Always must we consider how our decisions will affect future generations and society as a whole. How shall subsequent generations — several centuries in advance? — respond to, react to, praise or criticize the decision you are making? If time travel were possible, how might they be telling you to decide? Sometimes, the smallest decisions lead to enormous consequences (observe how some wars have begun!). Always must you be aware of the BIG picture when deciding what is "right" or "best" in general. Sometimes it helps to imagine yourself observing yourself at a distant place or point in time so that you may more easily recognize the appropriate decision.

   Finally, recognize that the Right Decision takes into account ALL variables. Learn to, well ... just forget about focusing on you, you, YOU! Instead, learn to automatically focus your attention on the task of actively deducing what is best for everyone in general once all relevant information has been amassed and taken into account. Consider the following sound advice:

Within your social group, forget about self. In the end focusing solely on self always leads to trouble. Where appropriate, focus on searching for an option that will most likely yield the greatest compassionate final outcome for everyone.
If you here fail, then to minimize losses you’ll need to accept responsibility for your own deficit decision-making. Responsibility is the only sure way to avoid even greater losses later on. Costs to compensate usually grow over time.

Analyze all possible consequences, implications, subsequent criticisms. Forget about what seems appropriate from your own limited perspective; instead relinquish control to those who are the most competent at managing the situation. They are most likely to know what is appropriate once all influencing factors are taken into consideration. ALL assumptions must be rooted out, and all erroneous perceptions must be eliminated.

   Assuming no deviance, a decision may aptly be described as Righteous when (1) EVERY subsequent possibility is known or (2) EVERY subsequent possibility has been imagined and amply prepared for in advance. Furthermore, it is worthwhile to point out here that in some scenarios we cannot prepare for every future possibility without taking into account every past possibility. Then, we must always be aware of what could happen in the present. All facts are taken into consideration, every contingency sufficiently addressed. In the unlikely event that some important detail has been overlooked, a backup or emergency plan is in the ready to prevent some unwanted scenario from developing. See also Competence In Decision Making.

   At times, a lot of careful deliberation may be required before a decision may adequately described as Righteous. What follows are those concepts that will help to guide your thinking. The same concepts are also addressed at Mental Map and Morality In Decision Making.

  1. Commitment To Safety:  See also Mental Map: Safety.

There are Safe ways and Stupid ways for doing anything!

   The easiest way to avoid disaster: Safety. Imagine it. Plan for it. Prepare for it. Prevent it from happening to begin with!

   Sounds easy? Well, it's not. We sometimes don't imagine everything in the time we have, and we wind up learning the old fashion way, like our ancestors did, from eternally abrupt and rude, Mister Trial-and-Error. However, recognizing Safety as your primary priority over all other concerns, including sometimes your own selfish and self-protective tendencies,^* can go a long way at helping your group avoid those nasty occurrences that sometimes embarrass corporations, organizations, states, nations. Always keep your priorities in focus, and apply them as those particular incidences arise to override other goals you may be working toward which may lead to unwanted, unsafe scenarios. And do it NOT to avoid embarrassment, but rather do it because you CARE about all those whose lives may subsequently become touched by your decisions.

"Better Safe Than Sorry!”

   Realize that your decision-making naturally revolves around your perceptions or beliefs. Because you are naturally a lazy beast, you tend to prefer assuming all those perceptions/beliefs to be accurate or true, effectively guiding you through your decision-making with little possibility for error. Imagining rare exceptions and taking the time to analyze alternatives is just too time-consuming and exhaustive to do REPEATEDLY with every decision you make. Nevertheless, recognize that this is precisely the mental flaw that the con artist relies upon to successfully carry out a plan: He or she may use a disguise to fool you into perceiving, say, a person who is not actually there. The wolf in sheep's clothing successfully mingles in with the flock of sheep who otherwise would flee from sight of him.

   Safety in decision-making encompasses security as well. For the professional, they are not two separate deliberations: One is a subset of the other, for advance preparation for one always somehow leads to advance preparation for the other. You cannot plan, completely, for all possible accidents without somehow stumbling upon accidents of thought, perception and, consequently, security. Similarly, you cannot plan, completely, for all possible breaches in security without somehow stumbling upon accidents of the physical sort extending from some erroneous perception.

   Advance preparation is your greatest defense against both such evils. Taking the time to prepare for ALL possibilities which you (or those after you) might subsequently encounter may seem a bit out of place and exhaustive, but when that rare moment later arises, your successors shall be grateful for the advance planning and preparation. Remember the exhaustive efforts of the dedicated engineer who must check, double-check and even triple-check his or her calculations in the interest of assuring safety for those whose lives rest on his or her planning. Likewise, the professional decision-maker double-checks and triple-checks his or her planning for any subtle possibilities which may have been overlooked. Always work hard at totally eliminating and preventing any potential for subsequent error: Doing so may prevent serious harm from befalling some individual whose role in life you may have overlooked. Thinking in terms of probability rather than possibility may be appropriate for decisions involving table games, but professional decision-making is not a game.

Safety & Responsibility
BEFORE Strategy!

