Moral Courage: The Framework for Bridging Ethics and Action and Building Strength to Stand Up for Your Values

by Rushworth M. Kidder

Why did a group of teenagers watch a friend die instead of putting their own reputations at risk? Why did a top White House official decide to come clean and accept a prison sentence during Watergate? Why did a finance executive turn down millions out of respect for her employer? Why are some willing to risk their futures to uphold principles? What gives us the strength to stand up for what we believe? As these questions suggest, the topic of moral courage is front and center in today's culture. Enron, Arthur Andersen, the U.S. Olympic Committee, abusive priests, cheating students, domestic violence -- all these remind us that taking ethical stands should be a higher priority in our culture. Why, when people discern wrongdoing, are they sometimes unready, unable, or unwilling to act? In a book rich with examples, Rushworth Kidder reveals that moral courage is the bridge between talking ethics and doing ethics. Defining it as a readiness to endure danger for the sake of principle, he explains that the courage to act is found at the intersection of three action based on core values, awareness of the risks, and a willingness to endure necessary hardship. By exploring how moral courage spurs us to strive for core values, he demonstrates the benefits of ethical action to the individual and to society -- and the severe consequences that can result from remaining morally dormant. Moral Courage puts indispensable concepts and tools into our hands, equipping us to respond to the increasingly complicated moral challenges we face at work, at home, and in our communities. It enables us to make clear, confident decisions by exploring some litmus-test While physical courage may no longer be a necessary survival skill or an essential rite of passage out of childhood, few would dispute the growing need for moral courage as the true gauge of maturity. Treating this subject not as an esoteric branch of philosophy but as a practical necessity for modern life, Kidder deftly leads us to a clear understanding of what moral courage is, what it does, and how to get it.

Genres: Philosophy, Leadership, Nonfiction, Self Help, Sociology, Business

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 4, 2005

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

1/3 of my punishment books.

SoOOOoooöóoooo RePeTIVE. The man had like 3 points. The examples were exhausting.

Also, the prose needed LIFE! It takes courage to write creatively! Please be more courageous with your writing style!

But what I did I really expect from parent-assigned homework ya know?

[David Gross · Rating 2 out of 5]

When something important is at stake but temptation offers an easy out, some people take a tough stand and do the right thing. What sets these people apart from the crowd? Moral courage — “the quality of mind and spirit that enables one to face up to ethical challenges firmly and confidently, without flinching or retreating.”

Rushworth Kidder tries to define, explore, and promote moral courage, but I caught a whiff of sycophancy coming off the pages and it spoiled the book for me.

In Kidder’s framework, moral courage (or its absence) is found where principles, danger, and endurance combine. Principles distinguish moral courage from ordinary courage. The presence of danger is only way to know that real courageousness is at issue. Endurance is a combination of character and attitudes of confidence and trust that enables people to risk dangers to defend principles.

To be morally courageous, you have to honor each of these components. You have to have principles, and really value them, and be astute enough to apply them and prioritize them in the ambiguous real world. You have to recognize the risks, and look honestly at the consequences of action and inaction. And you have to draw on your character and your experience to give you the faith that allows you to take risks for your principles.

If you don’t work with all three components, you end up with a lopsided and ineffective counterfeit of moral courage: foolhardiness, self-righteousness, mere physical courage, or timidity.

Kidder believes moral courage is a teachable skill. His Institute for Global Ethics runs seminars in Moral Courage and Ethical Fitness®. Moral Courage reads like a workbook from one of these seminars - so much so that I could almost feel it transformed in my hands into a comb-bound, plastic-covered booklet lying on a conference table in the glow of PowerPoint slides.

Kidder’s main method is to describe an aspect of his framework, and then to illustrate it with exemplars, ranging from the ordinary to the extraordinary. One struck me as being particularly weird. Directly after discussing the case of a Chilean human rights worker who had been threatened with assassination by Pinochet’s death squads, Kidder segues into the case of the chairman and CEO of a company who had to make a hard decision to cut most of his employees' pay by 25%.

Kidder describes this as a morally courageous decision, but to me it just sounded like the sort of hard-nosed business decision that CEOs are supposed to make, morally courageous or not.

I did a little googling and found out that the CEO in question is on the Advisory Board of Kidder’s Institute for Global Ethics, and is a major donor, who has endowed a research fellowship for the Institute.

Kidder doesn't reveal any of this to the reader (which strikes me as a breach of journalistic ethics at least).

I couldn’t help but look at this and think sycophancy — Kidder appears to be flattering and balming the troubled conscience of a major donor to his Institute. That he appears to do so sneakily, without revealing the apparent conflict of interest, and in a book that is all about identifying and applying principles in the face of temptation, soured me on his project as a whole.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book, although a little hard to get into because it kind of feels like a textbook. The points it makes and stories that illustrate them are very important. Moral courage is more than physical courage. It involves holding to principles in the face of danger and enduring through hardships to do what's right. Sometimes difficult choices are between right and right. The main ethical dilemmas are often between:
* truth versus loyalty
* individual versus community
* short term versus long term
* justice versus mercy

Here are a couple of ideas and quotes I liked:

"Expressing moral courage is not simply a trait of leadership; it is often the thing that creates leaders....the unwillingness to become a public figure, to accept the responsibility that prominence brings, and to weather the batterings that notoriety provokes is a more significant detriment to the expression of moral courage than we may imagine....'Do I dare disturb the universe (p. 133)?'"

