Ethical Thinking: Task Shortcuts Don’t Apply to People

By Linda Fisher Thornton

What is flawed thinking? What harm can it cause? What can we do about it?

This post looks at the harm we can do when we fall victim to our very human tendency to use flawed thinking about people who are not like us. If we don’t question an assumption or a piece of information, we may automatically “file it” and let it become the basis for our thinking, and for decisions and actions that are unethical.

We automatically use thinking shortcuts to keep us from having to relearn every thing every day. For example, task shortcuts keep us from having to relearn how to drive a car or make a sandwich every time. Those same shortcuts, though, when applied to people, can lead to a single story (Credit: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story | TED). And when that single story is believed, passed on, and used to make decisions, unethical actions can result. When leaders buy into the single story about any people or place, and speak on it and act on it, encouraging others to share this myopic view, they are failing as leaders, whether they are aware of it or not.

Buying into the single story ignores values and pulls leaders into a convenient belief system that is deeply flawed. Why wait until such leaders make crucial mistakes and are tried for their crimes? Why not make leaders aware of this human frailty and teach them how to recognize it in themselves and others?

Let’s begin the journey.

Watch the TedGlobal video Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story | TED (link below).
Think hard about the single story that you have fallen into believing, at any point in your life (all of us have, so think hard).
Think about the things you said or did (or didn’t do) as a result of believing the single story.
Think about a time when you were the victim of the single story (when someone thought things about you that weren’t true based on your gender, appearance, nationality, religion, age, etc.)

Questions For Discussion

How does flawed thinking about people or places satisfy the human brain’s desire to create shortcuts that save us time in figuring things out?
How can these shortcuts, that simplify remembering routine tasks that are the same every time, lead us to make assumptions that aren’t true when applied to people (who are unique individuals)?
How can believing a single story lead us down the path to unethical decisions and actions?
How could believing a single story fuel ‘we’re better than‘ thinking?
What are examples throughout history of times when people were harmed or killed based on ‘we’re better than’ thinking?”
What could be the impact, the toll, the cost, of allowing ourselves and those we lead to continue to hold onto a single story about other people?
What are we going to do to prevent that from happening?

Leaders uphold values, and believing a single story detours around the ethical values we are realizing that we must use to create a thriving and peaceful world.