Barry Schwartz: Our loss of wisdom

Translator: Dennis Petersen Reviewer: Louise Frilund

In his inaugural address,

I sin åbningstale,

Barack Obama appealed to each of us to give our best

appellerede Barack Obama til hver enkelt af os om at gøre vores bedste

as we try to extricate ourselves from this current financial crisis.

mens vi forsøger at komme ud af den aktuelle finansielle krise.

But what did he appeal to?

Men hvad appellerer han til?

He did not, happily, follow in the footsteps of his predecessor,

Han fulgte ikke gladeligt i sin forgængers fodspor,

and tell us to just go shopping.

og bad os om, bare at gå på indkøb.

Nor did he tell us, "Trust us. Trust your country.

Han sagde heller ikke, "Stol på os. Stol på dit land.

Invest, invest, invest."

Invester, invester, invester."

Instead, what he told us was to put aside childish things.

I stedet for bad han os om, at lægge barnligheden bag os.

And he appealed to virtue.

Og han appellerede til dyd.

Virtue is an old-fashioned word.

Dyd er et gammeldags ord.

It seems a little out of place in a cutting-edge environment like this one.

Det virker lidt malplaceret i et moderne miljø som dette.

And besides, some of you might be wondering,

Og desuden, vil nogen af jer spekulere over

what the hell does it mean?

hvad det her er for noget?

Let me begin with an example.

Lad mig begynde med et eksempel.

This is the job description of a hospital janitor

Dette er den jobbeskrivelse for en hospitalsassistent

that is scrolling up on the screen.

der ruller op ad skærmen.

And all of the items on it are unremarkable.

Og ingen af tingene er der noget mærkeligt ved.

They're the things you would expect:

Det er opgaver man vil forvente:

mop the floors, sweep them, empty the trash, restock the cabinets.

moppe gulve, feje dem, tømme affaldsspand, genopfylde skabe.

It may be a little surprising how many things there are,

Det kan være lidt overraskende hvor mange opgaver der er,

but it's not surprising what they are.

men det er ikke overraskende hvad de går ud på.

But the one thing I want you to notice about them is this:

Men en ting jeg vil have jer til at lægge mærke til ved dem, er denne:

even though this is a very long list,

Selv om dette er en meget lang liste,

there isn't a single thing on it that involves other human beings.

er der ikke en eneste ting på den, der involverer andre mennesker.

Not one.

Ikke en.

The janitor's job could just as well be done in a mortuary as in a hospital.

Assistentens job kunne lige så godt ske i et lighus, som på et hospital.

And yet, when some psychologists interviewed hospital janitors

Og dog, når nogle psykologer interviewede hospitalsassistenter

to get a sense of what they thought their jobs were like,

for at få en fornemmelse af, hvad de mente, at deres job var,

they encountered Mike,

stødte de på Mike,

who told them about how he stopped mopping the floor

som fortalte dem om, hvordan han stoppede med at vaske gulvet

because Mr. Jones was out of his bed getting a little exercise,

fordi Mr. Jones var ude af sin seng for at få lidt motion,

trying to build up his strength, walking slowly up and down the hall.

og vandrende langsomt op og ned ad gangen, i forsøget på at opbygge sin styrke.

And Charlene told them about how she ignored her supervisor's admonition

Og Charlene fortalte dem om, hvordan hun ignorerede sin leders formaning

and didn't vacuum the visitor's lounge

og ikke støvsugede gæsteværelset

because there were some family members who were there all day, every day

fordi der var nogle familiemedlemmer, der var der hele dagen, hver dag

who, at this moment, happened to be taking a nap.

der på dette tidspunkt var ved at tage en lur.

And then there was Luke,

Og så var der Luke,

who washed the floor in a comatose young man's room twice

som vaskede gulvet i en bevidstløs ung mands værelse to gange

because the man's father, who had been keeping a vigil for six months,

fordi mandens far, som havde våget i seks måneder,

didn't see Luke do it the first time,

ikke så Luke gøre det første gang,

and his father was angry.

så faderen var vred.

