Forum; Barbara Jordan: Ethical Dilemmas in Leadership

from the long one radio network the university of texas at austin this is for him loyola good is right the point in that direction former us congresswoman barbara jordan professor at the lyndon baines johnson's at the university of texas at austin but i want you to be the right kind of leader when you take or are because i don't want you to follow the pattern of my generation i understand the requirement should let your show i know that you are looking into the multiple dimensions of leadership its philosophy as it spirals challenges responsibilities was a fish

that's it leadership or you want me to look at the ethical dilemma h which can occur and do her in leadership who will any player today farm presents remarks by professor barbara jordan when she lectured on ethical dilemmas and leadership as the nineteen ninety four texas senior lecturer in student leadership former congresswoman jordan holds the centennial cheer in national policy at the lyndon baines johnson school of public affairs at the university of texas at austin and currently serves as ethics adviser to governor ann richards in addition to her local assignments she has been appointed by president clinton to cheer the us commission on immigration reform in her lectures she addressed the

subjects of career politics campaign finance reform and the ethics of government service professor barbara jordan it is my firm belief that the leadership you display as a student is pretty much the leadership you're going to show as an adult in terms of holiday dish it as a given that you are not yet fully formed now some of you may want to disagree with that where you really are not quite fully formed you were still in your age of innocence and you're still writing on the blank slate you were given amber know i recognize that there are genetic markings on that the shoe eight but i'm not going to deal with that because that's beyond the scope of what i have to show it but you are the final

awful of the content of your life what kind of person do you want to be what got the life do you want to have you want to be a leader of the pack or our duty you want to be at for all the substance is contributing meaningful way to the outcome i graduated from high school before most of you who are in the union were even an idea and when i graduated from high school in houston i went over to texas southern university in houston to enroll in college as a freshman well when i got there there was a young student body election underway and i found the campaign or fish looked through the forms and filing papers show

and file crawfish i filed for president i filed for president because i had made a choice i was going to be one of those who could lead now the dean of women is what they had to she i remember her today your name was on a boat and she said little young lady a freshman can't beat the president thought the student body i said well that is an unfortunate rule the only thing that i am saying is that you make the choice the elite but if you choose to lady you must be sure you have the capability the capacity the confidence to do the job so

leadership requires shelf confidential you can't be so self confident that you become a target because of those who operate them feel like they have all of the answers and no one has all of the hand search leaders have faced a difficult choices for as long as riders have written a record some of the choices a leader mitch has ethical content ok sure go back even further than recorded history and trace that our generation to about the moment of the development of human being should our earliest labels us and not sciences fables and history handed down by word of mouth like countless generations of leadership

but as we read all stories we are reminded them that there is nothing new about leaders facing ethical dilemma each one of the first leaders to be chronicled in the bible was given perhaps the most excruciating choice one could possibly be given and religious history abraham was still ruled your loyalty to god or by sacrificing your son isaac shoes then there was another abraham lincoln and lincoln knew that freeing the slaves were divided this nation and so he bet the leadership does not lend itself to ethical solution should an effective

leader well i don't i show are those solutions should when abraham lincoln made the decision for freedom he wanted to prevent a nation from submitting history does not promise that the choices you make we'll be easy choices are gandhi use contributions for human rights and the dignity of all races shows to turn to a life also want to say without consulting his wife interesting dilemma his biographers tell us that he worked for the good in people

without the cost of the presence of a fall of a voice children former senator william fulbright you young people don't know anything about william fulbright but he faced an unusual ethical dilemma he was a senator from arkansas arkansas was a very shy guy repeated southern how long when people write was in the senate but albright knew that civil rights was the right thing for him to do and in spite of that you what you will find his name as the author of some of the most racist racist legislation ever enacted why the coalition was the writer was iran we can find examples

of ethical dilemma is whether solutions or less clouded with ambiguity john henry faulk so you out there new john henry faulk this was a man of principle was confronted with a dilemma by his government his government said don't give us the names of your friends and colleagues who might have communist leanings and if you don't get lost those names you will never work again you will not make a lot of the john henry faulk did not turn over the neighbors because he was a man of principle and amanda virtual i didn't you know remember that name and the very well placed an ethical dilemma

sure knew that to testify against clarence thomas should would evoke but kinds are anecdotes an added edge that would make her the subject of a wicked shoe law but she testified she became the butt of some jokes sure some people would say that our testimony was a loss because after all he is on the court but it wasn't really a loss she made the subject of sexual harassment more visible she made it easier for women and for men to complain about the issue of hard last night in the workplace i do not know what the future holds for you young people but i have every confidential

that whatever you do you will have the ability to do it because you are being prepared to do what you do any good university you may not experience immediate success in your ios but i would hope that whatever you do you begin now all new ford the parameters should all be ethical content for your life each of us faces ethical dilemmas every day no matter how glamorous no matter how one day no matter how pedestrian your life is you can face and do face ethical dilemmas some of you have red sophie's choice or seeing the movie sophie's choice would inspire on the book sofia was no

