Paul Davy

Morals and ethics are standards of behaviour. What is right and wrong. What is good and bad. What is light and dark. Morals are standards of behaviour decided by you as an individual. Ethics are standards of behaviour decided by a social group, a community. Virtues are those behaviours that are deemed to be good. Vices are those behaviours that are deemed to be bad. Habits build behaviours. Behaviours turn into your character. If we could choose our behaviours, what behaviours would we choose? To help, it might be worth looking at someone else’s. Let’s look at Aristotle. The example is: when you are faced with fear and you need to combat it with confidence. The virtue would be the good behaviour. The good behaviour would include the right amount of confidence to combat the fear. We will call this virtue ‘courage’. The vice would be bad behaviour. Aristotle suggests there are two vices. When you have too much confidence, you can behave with ‘rashness’. If you have too little confidence,...

I have three sons and the two eldest ones play football.  They were invited to play for a team in a competition. To play, it would mean a bit of travel. It would also mean missing there normal Saturday coaching classes. Swimming, Jiu-Jitsu and football. They said these opportunities wouldn’t come up very often and they would like to go. They would like to give it a try and experience it. Even if it meant missing their normal classes.  It took us 2 hours to get there. A bus ride. A train  journey. And a bit of a walk.   When we got there, it was an indoor 3rd generation AstroTurf Center. There were four pitches and all would be used in the competition. The boys  were handed their team kit for the competition. The eldest was number 8 and the youngest number 9.   There were four teams in their group and they would play each other once. After the three games, their team had won 3-2, drawn 1-1 and won 2-0. They won their group and went on to play ...

The UK is having a General Election on Thursday 12th December 2019. This national vote will decide on a government to run the country.  The UK must choose who it wants to lead it.  Given the choice, what type of leader would you follow?  In her book ‘Taking Pride’, Jessica Tracy has a suggestion. She suggests  the two types of pride are a basis for two different leadership styles.  There is Dominance and there is Prestige.  A Dominance leadership style is when the leader leads with hubris or false-pride. They are typically driven by authority, control and power.  A Prestige leadership style is when the leader leads with authentic-pride. They are driven by respect, admiration and being a role model.  Tracy uses Donald Trump and Barack Obama as examples.   Both have been entrusted as President of the United States of America. They are both very different personalities. Both lead with very different styles. Tracy uses Donald Trump as an exa...

I have mentioned before that I am a member of Toastmasters International. An organisation designed to build public speaking, leadership and communication skills. The organisation has over 358,000 members in over 16,800 clubs in 143 countries around the world.  Each club has a committee who help run the club. Each committee is made up of the following roles: President Vice President of Education  Vice President of Membership  Vice President of Public Relations  Treasurer  Secretary  Sergeant of Arms.  Taking on these roles voluntary. No one is forced to take on the role (although there may be some persuasion from others). They receive no money. In fact, they keep paying their membership fees like any other member. But they do offer their spare time to fulfil the role. They offer it freely and willingly.  I currently serve as President of my Toastmasters club.  I do so willingly and freely.  Why?  To grow and to give.   To u...

Why do we do difficult things?  Things through which we suffer, endure pain, and battle fears.  There are plenty of people who do it. The London Marathon in 2018 had an estimated number of 40,000 runners at the start line. That’s just the people who managed to get in. Many people who couldn’t get a spot. It was also recorded as the hottest London Marathon to date at 24.1 Celsius.  Master chef semifinalist and professional chef Matt Campbell aged 29, died after collapsing during the race.  Why would so many people do such a gruelling ordeal? To run 26.2 miles. When there are people who have died and collapsed from doing such a challenge?  Yet thousands of people line up every year to have a go.  What drives these people? Why do they do it? What is their sense of purpose? What sense of meaning are they looking for?  When they do it once, what would drive them to come back and do it again?  Jiu-Jitsu    I don’t do marathons but I do practic...