation is made up of choices

–Start with the ideal state and work your way back

–Consider the Cherokee long-life perspective

–Don’t make a choice that will make you a liar for life

•Success is made up of habits – plan ahead, set your boundaries – what WON’T you do?

Ethics for Life

•Ethical dilemmas are a part of your life today

•They will continue to arise in your work life, your family life, etc., for the rest of your life

•The challenge, and perhaps the unfair thing, is that it only takes one unethical decision to ruin a career, a family, or a reputation

•Set yourself up for good “big” decisions by making good “little” decisions every day

Resources for Ethical Decision Making

•UNG BB&T Center for Ethical Business Leadership: http://ung.edu/bbt-center-ethical-business-leadership

•SCU Markkula Center for Applied Ethics: http ://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/framework.html

Thank you for your time!

•Questions/Answers/Ideas

•Copies of the presentation:
Available online at www.brysonpayne.com

•More information about computer science/IT careers: http://ung.edu/cs

600 Days of Juicing!

Bryson Payne — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 00:55:42 +0000

I just happened to type the date we started juicing (July 29, 2011) into Excel and noticed it’s exactly 600 days ago today!

I can’t believe my beautiful wife Bev and I have been juicing for 600 days – this July will make it 2 years. In that time, I’ve lost 54 pounds – almost a pound every 10 days, not a bad average. I’ve also changed my life in other ways – stepping out of a high-stress, 70-hour-a-week executive job as CIO and going back into the classroom full-time as a computer science professor, spending more time with my sons (both under 5), walking ~10-20 miles a week.

I had my cholesterol checked as part of Heart Healthy Month while participating in the Fitness Challenge at UNG, and my LDL went down by more than 20% (from 171 to 139), total cholesterol was down 20% (from 236 to 195), for the second year in a row. I expect next year’s numbers to be even better.

The last few months, in addition to drinking fresh vegetable juice three or more times per week, I’ve also added more beans, brown rice, and raw veggies (Bev’s making an incredible Avocado/Bean/Corn salsa, all whole food/plant-based and delicious!), and I’ve been good about keeping the sugar and white starches out without feeling deprived.

A few folks have asked me what helped, and besides having a great wife to get healthy with, three Netflix documentaries and a YouTube video have helped along the way:

Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead – great motivational jump-starter on vegetable juicing
Forks Over Knives – interesting medical documentary on eating mostly plant-based whole foods
Hungry for a Change – practical look at how eating plant-based whole foods changes the way you look and feel & the harm sugar does to your body
Sugar: The Bitter Truth – UCSF Medical Professor Robert Lustig talks about how sugar (fructose specifically) hurts your liver, metabolism, and more

In short, more healthy, good foods in, some bad foods out, more exercise, and a little convenient, ultra-healthy juicing, and I’m just 16 pounds from the weight I married Bev at, and by my calculations, I should be there in 6 months or so.

I’d love to hear what other folks are doing that’s working over the long haul – no fad diets, please – and especially any additional Netflix selections you’ve found that offer good health insights and motivation. Comment below if you’ve got one to share – thanks!

Health – BrysonPayne.com

Making Ethical Decisions

600 Days of Juicing!