Preparing Young Leaders: The Future of America

National Conference on Ethics
in America (Part 3 of 5)

The Monday afternoon session began with a plenary lecture by Colonel Donna Brazil, Director of Psychology Studies at the United States Military Academy. Colonel Brazil is a 1983 West Point graduate who holds a Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy in Social Psychology from the University of North Carolina. Besides serving the U.S. Army in numerous command and staff assignments stateside and internationally, she currently serves West Point as Academy Professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership.

Social Responsibility

Addressing the issues of social responsibility, Colonel Brazil stressed the importance of being fully dedicated to family and community in order to make a positive impact on society. She spoke about emotional intelligence whereby individuals must know themselves and be able to understand others by seeing the world from their viewpoint.

“Leaders must have purpose, direction and motivation to accomplish the mission but must also be dedicated to improving the lives of people and their organizations.” According to Colonel Brazil, “true leaders are transformational since they impact change on the family, neighborhood, community and organization.”

Ethics and Responsibility

As a response to Colonel Brazil’s insights, my group discussed the importance of companies stressing social responsibility, especially in regards to corporate ethics, pollution, health care and outsourcing. They felt that in the long run a lack of social responsibility robs the employee, the shareholder, the community, and the nation. Conversely, they expressed that community outreach helps the bottom line since it inspires loyalty, good will and dedicated employees.

The students believe that America needs a renewed awareness to social justice issues including:

• Trendsetting transformational leaders
• Dedication to the environment including vehicle and gashouse emissions programs and ethanol usage development
• Renewed public transportation upgrades and city design improvements as a response to population growth
• Improvement of public works systems and increase of water purification systems due to water shortages and droughts
• Enhancement of electrical systems to prevent blackouts

Tomorrow's leaders must understand the consequences of organizational selfishness and must work to build collaboration among all aspects of the community for the good of society.

READ MORE

Preparing Young Leaders: The Future of America – Part 1 of 5	Click here to visit site
Preparing Young Leaders: The Future of America – Part 2 of 5	Click here to visit site
Preparing Young Leaders: The Future of America – Part 3 of 5	Click here to visit site
Preparing Young Leaders: The Future of America – Part 4 of 5	Click here to visit site
Preparing Young Leaders: The Future of America – Part 5 of 5	Click here to visit site
National Conference on Ethics in America	Click here to visit site