There’s a couple of interesting things in a recent Harvard Business Review interview with one of the most influential psychologists alive, Howard Gardner. In his coming book Five Minds for the Future, Gardner extends his famous list of seven intelligences with five cognitive minds, one of them being the ethical mind. The interview unveils a number of points on business ethics funnily resonant with what we believe and do in Actics.

1. The ethical mind is about fundamentally deciding which kind of person or organization you wish to be. It’s a reflected and pro-active way of engaging with your surroundings that pays of with consistency and resilience.
2. Different to ‘the respectful mind’, the ethical mind acts proactively instead of merely respecting authorities and rules. A clear pendant to pro-activity instead of compliance in CSR.
3. Gardner calls for period evaluation by people both inside and outside the organization. Give us feedback!

But Gardner’s story of a former Harvard president lying to get a weekly day off for reflecting as an example of ethical virtue is quite a bit off.