Written by Brenda van Osch – Journalist

“Think: “What can I do differently?”

Doing the right thing. We (almost) all want that. Yet the practice is unruly. It is not always clear what ‘the good’ is. Or it clashes with things that are also important, such as what the boss wants from us. So we look for ways out or point to others who make good impossible. Legislation, employers, politicians. And that is exactly where our problem lies, says Ryan Holiday (1978), former marketing director of clothing brand American Apparel, media strategist and author. He is particularly popular with books about the Stoic philosophy of the Greeks and Romans, such as The Obstacle is the Way Over Adversity. He also hosts the daily podcast The Daily Stoic.

Holiday is working on a four-part series on the virtues of courage, self-control, justice and wisdom. His third and latest book is about Justice and is called The Road from Good to Great. Justice is the most important virtue, he says via an image connection with Texas, where he lives. “The Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, whom I greatly admire, called these virtues the four standards of goodness. For me, justice is the most important, because it is the basis. If the other three virtues are not aimed at achieving justice, they are not worth much. Fighting courageously in an unjust war is hardly virtuous. A person who uses his intelligence to manipulate others is not wise as he was meant to be in ancient times.”

The premise of Stoicism is that you should follow what you can control. That should also include money for doing good, Holiday says. Justice is a verb. We must start with ourselves. ‘We talk a lot about world problems, but neglect topics that we have control over ourselves. Or we talk about what other people should do instead of acting ourselves. But as a citizen, entrepreneur or manager, you make your own decisions. So instead of complaining about the legislation of the business environment, think: what am I going to do differently? What is within my reach? What do I have decision-making power over?”

Doesn’t morality quickly lose out to money in a capitalist system? ‘Acting according to moral standards is often expensive. Because it is not primarily about what it yields, but about how your actions influence others. There is a contradiction there. Yet you see that we also assess companies on the impact they have on the world. Classical thinking that focuses solely on shareholder value is becoming outdated. There are companies that reason: if we harm people or the environment, we also harm our shareholders. For example, some time ago Apple decided to limit the tracking of customers who use their iPhone. Instead of profiting from sharing that data, they opted for more customer privacy. I’m not saying Apple is a great ethical company, but it is an example of seeing fairness not just as staying within legal boundaries, but as the standards you want to work with.”