Social Justice and Leadership by Edward Morton

The caliber of talent attracted to The Naples Institute (www.institutenaples.org) continues to amaze me. One of our newer members, Ed Morton, wrote the piece below, which he was kind enough to share.

Take out mention in the last two paragraphs of Collier County, and this speaks for all humanity, across the globe.

Social Justice and Leadership
By: Edward Morton

Leadership has been read about and analyzed from every possible point of view. My belief, however, is that when reduced to its essence, leadership can be defined by one word, influence. It is through influencing others that we collectively achieve the more meaningful things in life. Leadership is not a trait but a process whereby individuals influence others’ opinions. By influencing the opinions of others, leaders effect change within their organization and community.

Social justice has been defined in a variety of ways. It’s most common definition is the creation of an economic and social environment which protects and insures human dignity. Some seek to define social justice in terms of the redistribution of wealth while others in terms of nothing more than economic opportunity.

When many of us think of justice, we tend to think of what we may claim from others. This is an individualistic and narcissistic view of justice. But there is another instinct which has a broader sense of justice – social justice which shifts our thinking from what we claim from others to what we owe to each other.

Social justice is about duties and responsibilities, about building a better more compassionate community. Within this enlightened perspective, social justice is the obligation which falls upon us individually and collectively to meet the reasonable expectations of this community’s citizens so that they may realize and exercise their fundamental human rights. If social justice is to be a hallmark of this community, then we must fulfill our obligation in social justice to all of our citizens in terms of healthcare, housing, education and general welfare.

Our community and its leadership are undergoing a test. It is a test in the sense that we will be measured by the comprehensiveness of both our concerns and our actions. We will be judged by those that come after us in terms of what we actually accomplish and not our patronizing rhetoric.

All of us who constitute local leadership must look beyond special interest claims and partisan differences to unite this community in a new commitment to meet the economic and social conditions of our citizens.

We must recognize as was suggested by Adam Smith in his seminal treatise on ethics and capitalism, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, that our individual and collective existence is best protected by adopting a commitment to social justice. Smith implied that by avoiding the obligations imposed upon us by social justice we legitimize an ever expanding role of the state. Eventually, sufficient wealth is confiscated by the state to destroy free enterprise which alone gives rise to our freedom and liberty. Thus, it is in our own enlightened self interest that we join together as leaders (from both the public and private sectors) of this community and address the inequities brought upon by the unique challenges of living in “paradise”. We are indeed blessed that we live in a community where so many willingly give of their time and treasure; however, private initiatives will not suffice.

In the 21st century, as our social order has become increasingly complex, we must recognize that a proper sense of mutual responsibility requires, no demands, a greater presence of our local governmental leaders in insuring that all of Collier County’s citizens realize their human potential.

Let we who call ourselves the leaders of this community take a vow. A vow that we will do all that we can, individually and collectively, to dedicate ourselves to addressing the social and economic needs of all who call Collier County their home. That we from this day forward, will influence those around us to believe that what we do unto others we do unto ourselves. Social justice demands nothing less.