Moral relativism is such a part of our society today, which makes this book and its principles all the more important. As John Pepper, Procter & Gamble CEO says, "Make sure you know what you really believe in, what you live and die by. And be clear on the mission of your life and the values you want to have guide it (p. 245)."

Edmund Burke said, "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing (p. 252)."

I thought the book started with interesting research showing five values most often identified by individuals and groups:
* responsibility
* truth
* fairness
* compassion
* self-respect

While I think that these are very important values and it's neat to think about common values for a community and world, I think the idea of people and votes setting the most important values doesn't make a lot of sense. I see values and principles coming from God and hope that the the things he teaches are the most important words we live by.

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

Normally I don’t go for books on ethics, but as a survivor of the DOD’s unlawful COVID mandates, I resonated with this book. Moral courage is often hard to pin down, and Mr Kidder gives manifold examples and extracts overarching principles that prepare us for future times when we will be required to display moral courage. Our national deficit of moral courage is perhaps more damaging even than our current federal debt.

[Pamela Hawley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A valuable book on ethics, Moral Courage by Rush Worth Kidder really pushes us to examine our values in action. Kidder asks important questions, such as:
“Is my behavior predictable or erratic?”
“Do I communicate clearly or carelessly?”
“Do I treat promises seriously or lightly?”
“Am I forthright or dishonest?”

These aren’t necessarily new ideas or concepts for us, but when we put them to the test, they make us be better leaders and better people.

He also talks about some of the greatest dangers in leadership and organizational cultures. Some of his advice relate to concern for bureaucracy and apathy, which lead to no action; at other times, he emphasizes overconfidence, which he demonstrates happened at NASA and was the cause of some fatal explosions.

No matter how much we commit to our values, to spirituality, to being the best person we can, we can always benefit from his examples and stringent commitment to morality. It is a dense book with examples that can help you lead and learn about yourself.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a few good points, repeated at great length. I also suspect that many of the stories in here are extremely simplified to make the case, which is how these kinds of books go, but really takes a lot of life out of the topic.

I'm probably also a little bit sour on the whole concept of morals, living in the USA in 2025 where our federal government acts with a complete lack of them and purely for individual gain and grift.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!! Presents very intriguing ways to breakdown concepts of integrity, values, honesty, etc. Wonderful real life examples and stories to comlpiment the concepts written.

[M🫶🏻 · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s a book I read for school. It was not bad just hard to follow along due to the fact that I didn’t choose to read it.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the narratives in the chapters were the best at portraying the principles the author was trying to explain.

[Ryan Shen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Expected a summary of philosophy texts I'll never read. Got a turgid and anecdotal self-help book instead. Yuck.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book for the most part. Kidder has compiled a variety of research and anecdotes to keep the reader engaged. Moreover, he makes some interesting points about the universality of certain moral principles and the difficult ways in which those principles sometimes conflict. However, his thesis becomes terribly strained at some points, especially toward the end of the book. His efforts to discuss methods of teaching moral courage leave the educator in me sorely disappointed. Finally, and perhaps most damning, Kidder doesn't write very well. He employs a variety of anologies seemingly intended to fill space and display his erudition more than they elucidate his points. Kidder often seems to get lost in tangents rather easily. Despite the low quality of the prose, I still think the book is worth a read for people interested in issues of morality in the modern age.

[Mike McKay]

Rush Kidder is a world leader on the issue of ethics and is the founder and president of the Institute for Global Ethics. His books, articles and lectures are important guideposts for individuals and organizations as we continue in the quest to be positive contributors in ever more complex political, social, business and educational environments. Kidder highlights the call for moral courage: the courage to be moral, through stories of situations where that courage was evident and others where is was glaringly absent. The book engages and provokes thinking about self, relationships and systems. It would serve well as a must read for educators in all positions and leaders of any organization.

[Terry Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good research on universal human values and some good working definitions. The book is dense and the mix of research, analysis, and exposition can make his points difficult to follow at times. He makes many excellent points, but the points can get lost in the complexity of his writing and his tendency to drift off into tangents -- relative and interesting tangents, but tangents that weakened his stories.

Because the book is so packed with information and concepts (and wanders), it requires careful reading and critical thought. (I ended up with 14 pages of typed outline notes to make sure I was following his thoughts accurately.)

Not a casual read, but very useful in helping you understand the workings of moral courage from the view point of a noted expert in the field.

[Susanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives a good overview of what moral courage means based on example stories. Every chapter has a checklist at the end that summarizes again the whole book which I find very helpful... especially if I want to look up some things at a later point. Though there is a lot of repetition at some points and sometimes I felt like the author didn´t manage to analyze all the situations to the degree and aspect they should have been analyzed.

[Cathy Nove-josserand · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well worth reading. Full of stories that illustrate moral dilemmas and instances of moral courage. The author constructs a framework for understanding the difference between moral courage and physical courage or moral convenience.

[Truppidavies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can you believe this was a suggested read from school...and I read it & liked it!

[Scott Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read with good anecdotes. Good ethics book for the non academic.

[Kevin Miller]

Recc'd by Kevin Trapani. Values throughout the world :)

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little esoteric at times, but a fundamentally powerful message that will be with me for a long time to come.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, but I found the prose a bit choppy. Could be that I've been tired lately, but it just did not flow well. However, the ideas and most of the examples are solid. I recommend it.

[Spacek Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an extension of Kidder's book titled: How Good People Make Tough Choices. He expands upon the practical applications from the first book.

[Marly La Madrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moral courage doesn’t always produce an immediated benefit.