The Golden Rule Is Only 20% Of The Answer
by Miki SaxonA few days ago a CEO mentioned that he tries to run his company based on the Golden Rule. He was surprised when I responded that that wasn’t always a good idea and wanted to know why I thought that.
Since Carl Sagan had helped shape my attitude in his The Rules of the Game, I sent him the PDF to read.
The rules were garnered through living and they’re the best enticement I can think of to get you to read the essay. (All eight pages, click the link!).
TABLE OF PROPOSED RULES TO LIVE BY
- The Golden Rule Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
- The Silver Rule Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you.
- The Brazen Rule Do unto others as they do unto you.
- The Iron Rule Do unto others as you like, before they do it unto you.
- The Tit-for-Tat Rule Cooperate with others first, then do unto them as they do unto you.
My CEO was delighted, because the rule evaluation results—Tit-for-Tat was the big winner—made so much sense.
I’m helping him put together a presentation explaining it—along with copies of the essay for everyone in the company—so the concepts can be woven into the company culture.
He thinks that his people, most are technically trained, will jump on it, since, in addition to it being from Sagan, prisoner’s dilemma (game theory) was applied by another scientist in evaluating the rules.
He says that that will prevent his techies from, “holding their collective noses and chanting fuzzy, fuzzy.”
Amazing what’s out there when you look for it.
Thank you (again) Carl Sagan.
Your comments—priceless
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Image credit: aikijuanma on flickr
May 18th, 2009 at 8:22 am
I would like to suggests the addition of THE PLATINUM RULE: “Treat others the way they want to be treated.”
Just because we would want to be treated in a certain way, does not mean that everyone else wants to be treated that way too.
May 18th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Absolutely right, Mike. I worked for a guy who managed everyone as he liked to be managed and it drove us all nuts!
Thanks for adding a crucial element and I’ll bet that Sagen would agree, too.
August 9th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
nonsense. this kind of pseudo-intellectualism fools so many people it’s dangerous.
the author, like most folks, needs to study some logic and accurate thinking, and yes, that includes carl sagen (who actually was more likely purposefully deceiving people, because i would not question sagen’s intellect before his logic)
for a bit of logic applied to the question of the golden rule, how about this site.
http://www.jcu.edu/philosophy/gensler/goldrule.htm
August 9th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Hi Wayne, Thanks for stopping by and adding your thoughts. Differing opinions are what makes things interesting.
While I don’t disagree with the value of the Golden Rule, I just don’t think that it’s the be-all and end-all.
I do have to say it is kind of fun hearing that I’m dangerous.