Moral courage

The ability to do something right despite danger, despite the consequences and despite what people say is moral courage. Where physical courage would require bodily strength, even a weak person can display moral courage. It is not often that you see this kind of courage as no one wants to be accused of trying to appear holier-than-thou and end up unpopular or worst still sent to Coventry!

If you discover some unhealthy practices in your organisation, seemingly being supported by your senior managers, would you have the courage to expose it? Would you rather turn the other cheek? We have heard of the Enron story, we have heard of the Bristol Scandal where staff with moral courage have been labelled as whistle-blowers and suffered as a result. But the society became better for their action in terms of improvements and covering of monitoring loopholes.

Moral courage can be executed through an independent boards or committees to lessen the impact on individuals that are supposed to take action to right wrongdoings in an organisation or association. In this instance,true independence is a must and not just apparent.