TED The real crisis? We stopped being wise - Barry Schwartz

• a wise man knows when and how to make the exception to every rule
• doesn't have to slavishly follow policy
• real-world problems are dynamic
• you need permission to try new things, to fail, and to learn from failure
• "We hate to do it but we must follow procedure" - spares you from thinking
• first tool - rules, second rules - incentives - what else, because these don't work
• moral skill is chipped away by overreliance on rules, incentivism stops us from exercising our morality
• scripts for teachers because we don't trust them - rules prevent disaster but ensure mediocrity
• incentives put people in mind of how they can serve themselves - demoralises activities, they lose morale, and the activity loses morality
• DO celebrate and acknowledge moral exaplars (Atticus Finch, moral heroes), ask people around you to celebrate moral heroes
• employees should be inspired by their superiors
• find ordinary heroes
• be ordinary heroes
• nurture moral skills and moral will
• good people give up if they have to swim against the current
• the way you teach morality is to embody morality
• display courage, hope
• people want to be allowed to be virtuous - to do things in the right way for the right reasons
• structures in organisations should be examined to find how they suppress wisdom and restructured to nurture wisdom