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Some people believe they create their own destiny - others believe the hands of fate control them. The same is true for organizations and communities. That second perspective leaves people frustrated and angry, feeling out of control and powerless. They freeze midway on the road to maturity. The results show in big and small lapses in ethics. One reason we're seeing so many problems in the business world now is that as a society, we've lost our sense of ethics.

Some people believe they create their own destiny - others believe the hands of fate control them. The same is true for organizations and communities. That second perspective leaves people frustrated and angry, feeling out of control and powerless. They freeze midway on the road to maturity. The results show in big and small lapses in ethics. One reason we're seeing so many problems in the business world now is that as a society, we've lost our sense of ethics.

People who have stopped growing and are stagnating at any given point of growth might:

* constantly try to protect themselves against punishment, obeying rules only to make themselves feel secure

* exercise black and white thinking, seeing people as either 'with them or against them'

* feel little sense of control over their lives

* aim for acceptance and endorsement by conforming

Abraham Maslow speaks of a continuum of needs people have to satisfy before they can reach full maturity, which he calls self-actualization. In order, these needs are:

* physical survival

* safety

* acceptance

* achievement

* self-accomplishment

Each of these needs presents a challenge a person has to satisfy before they move on to a higher level of development. If they don't succeed, they get stuck in a continual behavior loop at that level, and they don't mature any further.

Immaturity leads to all kinds of problems, both for individual people and society as a whole. One of the first signs of this immaturity in a society is the existence of power hierarchies. Power hierarchies spur a complex host of problems, including: de-motivation, loss of health, low productivity, fiscal losses, bankruptcies and the manipulation of many for the benefit of a few.

Hierarchical standards put forward that developmental irresponsibility is unavoidable: there are the abundant and there are the poverty-stricken, there are the employers and there are the employees, and these lines never vary or blur. Not only companies support this theory, but entire societies: man has defined global areas as 'haves and have-nots.'

We witness examples of this on a daily basis in the news. We learn about CEOs who make excessive luxury purchases or receive a 'golden parachute' in spite of the reality that their business is bankrupt. In politics, we witness leaders rising to command abruptly, leaving social chaos in their wake. We witness more extreme samples as militant extremists scheme and carry out crimes against humanity.

People who fall behind and stay wedged in a lesser stage of maturing will remain helpless in opposition to the tidal waves of destruction in the contemporary mainstream. So much of this can be averted if leaders in commerce, politics, teaching, and regional communities would commit themselves to serving the people they influence helping them to grow and mature, to go forward in self-development. It's not adequate to sit and think about the dilemma, to speculate what could be done to help people become more ethical.

There are so many personal development and training possibilities available, particularly in the trade world. Providing this kind of moral consciousness preparation for employees isn't just a matter of helping everybody to get along and be polite - it's an investment that pays massive dividends that benefit everybody.

Those who work towards the goal of self-realization for themselves and for those around them will mature. Those who mature will create a healthy new paradigm for business and society, and will ultimately thrive in the future.