Issue43 永不言弃第十四次作业 by stgzhao 7#

stgzhaoUID: 2583165

TOPIC: ISSUE43 - "To be an effective leader, a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards."
WORDS: 677          TIME: 00:45:00          DATE: 2009-2-21 9:59:13

1. 人们也许会更在意领导者的才能和成就而忽略了伦理道德标准问题。（Hitler。。。）
2. 一个有着较高伦理道德标准的领导能够更好的服务人民。（道德差可能有贪污什么的；好的有Martin Luther King Jr.）
3. 过度的苛求道德伦理也是不现实的。毕竟人无完人。应该在道德与才能中寻找一个恰当的平衡标准。

Being a normal citizen one may wish his leader - a public official to have a highest ethical and moral standard, with which, at least he thinks, the official could service people more effectively. But is it the case that to be an effective leader, a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards? In most situations I agree with the statement, however, it is inappropriate for us to over-demand an ethical and moral standard which might be too high. After all, we are all human beings who are somehow fallible.

Though we are talking about ethical and moral standards, it is an inconvenient truth that people may value talent and achievement more than ethics and morality. It is true that in business field a great leader is the one who has the ability to bring the highest profit to the corporation, as long as his activities are within the legality - ignoring the ethic and morality. Perhaps that is why there is a saying that merchants are mercenary. However, it is not the case when it comes to the political world. A threatening example is the source of the World War Two - the coming-into-power of Adolf Hitler. While Germans were chasing their rise in force and spirit, they had made an easy-making mistake that they ignored the ethical and moral standard of their designate leader Hitler even though having heard of his cruelty in sweeping out political enemies. The striking result of such kind of mistakes was the brutal racial extinction policy and the conquest of the whole Europe by barbarous military force. When thousands of people had suffered from the marginalization of ethical and moral standard, how could us - the later generation forget to take ethical and moral standard into consideration when voting for someone in the election.

A public official with a high ethical and moral standard is more likely to be able to service his people more effective. As it is for a leader no matter what field he is in. Think about Martin Luther King Jr., the great leader of colored people in the United States, who was full of ethical and moral virtues that denied the using of force and violence in the movement. In the way of striking for equality and civil rights King's ethical and moral virtues formed a great example for the leaders to follow. With a high ethical and moral standard an official can devote himself completely into serving people by thinking what people thinks and taking good care of their concerns. There is also another advantage of voting a politician with high ethical and moral standard that it can lower the rate of embezzlement and corruption, which a single man with high ethical and moral standard will certainly avoid to be involved in. Public officials will then be more effective in their work.

However, we cannot over-demand the standard of ethic and morality is unrealistic and unnecessary. After all, human beings are all fallible. A deep thinking of the basic responsibility of an official will lead us to realize that when we elect a new leader we actually want him to be more effective than the last one, which means with a similar ethical and moral standard it is the talent and competence that matters. A leader with a highest ethical and moral standard but has little competence in leadership is not a good leader. Therefore it is of great importance that we should find a equilibrium between the standard of ethic and morality and competence and talent. Perhaps that is why to choose a leader calls for the election involving the whole nation.

In sum, I strongly agree with the point that to be an effective leader, a public official must maintain a high ethical and moral standard. However whether the standard needs to be "highest" is remain controversial. Neither the standard of ethic and morality and the talent and competence should be ignored. A carefully considered equilibrium between the two is what a effective leader actually being desired for.