And behavior like this from janitors, from technicians, from nurses

Og opførsel som denne fra assistenter, fra teknikere, fra sygeplejersker

and, if we're lucky now and then, from doctors,

og hvis vi er heldige nu og da, fra læger,

doesn't just make people feel a little better,

får ikke bare folk til at føle sig bedre behandlet,

it actually improves the quality of patient care

det forbedrer faktisk patientbehandlingen

and enables hospitals to run well.

og får hospitaler til at fungere godt.

Now, not all janitors are like this, of course.

Men, selvfølgelig er ikke alle assistenter sådan.

But the ones who are think that these sorts of human interactions

Men dem der er, tror, at disse former for menneskelig interaktion

involving kindness, care and empathy

som involverer venlighed, omsorg og empati

are an essential part of the job.

er en væsentlig del af jobbet.

And yet their job description contains not one word about other human beings.

Og alligevel indeholder deres jobbeskrivelse ikke et ord om andre mennesker.

These janitors have the moral will to do right by other people.

Disse assistenter har den moralske vilje til at gøre det rigtige for andre mennesker.

And beyond this, they have the moral skill to figure out what "doing right" means.

Og ud over det, de har de moralske færdigheder til at forstå hvad "at gøre det rigtige" betyder.

"Practical wisdom," Aristotle told us,

Aristoteles fortalte os, at "praktisk visdom

"is the combination of moral will and moral skill."

er kombinationen af moralsk vilje og moralsk dygtighed."

A wise person knows when and how to make the exception to every rule,

En vis person ved, hvornår og hvordan man skal lave en undtagelse til hver regel,

as the janitors knew when to ignore the job duties in the service of other objectives.

som assistenten vidste hvornår man ignorerer jobbets pligter i tjenesten for andre mål.

A wise person knows how to improvise,

En vis person, ved, hvordan man improviserer,

as Luke did when he re-washed the floor.

som Luke gjorde, da han igen vaskede gulvet.

Real-world problems are often ambiguous and ill-defined

Den virkelige verdens problemer er ofte tvetydige og dårligt definerede

and the context is always changing.

og sammenhængen er altid under forandring.

A wise person is like a jazz musician --

En vis person er ligesom en jazzmusiker --

using the notes on the page, but dancing around them,

der bruger noderne på siden, men danser omkring dem,

inventing combinations that are appropriate for the situation and the people at hand.

og opfinder kombinationer, der er passende for situationen og de mennesker, der er.

A wise person knows how to use these moral skills

En vis person ved, hvordan man bruger disse moralske færdigheder

in the service of the right aims.

til gavn for de rigtige mål.

To serve other people, not to manipulate other people.

At tjene andre mennesker, ikke at manipulere med andre mennesker.

And finally, perhaps most important,

Og endelig, måske allervigtigst,

a wise person is made, not born.

en vis person er dannet, ikke født.

Wisdom depends on experience,

Visdom afhænger af erfaring,

and not just any experience.

og ikke bare en tilfældig erfaring.

You need the time to get to know the people that you're serving.

Du har brug for tid til at komme til at kende de mennesker, du servicerer.

You need permission to be allowed to improvise,

Du har brug for tilladelse til at have lov til at improvisere,

try new things, occasionally to fail and to learn from your failures.

prøve nye ting, lejlighedsvis at fejle og lære af dine fejl.

And you need to be mentored by wise teachers.

Og du skal være guidet af vise lærere.

When you ask the janitors who behaved like the ones I described

Når du spørger assistenter, der opførte sig som dem, jeg beskrev

how hard it is to learn to do their job,

hvor svært det er at lære at gøre deres arbejde,

they tell you that it takes lots of experience.

så fortæller de dig, at det kræver masser af erfaring.

And they don't mean it takes lots of experience to learn how to mop floors and empty trash cans.

Og de mener ikke, at det kræver masser af erfaring at lære at moppe gulve og tømme affaldsspande.

It takes lots of experience to learn how to care for people.

Det kræver masser af erfaring at lære at drage omsorg for mennesker.

At TED, brilliance is rampant.

På TED stortrives genialiteten.

