Moral relativism says that you can choose which moral standard works best for you, and that I can choose what is best for me. If that is the case then the drug dealer who is selling dope to your kids is completely justified if he is selling drugs because it is the only means that he can find to support his own family. It may not be okay to you, but often people like this have come to terms with their actions based on their own situation.

You may not agree that this is okay, but this is exactly why "moral relativism" does not work, and why there needs to be an absolute moral standard for us to base things on. But you may be asking yourself, "why all of this stuff about moral standards?". Because management (and leadership) starts with character, and your character is based on your morals.

If you have noticed one thing through the previous posts in this blog, it is that I typically point everything back to some point of personal responsibility. One of the most important things that managers need to realize is that they are responsible for their own actions above anything else. Think about this for a moment... Who would you prefer to have working for you?

1. The "victim" that constantly complains, and continuously points the finger at someone else.
2. The "hero" that faces challenges head on, and understands that they are responsible for the results that they produce.

Granted, not everyone falls cleanly into one of these two buckets, but it is going to be the person with more of the #2 attitude that you want on your team. My point here is that people must take responsibility for or control of their own situation if they are to be effective managers. Particularly, strong managers will look at the purposes that companies have for their employees (outlined in previous posts), and not take a position of expectation from other people, but rather a position of ownership in creating that environment for other people.

People are not only responsible for their actions, but they are also responsible for their character. Character development is something that each one of us must decide on and are responsible for. Our character is not someone else's "fault", nor is someone else responsible for creating our character. Character is developed through the decisions that we make. While other people may help influence our decisions, ultimately each of us makes our own decisions. In fact, everything that we sense will ultimately affect a decision that we make, but we still make it on our own.

This is where the moral absolute idea comes in as a part of management and leadership. Where there is a moral standard, then there is something solid and concrete to build our decisions on. Then these decisions become part of who we are, and help to define our character. So the question is this... Where is our moral absolute? The world has yet to produce anything that even comes close to the Bible as a source of moral absolutes. The principles taught in the Bible have proven to stand the test of time, whereas other man-made methods tend only to provide short-term solutions and impact.

In the Book of Acts, even a Pharisee (a Jewish religious leader) who was against the new Christian movement that was happening recognized this by making the following statement about the apostles:

Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."

Acts 5:38-39 (show context)

One of the best resources that I've read on this topic is John Maxwell's book The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. Maxwell is a man of great Christian character himself, and derives all of his writing from Biblical principles. He is a man who recognizes that the Bible is a complete moral absolute that can be used to base leadership principles on, even in today's crazy world. The principles never change, even though the times that they are lived out in do.