Michael Josephson
Michael Josephson
Michael Josephsonis a former law professor and attorney who founded the nonprofit Joseph and Edna Josephson Institute of Ethics located in Los Angeles, California, out of which he operates as a speaker and lecturer on the subject of ethics. The institute is named after his parents...
Michael Josephson quotes about
hurt character people
Our character is revealed by how we treat people who cannot help us or hurt us.
law ethics
Ethics is doing more than the law requires and less than the law allows.
way captains ships
Your life is your ship and you are the captain. Choose your course, take the wheel firmly and get on your way.
successful goal people
There is no objective criteria for either success or failure. People who achieve their goals are successful, those who don't are not.
successful goal significant
It is better to be unsuccessful pursuing a significant goal that being successful attaining an insignificant one.
happy-life goal unhappy
A certain formula for an unhappy life is pursue someone else's definition of success. Until you define your own goals and purposes your life is not your own and there can be no sense of fulfillment no matter how much you achieve.
character judging noble
We judge our own character by our best intentions and most noble acts, but we will be judged by our last worst act.
change ozone moral
There's a hole in the moral ozone and it's getting bigger.
character opposites goal
The opposite of success is not failure. Unsuccessful efforts are not failures unless they so discourage you that you abandon further efforts to achieve your goal. Even then, the venture or effort may be a failure but you are not. Failure is an event not a character trait.
skills effort challenges
If one insists on calling all unsuccessful efforts failures the meaning of failure is really quite benign. When trying anything new or taking on any challenge, unsuccessful efforts are an essential aspect of skill building.
thinking effort next
Failure is much easier to handle if you just think of it as feedback to guide your next effort.
action good-intentions intention
An ounce of action is worth a ton of good intentions.
opportunity thinking organization
No leader or organization can achieve breakout growth until it treats, "we've always done it this way" as an opportunity to think anew rather than as a reason to stop thinking. Keep in mind, tradition should be a guide, not a jailer.
two goal risk
There are two sure ways to fail: never get started and quit before you succeed. Many companies promote the language of risk-taking and innovation but are so concerned with short term profit goals that their culture discourages innovation (trying new things) and abandons promising projects too soon. It shouldn't require exceptional moral courage to try new things and stick with them.