It's scary.

Det er skræmmende.

The good news is you don't need to be brilliant to be wise.

Den gode nyhed er, at du ikke behøver at være klog for at være vis.

The bad news is that without wisdom,

Den dårlige nyhed er at uden visdom,

brilliance isn't enough.

er klogskab ikke nok.

It's as likely to get you and other people into trouble as anything else.

Det kan lige så godt bringe dig og andre folk i problemer som alt andet.

(Applause)

(Klapsalve)

Now, I hope that we all know this.

Jeg håber at vi alle forstår dette.

There's a sense in which it's obvious,

Det er en fornemmelse hvori det er naturligt,

and yet, let me tell you a little story.

og alligevel, lad mig fortælle jer en lille historie.

It's a story about lemonade.

Det er en historie om saftevand.

A dad and his seven-year-old son were watching a Detroit Tigers game at the ballpark.

En far og hans syv-årige søn overværede en Detroit Tigers kamp på Stadion.

His son asked him for some lemonade

Hans søn bad ham om noget saftevand

and Dad went to the concession stand to buy it.

og faderen gik over til boden for at købe det.

All they had was Mike's Hard Lemonade,

Det eneste de havde var Mike's Hard Lemonade,

which was five percent alcohol.

som indeholdt fem procent alkohol.

Dad, being an academic, had no idea that Mike's Hard Lemonade contained alcohol.

Faderen som var akademiker, vidste ikke at Mike's Hard Lemonade indeholdt alkohol.

So he brought it back.

Så han bragte det med tilbage.

And the kid was drinking it, and a security guard spotted it,

Og sønnen drak det, og en sikkerhedsvagt så det,

and called the police, who called an ambulance

og tilkaldte politiet, som tilkaldte en ambulance

that rushed to the ballpark, whisked the kid to the hospital.

som skyndte sig til stadion, og piskede afsted på hospitalet med barnet.

The emergency room ascertained that the kid had no alcohol in his blood.

Skadestuen konkluderede at drengen ikke havde alkohol i blodet.

And they were ready to let the kid go.

Og de var klar til at lade drengen gå.

But not so fast.

Men ikke så hurtigt.

The Wayne County Child Welfare Protection Agency said no.

The Wayne County Child Welfare Protection Agency sagde nej.

And the child was sent to a foster home for three days.

Og barnet blev sent til en plejefamilie i tre dage.

At that point, can the child go home?

Kan barnet så komme hjem på det tidspunkt?

Well, a judge said yes, but only if the dad leaves the house and checks into a motel.

En dommer sagde ja, men kun hvis faderen forlader huset og bor på motel.

After two weeks, I'm happy to report,

Efter to uger er jeg glad for at kunne meddele

the family was reunited.

at familien er genforenet.

But the welfare workers and the ambulance people

Men socialrådgivere og ambulancefolk

and the judge all said the same thing:

samt dommeren, sagde alle det samme:

"We hate to do it but we have to follow procedure."

"Vi hader at gøre det, men vi skal følge proceduren."

How do things like this happen?

Hvordan kan den slags ske?

Scott Simon, who told this story on NPR,

Scott Simon, som fortalte denne historie på NPR,

said, "Rules and procedures may be dumb,

sagde, "regler og procedurer kan være dumme,

but they spare you from thinking."

men de sparer dig for at tænke."

And, to be fair, rules are often imposed

Og for at være fair, er regler ofte pålagt

because previous officials have been lax

fordi de tidligere embedsmænd har været sløsede

and they let a child go back to an abusive household.

og lod et barn komme tilbage til en misbrugsfamilie.

Fair enough.

Rimeligt nok.

When things go wrong, as of course they do,

Når ting går galt, som de jo selvfølgelig gør,

we reach for two tools to try to fix them.

rækker vi ud efter to redskaber for at prøve at fikse dem.

One tool we reach for is rules.

Et redskab vi griber efter, er regler.

Better ones, more of them.

Bedre, og flere af dem.

The second tool we reach for is incentives.

Det andet redskab, vi rækker ud efter, er incitamenter.

