OPENNESS, Anjo Valikudath

Openness

Openness is the companion virtue to loyalty. Openness is not the same thing as emptiness; it doesn't mean abandoning everything. But a radical openness, anchored by loyalty to one's core mission and values, is a critical component in a benchmark ethics. Open people and organizations are more likely to succeed in business terms and more likely to contribute to good lives for individuals and communities. Think of the opposite traits: closed-mindedness, narrowness, and rigidity. We would call those "vices" because they represent an unwillingness to learn and grow a stifling of creativity and freedom, an arrogance and self-satisfaction that can easily slide into bigotry and worse. Openness is the virtue; "closed" is the vice. Openness needs to be practiced in at least three directions. First, openness is directed toward people. Openness is receptive to others, inclusive rather than exclusive. It is welcoming of diversity. It values others, and seeks to discover the gifts and talents of those others. It welcomes connections and relationships around the world and across all divisions within our own society. It learns how to listen with patient attention and how to speak the language of the other. It learns the customs and culture of others and seeks to show respect. Openness has a second direction toward ideas. This is "intellectual openness" openness to creativity, innovation, and novelty. Third, and finally, openness is directed toward criticism. It is easy to be open to innovative, creative ideas that strengthen our opinions and proposals; openness to criticism is far more difficult. Openness to criticism is a source of strength. It will help us discover problems and cut our losses while they are relatively small, rather than getting really nailed farther down the road. This third kind of openness takes some humility, courage, and strength of character. Moral/ethical criticism refuses to allow technological rationality or market mechanisms to operate unimpeded, unquestioned about impacts on people. It is not content to justify itself by saying "everybody else is doing it, so I will too." It doesn't just ask "what is profitable?" or "what is effective?" but "what is right?"Openness is a fundamental character virtue for good organizations and their leaders in all times and places. Both of these arguments, as well as common discourse on openness, seem to connote openness to freedom. If it is real freedom we're talking about I would have no problem with these arguments and with the prioritization of openness. It is the most fundamental freedom, and it is a freedom to choose of one's own free will. This does not refer to the guarantee of many choices.