Issue43 大家好~~

delicacyUID: 2231734

马上就考了，斑斑看看还怎样的@@
TOPIC: ISSUE43 - "To be an effective leader, a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards."
WORDS: 668          TIME: 0:41:17          DATE: 2006-7-24

Bestowed with the greatest power and bombarded by the various temptations, leaders are expected with high moral standards. However, whether these moral standards should be the highest as the author suggested should be viewed on a case by case basis, and we will discuss this problem in three respective dominions: business, politics and socio-spiritual.

Firstly, in the business area, the highest moral responsibility of leaders is presumed as, especially by the Westerners, profit maximization. Granting within the bonders of law, it is indeed the highest moral standard to evaluate business leaders. The ultimate aim of the establishing of a company or corporation is to gain as much as profit as it can, which, though, place profit-maximization on a position with paramount importance. If a company keeps it as its sole aim, presumably, it could strive to lower its cost to achieve the biggest margin. In this way, the customers and the market in which it functions would benefit as a result. Actually, it is the particular means through which the market economy prosperous. On the other hand, however, placing on companies certain responsibilities, such as charity, education promotion and environmental protection to a fault would defeat its original purpose. These activities, given the company are not with enough fund, are better to relegated to the hands of government and educators, who are more professional and devotional.

Nonetheless, there are certain responsibilities which the company should readily assume beyond profit. It must regulate the environmental pollution within permissible limits. In the favorable condition, it should strive to alleviate the burden of environment. Yet it is not within the obligation of company. Further, it should keep the safety of its customers and its employees. For example, a factory manufacturing medicine should guarantee its product not do any harm to human body. A company produces battery should be aware that the encountered harmful elements are kept away from their workers. In this sense, there are certain responsibilities that the business leaders can not evade, for these are necessitated by law.

In the area of politics, it is desirable for leader to maintain the highest moral standard, yet it is not the sole criterion to evaluate effective political leader.  As it is commonly presumed, honest and straightforward are surely among highest moral standards. A person with disguised personality can not be attributed with the name of "maintain the highest moral standards". Nonetheless, political games are naturally precluding honest, which, if used to a fault, is a sign of naivety, thus render the politician vulnerable to attack of adversaries. In this moral behavior, a promising political leader is in the danger of forfeiting his career. Yet, certain moral flaws are acceptable in political leader. Take the example of Coliton to illustrate. The love affair, though disgrace at a glance, did not prevent his being reelected, largely for his excellent economic performance in the first term. So, political leaders, as it seems, are allowed to have certain personal foibles and flaws.

As to the realm of socio-political, though, the highest moral standards are the most vital prerequisite of any leader. In essence, it is the morality of the leader which could incite and sway the mass. I am hard pressed to image of a particular successful political leader who even does not believe in his ideal pursued. Martin Luther King and Gandhi are prefect examples in point. King is noted as the hero of America Africans. He led the mild boycott to rally the America Africans to the race-discrimination in 1930s, which finally resulted in the unconstitutionalization of discrimination. It is obviously his personal strong will and high moral standards that guide him to the success. Given his not firmly believe in or not conformity to, this movement probably could not achieve any meaningful result.

In sum, whether an effective leader should keep the highest moral standards should be examined on a case to case basis. As to the realm of sociopolitical this assertion is fundamentally right, while to the areas of politics and business, however, this viewpoint could only to be relegated to the ideal state.

[ 本帖最后由 delicacy 于 2006-7-24 22:34 编辑 ]

delicacyUID: 2231734

斑斑，问一下public official 是不是就是说得是政府和企业的领导，还是仅仅是政府的领导，是不是精神领域的领导就是不对的呢。。。我觉得政治和经济应该是对的吧，精神貌似有问题，破题有问题的，呵呵，自己说一下，不过，北美范文就是三个领域说得。。。