Better ones, more of them.

Bedre, og flere af dem.

What else, after all, is there?

Hvad ellers, når alt kommer til alt, er der?

We can certainly see this in response to the current financial crisis.

Vi kan helt sikkert se det som reaktion til den aktuelle finansielle krise.

Regulate, regulate, regulate.

Reguler, reguler, reguler.

Fix the incentives, fix the incentives, fix the incentives ...

Fiks incitamenterne, fiks incitamenterne, fiks incitamenterne ...

The truth is that neither rules nor incentives

Sandheden er, at hverken regler eller incitamenter

are enough to do the job.

er nok til at udføre opgaven.

How could you even write a rule that got the janitors to do what they did?

Hvordan kan man overhovedet lave en regel, der får assistenter til at gøre, hvad de gjorde?

And would you pay them a bonus for being empathic?

Og skulle man betale dem en bonus for at være empatiske?

It's preposterous on its face.

Det er tydeligvis absurd.

And what happens is that as we turn increasingly to rules,

Og hvad der sker, er, at mens vi i stigende grad vender os mod regler,

rules and incentives may make things better in the short run,

regler og incitamenter som kan gøre tingene bedre på kort sigt,

but they create a downward spiral

så skaber de en nedadgående spiral

that makes them worse in the long run.

der gør dem værre i det lange løb.

Moral skill is chipped away by an over-reliance on rules

Moralsk dygtighed bliver skåret væk af en over-afhængighed af regler

that deprives us of the opportunity

der fratager os muligheden for

to improvise and learn from our improvisations.

at improvisere og lære af vores improvisationer.

And moral will is undermined

Og moralsk vilje undermineres

by an incessant appeal to incentives

med en uophørlig appel til incitamenter

that destroy our desire to do the right thing.

der ødelægger vores ønske om at gøre det rigtige.

And without intending it,

Og uden at ville det,

by appealing to rules and incentives,

ved at appellere til regler og incitamenter,

we are engaging in a war on wisdom.

er vi i gang med en krig mod visdom.

Let me just give you a few examples,

Lad mig blot give jer et par eksempler,

first of rules and the war on moral skill.

først på regler og krigen mod moralske færdigheder.

The lemonade story is one.

For det første er der saftevandshistorien.

Second, no doubt more familiar to you,

For det andet, uden tvivl mere velkendt for jer,

is the nature of modern American education:

er udformningen af den moderne amerikanske uddannelse:

scripted, lock-step curricula.

scripted, lock-step læseplaner.

Here's an example from Chicago kindergarten.

Her er et eksempel fra Chicago børnehaven.

Reading and enjoying literature

Læsning og sjov med litteratur

and words that begin with 'B.'

og ord, der begynder med 'B.'

"The Bath:" Assemble students on a rug

Badet: Saml studerende på et tæppe

and give students a warning about the dangers of hot water.

og giv de studerende en advarsel om farerne ved varmt vand.

Say 75 items in this script to teach a 25-page picture book.

Fortæl 75 emner i dette script til at undervise en 25-siders billedbog.

All over Chicago in every kindergarten class in the city,

Overalt i Chicago i hver børnehaveklasse i byen

every teacher is saying the same words in the same way on the same day.

siger hver lærer det samme ord på samme måde på samme dag.

We know why these scripts are there.

Vi ved, hvorfor disse scripts er der.

We don't trust the judgment of teachers enough

Vi stoler ikke på nok lærerenes dømmekraft

to let them loose on their own.

til at slippe dem løs på egen hånd.

Scripts like these are insurance policies against disaster.

Scripts som disse er forsikringer mod katastrofen.

And they prevent disaster.

Og de forhindrer katastrofen.

But what they assure in its place is mediocrity.

Men hvad de forsikrer i stedet for, er middelmådighed.

(Applause)

(Klapsalve)

Don't get me wrong. We need rules!

Misforstå mig ikke. Vi har brug for regler!

Jazz musicians need some notes --

Jazzmusikere har brug for nogle noder --

most of them need some notes on the page.

de fleste af dem har brug for nogle noder på siden.