abraham but that fictional dilemma she vanished is instructive it was excruciating take whatever your children will you take with you and todd lane and which were used under a certain date as a student if you see your classmates your friends are cheating on an examination our research project what are you going to do what moral ethical obligations do you follow if you're a journalist's on a journalism

student under what circumstances of any world you revealed the source of the story even though you have to promise to keep the identities secret if you're an attorney and we saw this recently do you betraying your profession is code of ethics show and your client because a prosecutor ask you what judge ask you looking for information that you might only knew given up ms nash it has an environmental issue when you look at in a low income or minority area because you know in those communities there will not be much opposition because they will be glad to have this economic improvement in the neighborhood as you exercise your leadership roles here on

campus as you graduate and move into careers and aspired to assume leadership roles in your professions your communities i suggest that it is important that even your seemingly incidental ethical choices or setting the pattern for the rest of your life benjamin spock wrote a volume called decent and indecent and political behavior in any had one major going to show up i found it impossible to shop once a character it is impossible to shop or one should carry town you are making choices to david are shaping your life for the rest of your

life the polls that tugs on you are in tents you are still caught between the values you have as an individual and europe parents' values you're still caught between your desire to achieve independence and to still call home for one more dollar you're caught between your individual values beliefs miles an epic send those which the majority of europe is made on all i'm not insulting your youth i delight in utah delighted my students i'm delighted and their challenge is what i am saying is that your typical all is not yet locked in place should you are still determining whether you will

gravitate to the intellect or whether you will gravitate to the heart which will govern you're like your head or your heart it is critical for us god intended future leadership to develop an ethical or spock again said something with which i agree he said the bad but worse problems in america illegal war re show in just goes on this is a publically those problems are caused not by lack of knowledge we are sure mart we know enough not by lack of means we have lots of

money but those problems are caused by moral winded nash and confusion show he said it is crucial in all issues to consider the monorail dimension not howl do you can say they're the moral dimension you can be armed with all of the facts figures the latest that touts the latest management the region had all but unless you can show the moral dimension your decisions your leadership is going to be hollow right down to the core

i would suggest that you look at your framework that you are formulating and prepare yourselves should for decision making and leadership how do you do that i have spoken more than once about what i call fiction value which what do i mean by conviction values i mean that you develop some principals ethics standards which are text mr vogel unwavering non negotiable crates of character which are probably next a set of beliefs which are endemic to you a set of beliefs

which are non rigid and inflexible because you've got to be able to compromise should butt i want you to develop those glenn beck show and values which will lead to maximizing hope i offer you the idea that an addiction values was for a sense of community they are healing they are symbolizing they're not friends say concepts in my mind they are quite simple they are ordinary word she's like what lorio be honest i kind of mash

just wash i suggest education as a conviction value because it is both a value of the individual and the value of the society we of agonized in this state over equitably funding public education for tomorrow but education is a vowel you know which not only enhances the individual what also enhances the community by kind nash that begins with the individual but through leadership of the individual it becomes to the good all the community behind in the us is to be contrast it with wealthy and mean match

it has meaning for anyone to be hungry it is cruel it is mean for anyone to be homeless in our mitt went out that value of high ain't in ash we cannot even begin to understand the problems which pentagon says people are people and didn't just wash their dishes surely that concept that each of our should be treated fairly is arguable

responsibility more complicated it wants to wage it runs through a myriad of relationships responsibility runs parent to child student to teacher government official to tax your employer europe's new employee each relationship is right with recent book all right handed you did then they had to all of those rights and duties is b's book give her of any relationship or loyalty that simple be faithful to country to friend or family honestly tell the truth that lie bad list which i call a list of conviction values

which is not exhausted to buy those which i have stated but you all the best and the brightest we've got because your students at the university and we expect you to be our best dental practice that if you are our best and brightest surely you can develop a list of conviction values which will make you a contributing citizens to our future you have the freedom to chose shows the kind of future you want you denied the luxury of opting out you can't opt out you're already how can you opt out where you are you are involved in life one of my epic students and rio or oh wrote a

paper and at bay beginning of the papers she quoted a poem by martin car to a guy and he's a poet and that cohen eloquently speech michael including large to you and i'm going to give you the worst of that poem and that's the last thing that i will say the poem that begins this way you are involved this show i have mark today a us backed by tomorrow but he well he you know all monster you are consumed but like a gig shake shake alone will

like a well biz and the pattern they're all are involved all are consumed thank you for listening the guest on format and barbara jordan lyndon b johnson centennial chair in national policy at the lbj school of public affairs at the university of texas at austin professor jordan delivered the nineteen ninety four texas union lecture in student leadership the views expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect the views of the

university of texas at austin or the station technical producer for formed cliff hargrove production assistants likely be maslowski and christine johnson i'm your producer and host all of graham that's because communication in texas seventy seven one to assess the longhorn radio network communications building the ut austin austin texas seventy seven wanted to play from the centre for telecommunication services university of texas at austin this is the longhorn radio network

former us congresswoman barbara jordan if the majority have a sad all those loyalties with which you disagree is your obligation is to try to change the point of view try to change that direction ethical dilemmas and leadership this week on chris christie it