   Lives are linked to your decisions, and as successful as you may be at playing with the odds for some game, POSSIBILITY and planning for POTENTIAL ACCIDENTS become the rule of thumb when your decisions revolve around actual lives. Professionalism demands robust reasoning! (Playing with probability RARELY finds a suitable place in professional decision making, with exception reserved to certain instances during wartime, crime-fighting and particular rescue operations. However, even in such cases, we always must make certain that we are totally aware of ALL variables which could possibly influence the outcome to the situation before swiftly responding in a way we may later regret. TOTAL COMPETENCE and IMAGINING ALL POSSIBILITIES in advance always achieve paramount importance).

  2. Commitment to Responsibility:  Similar to Mental Map: Responsibility.

   Whereas Safety requires that we imagine future events to avoid anything unwanted from potentially occurring, Responsibility requires that we look to the past to recognize possibilities that we, ourselves, may have somehow caused. With each situation you may encounter, always remember to recognize the possible causes for the scenario. Is the problem a consequence of the means used to solve yet another problem? Is the problem a consequence of your own past decisions? What's maintaining the circumstances as they are? What's responsible for those supporting structures? If the problem is a consequence of your own past decisions, assuming responsibility for the matter is in order.

   This may seem apparent and common sense; yet, you would be surprised at how frequently I have personally witnessed others who have simply failed to recognize or otherwise blatantly attempted to avoid or sidestep assuming responsibility for the outcome(s) of their own past decisions. Many of us can recall doing this as children. In fact, we can frequently observe this behavior in children and teens who are attempting to avoid punishment. This behavior may seem humorous and perhaps natural, but not in the world of professionalism.

   Fear of embarrassment or punishment is the reason for this awkward behavior. Learn to face it squarely and openly acknowledge your own responsibility. You're only human. You're gonna' make mistakes. Always make the appropriate reparations to help amend your own oversights. Lots of problems can be avoided when you do.

  3. Commitment to Care & Concern:

   Care and Concern — Righteousness in the Present Time. You should always feel an affection toward all those who may subsequently bear the burden(s) of your decision(s). Imagine yourself in their shoes. Apathy is always convenient, while at times compassion requires tremendous mental and physical work to root out one's own assumptions so as to PREPARE and PREVENT any subsequent dire possibility.

Compassion to Action!!

   It is human care that provides our necessary motivation for DOING. If we don't care about achieving some imagined goal, we won't consequently PERFORM to bring about that end. CONCERN is how we display it.

   As mentioned in Mental Map: Caring, a caring professional attitude embodies several factors:

1. Empathizing and Allowing for all the Honest Possibilities before despising or accusing,
2. Incorporating Ethical and Moral Standards of Conduct in your Personal Decision-Making System, and
3. Considering All the Consequences that may ensue once your final decision begins to take effect.

   Also, as mentioned in Part I: General Overview, we mustn't rely solely on our memories to instruct us when to assume a caring attitude. Sometimes our memories and sensibilities do just fine at sparking that emotion and appropriately directing our energies. Other times, however, our memories fail to provide us with the necessary recognition, and we may overlook a situation requiring our greater attention. Remember to actively imagine possibilities that might initiate your motivation to care. You cannot depend on experiences stored in memory to do that for you. To spark your caring emotion, try to imagine reasons to care,

   Furthermore, MAKE NOTE: Humans do NOT always behave rationally! We are by nature moody, emotional and inquisitive creatures. We at times do things "at the spur of the moment," "just for fun" or "just to see what would happen." So, when you command others to carry through with an order, may you always safely assume that they will act as rationally and with as much attention to detail as you would prefer? Of course not. As a professional, you must anticipate possible error before it may manifest itself. Checking on and monitoring others is a part of your professional responsibility. "The job won’t be done right if you don’t care about it being done right,” is the appropriate credo to keep in mind here. Never just blindly entrust matters to others who may not fulfill the expectations quite as imagined. How much effort is required to check on the performance of another? Remain CONCERNED about their progress; check on their current activities; and discuss with them how they are doing. You may be surprised at what you might learn at times.

   Checking up on and monitoring others is not a trivial routine to be taken lightly. It is sometimes perhaps the only means for catching those mistakes that could lead to serious problems later on.

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   ^*SIMPLE EXAMPLE: Consider the former practice of harassing — sometimes even torturing — criminal suspects in the way of "forcing them to talk." Modern practices dictate a more compassionate and prudent approach in light of the possibility that the suspect may turn out totally innocent. ("Why bother?” you may wonder. "Wouldn't an innocent individual speak freely and an actual criminal remain reticent?” Not always. For example, consider an innocent suspect who is fearful and/or cognizant of an internal problem within an enforcement agency. Such an individual, to protect his or her own well-being, may opt to keep quiet to begin with, perhaps regardless of all the "talk-techniques" attempted.)

All opinions expressed in this web site, unless otherwise noted, are my own, Michael Gaspard. If you notice any errors or have any suggestions for improvement, please let me know by e-mailing webmaster@mdpme.com. Thank you!

This web page was last updated on Monday, May 24, 2004.
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