We need more rules for the bankers, God knows.

Vi har brug for flere regler for bankfolk, Gud ved det.

But too many rules prevent accomplished jazz musicians

Men alt for mange regler forhindrer gennemførte jazzmusikere

from improvising.

i at improvisere.

And as a result, they lose their gifts,

Og som et resultat, mister de deres evner,

or worse, they stop playing altogether.

eller værre: de holder op med at spile sammen.

Now, how about incentives?

Hvad med incitamenter?

They seem cleverer.

De virker smartere.

If you have one reason for doing something

Hvis du har en grund til at gøre noget

and I give you a second reason for doing the same thing,

og jeg giver dig en anden grund til at gøre det samme

it seems only logical that two reasons are better than one

virker det kun logisk, at to grunde er bedre end en

and you're more likely to do it.

og du er mere tilbøjelig til at gøre det.

Right?

Rigtigt?

Well, not always.

Ikke altid.

Sometimes two reasons to do the same thing seem to compete with one another

Sommetider kommer to grunde til at gøre det samme, til at konkurrere med hinanden

instead of complimenting,

i stedet for at komplimentere,

and they make people less likely to do it.

og de gør folk mindre tilbøjelige til at gøre det.

I'll just give you one example because time is racing.

Jeg vil bare give jer et eksempel, fordi tiden løber.

In Switzerland, back about 15 years ago,

I Schweiz tilbage for omkring 15 år siden

they were trying to decide where to site nuclear waste dumps.

forsøgte de at beslutte, hvor de skulle placere en atom-losseplads.

There was going to be a national referendum.

Der skulle være en national folkeafstemning.

Some psychologists went around and polled citizens who were very well informed.

Nogle psykologer gik rundt og adspurgte borgere, der var godt informeret.

And they said, "Would you be willing to have a nuclear waste dump in your community?"

Og de sagde: "Ville du være villig til at have en atom-losseplads i dit lokalsamfund?"

Astonishingly, 50 percent of the citizens said yes.

Forbløffende 50 procent af borgerne sagde ja.

They knew it was dangerous.

De vidste det var farligt.

They thought it would reduce their property values.

De troede, det ville reducere deres ejendom værdier.

But it had to go somewhere

Men det skulle jo være et sted

and they had responsibilities as citizens.

og de havde et ansvar som borgere.

The psychologists asked other people a slightly different question.

Psykologerne spurgte andre mennesker et lidt anderledes spørgsmål.

They said, "If we paid you six weeks' salary every year

De sagde: "Hvis vi betalte dig seks ugers løn hvert år

would you be willing to have a nuclear waste dump in your community?"

ville du så være villig til at have en atom-losseplads i dit lokalsamfund? "

Two reasons. It's my responsibility and I'm getting paid.

To grunde. Det er mit ansvar, og jeg bliver betalt.

Instead of 50 percent saying yes,

I stedet for 50 procent der siger ja,

25 percent said yes.

sagde kun 25 procent ja.

What happens is that

Hvad der sker, er at

the second this introduction of incentive gets us

så snart vi introduceres for incitament, så

so that instead of asking, "What is my responsibility?"

i stedet for at spørge: "Hvad er mit ansvar?"

all we ask is, "What serves my interests?"

bliver alt, hvad vi spørger om, til: "Hvad tjener mine interesser?"

When incentives don't work,

Når incitamenter ikke virker,

when CEOs ignore the long-term health of their companies

når topdirektører ignorerer den langsigtede sundhed af deres selskaber

in pursuit of short-term gains that will lead to massive bonuses,

i jagten på kortsigtede gevinster, som vil føre til massive bonusser

the response is always the same.

er svaret er altid det samme.

Get smarter incentives.

Find smartere incitamenter.

The truth is that there are no incentives that you can devise

Sandheden er, at der ikke er nogen incitamenter, som du kan udtænke

that are ever going to be smart enough.

der nogensinde vil være smarte nok.

Any incentive system can be subverted by bad will.

Ethvert incitamentsystem kan blive undergravet af ond vilje.

