Summary of Ethical Intelligence

Bruce Weinstein

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Rating

7 Overall

7 Applicability

5 Innovation

7 Style

Recommendation

Ethics are complex, but Bruce Weinstein offers a lucid guidebook to sticky ethical situations. He articulates five universal moral principles. Not always successfully: His logic needs work in a few areas, and he backs away from several complex ethical challenges. But even readers who disagree with the author will find value and utility here. getAbstract recommends Weinstein’s thoughtful guide to those interested in ethics and philosophy, as well as to managers and HR personnel who are responsible for shaping ethical workplaces.

In this summary, you will learn

What constitutes “ethical intelligence,”
How to apply its five core principles and
How to deal with common ethical challenges.

About the Author

Bruce Weinstein, PhD, hosts Ask the Ethics Guy! on Bloomberg Businessweek’s online management channel.

Summary

The Need for “Ethical Intelligence”

Daniel Goleman’s 1995 book Emotional Intelligence suggested that reading people’s emotions and responding appropriately is essential to work and daily life. But what if your emotional intelligence tells you one thing is true about a friend but your friend tells you something different? How should you respond? All the emotional sensitivity and acuity in the world cannot guide you, because this is essentially an ethical question: What is the right thing to do? To answer such questions you must develop your ethical intelligence.