The Compassionate and Forgiving Organization

This Element is an excerpt from Moral Intelligence: Enhancing Business Performance and Leadership Success (9780132349864) by Doug Lennick and Fred Kiel. Available in print and digital formats.

The business advantages of compassion and forgiveness—and how to “walk the walk,” not just “talk the talk”

When it’s business as usual, acts of compassion are small or subtle in the great organizational scheme of things. But when a major crisis strikes, it is easy to see the difference between the truly compassionate organization and one that gives lip service to values. On a cold December night in 1995, a devastating fire tore through Aaron Feuerstein’s factory in Lawrence, Massachusetts...