We need incentives. People have to make a living.

Vi har brug for incitamenter. Folk er nødt til at tjene til føden.

But excessive reliance on incentives

Men overdreven afhængighed af incitamenter

demoralizes professional activity

demoraliserer professionel aktivitet

in two senses of that word.

i to betydninger af ordet.

It causes people who engage in that activity to lose morale

Det får mennesker, der deltager i denne aktivitet til at miste moral

and it causes the activity itself to lose morality.

og det gør at selve aktiviteten mister moral.

Barack Obama said, before he was inaugurated,

Barack Obama sagde, før han blev indsat,

"We must ask not just 'Is it profitable?' but 'Is it right?'"

"Vi må ikke bare spørge" Er det rentabelt? " men »Er det rigtigt?"

And when professions are demoralized,

Og når erhverv bliver demoraliseret

everyone in them becomes dependent on -- addicted to -- incentives

bliver alle i dem afhængige af incitamenter

and they stop asking "Is it right?"

og de holder op med at spørge "er det rigtigt?"

We see this in medicine.

Vi ser dette i medicin.

("Although it's nothing serious, let's keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't turn into a major lawsuit.")

( "Selvom det er ikke noget alvorligt, så lad os holde øje med det for at sikre, at det ikke bliver til en større retssag.")

And we certainly see it in the world of business.

Og vi ser det helt sikkert i erhvervslivet.

("In order to remain competitive in today's marketplace, I'm afraid we're going to have to replace you with a sleezeball.")

("For at forblive konkurrencedygtig på markedet i dag, er jeg bange for, at vi er nødt til at erstatte dig med en slesk fyr.")

("I sold my soul for about a tenth of what the damn things are going for now.")

("Jeg har solgt min sjæl til omkring en tiendedel af, hvad de forbandede ting går for nu.")

It is obvious that this is not the way people want to do their work.

Det er indlysende, at dette ikke er den måde, folk ønsker at gøre deres arbejde.

So what can we do?

Så hvad kan vi gøre?

A few sources of hope:

Et par kilder til håb:

we ought to try to re-moralize work.

Vi bør forsøge at re-moralisere arbejde.

One way not to do it: teach more ethics courses.

En måde ikke at gøre det på: afholde flere kurser i etik.

(Applause)

(Klapsalve)

There is no better way to show people that you're not serious

Der er ingen bedre måde at vise folk, at du ikke er alvorlig

than to tie up everything you have to say about ethics

end at knytte alt, hvad du har at sige om etik

into a little package with a bow and consign it to the margins as an ethics course.

ind i en lille pakke med en bue og afsende det til marginer som et etikkursus.

What to do instead?

Hvad skal der gøres i stedet?

One: Celebrate moral exemplars.

Et: Hylde moralske forbilleder.

Acknowledge, when you go to law school,

Anerkend, når du læser jura,

that a little voice is whispering in your ear

at en lille stemme hvisker dig i øret

about Atticus Finch.

om Atticus Finch.

No 10-year-old goes to law school to do mergers and acquisitions.

Ingen ti-årige læser jura for at lære om fusioner og overtagelser.

People are inspired by moral heroes.

Folk bliver inspireret af moralske helte.

But we learn that with sophistication

Men vi lærer, at med sofistikation

comes the understanding that you can't acknowledge that you have moral heroes.

kommer forståelsen, at du ikke kan anerkende, at du har moralske helte.

Well, acknowledge them.

Anerkend dem.

Be proud that you have them.

Vær stolt over at du har dem.

Celebrate them.

Hyld dem.

And demand that the people who teach you acknowledge them and celebrate them too.

Og kræv, at de mennesker der underviser dig, også anerkender dem og hylder dem.

That's one thing we can do.

Det er én ting, vi kan gøre.

I don't know how many of you remember this:

Jeg ved ikke, hvor mange af jer der husker dette:

another moral hero, 15 years ago, Aaron Feuerstein,

en anden moralsk helt, for femten år siden, Aaron Feuerstein,

who was the head of Malden Mills in Massachusetts --

som var leder af Malden Mills i Massachusetts --

they made Polartec --

de lavede Polartec --

The factory burned down.

