Earlier this afternoon, I published the following post on the social media LinkedIn;  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-your-choice-popularity-jo-ann-m-radja

Here is the text of that post:

What’s YOUR Choice for Popularity?

Associate Supreme Court Justice Stewart Potter is known for choosing to include an American colloquial phrase in one of his Opinions; namely, “I’ll know it when I see it.” Although Justice Potter used that phrase to define pornography, many of us also use our visual sense in deciding moral ethical issues. It’s generational, isn’t it?   We’ve moved from, ” A picture is worth a thousand words,” to “Selfie, anyone!”

Three Researchers, two from Oxford University, Jim A.C.Everett, Phd Candidate and Molly Crockett, Associate Professor of Experimental Psychology and David Pizarro, Associate Professor Department of Psychology from Cornell University, created an ethical scenario to understand whether a decision based on Popularity had any influence on its choice. The creativity of adding a choice of Popularity to well-established interpretations of ethics allows for inclusion of present-day understanding of morality. The scenario is:

“Imagine that an out of control trolley is speeding

towards a group of five people. You are standing

on a footbridge above, next to a large man. If

you push him off the bridge onto the track below,

his body, will stop the trolley before it hits the

five people. He will die, but the five others

will be saved. Should you push the man off the

bridge.”

The Researchers also added a twist to their “trolley problem” as they asked a question: how would you trust a social partner, based on their answer to the trolly scenario. Here is the May 5, 2016 URL for, “Want to be popular? You’d better follow some simple rules”:   http://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2016/05/cross-post-want-to-be-popular-youd-better-follow-some-simple-moral-rules/

While many academics may challenge the findings of these Researchers, their result is applicable for business settings. It is:

“So the next time you have to make a tough call, remember – people like people who follow moral rules.”

Have a great week as you Choose Who YOU Want to be Known As!

“Jo Ann ” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach