Week 3: Honesty and Business Ethics

 This week’s readings were wonderful, and I learned a lot from them. The first thing we were prompted to read were the next couple chapter of the book Launching Leaders. So far, I have enjoyed reading this book because it has the perfect balance of personal experience and information to help you improve.

 These chapters focused on setting out our course to become the person we want to be in the future. Chapter 4 started out with the author telling a story about how he randomly developed a fear of flying in his adult years. At the time he traveled here and there for work and this fear was causing him to not have confidence in himself. I read that story and it was exactly what I needed to hear this week. There are fears that I have randomly developed later in life that sometimes get in the way of my day-to-day activities. It was such a comfort to know that I am not alone in that experience, and to also know that there is a way to solve it. He learned more about flying by learning how himself and this helped him with his fears. The next couple of chapters went on to explain how we can map out our lives to achieve the goals that we have in mind and become the person we picture. Chapter 6 focused on not living a double life and being comfortable with our core values so that we are the same person in every single situation and scenario. 

A couple other concepts that I learned from this week’s readings were in the two talks. The first one by Elder Ribbons talked about how Satan uses people around us to tempt us and become dishonest. He said that the most serious of sins always involve other people. When Adam and Eve were the only ones on the earth Satan didn't have much that he could tempt them with. Then once they started having children, he used competition and comparison to tempt them and entice them to do evil. I had never thought about how true that is, so it was a very eye-opening talk for me. 

The next talk was written by Sherri Dew. Her talk was all about integrity and being true to our beliefs. She shared a story about Joseph F. Smith being the only one to stand up to a mob and proclaim that he was a member of the church when they were threatening everyone. The reaction of the mob was the exact opposite in what I expected to happen because once he had done this, they shook his hand and told him they respected a man that could stand up for what he believes in. I have always told myself that I would do the same thing if I ever were in that situation, no matter the result. It was a testament to me that being true to yourself, even if you are alone, is so important and shapes who you will become. 

I learned from this week’s reading that the formula for happiness is staying consistent with who you are and in doing that you will have no regrets about the decisions that you make and the way that you treat others in this life. I am looking forward to more of the readings in this class and the gold nuggets I can get from each one.