Fabrikken brændte ned.

3,000 employees. He kept every one of them on the payroll.

3.000 medarbejdere. Han beholdt hver eneste af dem på lønningslisten.

Why? Because it would have been a disaster for them

Hvorfor? Fordi det ville have været en katastrofe for dem

and for the community if he had let them go.

og for samfundet, hvis han havde fyret dem.

"Maybe on paper our company is worth less to Wall Street,

"Måske er vores firma mindre værd på papiret for Wall Street,

but I can tell you it's worth more. We're doing fine."

men jeg kan fortælle dig, det er mere værd. Vi klarer os fint. "

Just at this TED we heard talks from several moral heroes.

Netop på denne TED hørte vi taler fra flere moralske helte.

Two were particularly inspiring to me.

To var særligt inspirerende for mig.

One was Ray Anderson, who turned --

Den ene var Ray Anderson, der vendte --

(Applause)

(klapsalve)

-- turned, you know, a part of the evil empire

- Vendte, du ved, en del af det onde imperium

into a zero-footprint, or almost zero-footprint business.

til en nul-fodaftryk, eller næsten nul-fodaftryk virksomhed.

Why? Because it was the right thing to do.

Hvorfor? Fordi det var det rigtige at gøre.

And a bonus he's discovering is

Og som en bonus opdager han,

he's actually going to make even more money.

at han faktisk vil tjene endnu flere penge.

His employees are inspired by the effort.

Hans medarbejdere er inspireret af indsatsen.

Why? Because there happy to be doing something that's the right thing to do.

Hvorfor? Fordi de er glade for at gøre noget, der er det rigtige at gøre.

Yesterday we heard Willie Smits talk about re-foresting in Indonesia.

I går hørte vi Willie Smits tale om ny skovrejsning i Indonesien.

(Applause)

(Klapsalve)

In many ways this is the perfect example.

På mange måder er dette det perfekte eksempel.

Because it took the will to do the right thing.

Fordi det krævede viljen til at gøre det rigtige.

God knows it took a huge amount of technical skill.

Gud ved, det tog en enorm mængde af tekniske færdigheder.

I'm boggled at how much he and his associates needed to know

Jeg er imponeret over, hvor meget han og hans medarbejdere havde brug for at vide

in order to plot this out.

for at plotte dette ud.

But most important to make it work --

Men det vigtigste for at få det til at virke --

and he emphasized this --

og han understregede dette --

is that it took knowing the people in the communities.

var, at det krævede kendskab til folkene i lokalsamfundene.

Unless the people you're working with are behind you,

Medmindre de mennesker, du arbejder med, står bag dig

this will fail.

fejler det.

And there isn't a formula to tell you how to get the people behind you,

Og der er ikke en formel til at fortælle dig, hvordan du får folk bag dig

because different people in different communities

fordi forskellige mennesker i forskellige samfund

organize their lives in different ways.

organiserer deres liv på forskellige måder.

So there's a lot here at TED, and at other places, to celebrate.

Så der er en masse her på TED og andre steder, som skal hyldes.

And you don't have to be a mega-hero.

Og du behøver ikke at være en mega-helt.

There are ordinary heroes.

Der er almindelige helte.

Ordinary heroes like the janitors who are worth celebrating too.

Almindelige helte som assistenter, der er værd at hylde.

As practitioners each and every one of us should strive

Som praktiserende, bør hver og en af os stræbe efter

to be ordinary, if not extraordinary heroes.

at være ordinære, hvis ikke ekstraordinære helte.

As heads of organizations,

Som ledere af organisationer,

we should strive to create environments

bør vi stræbe efter at skabe miljøer

that encourage and nurture both moral skill and moral will.

der opmuntrer og giver næring til både moralsk dygtighed og moralsk vilje.

Even the wisest and most well-meaning people

Selv de klogeste og mest velmenende mennesker

will give up if they have to swim against the current

vil give op, hvis de er nødt til at svømme mod strømmen

in the organizations in which they work.

i de organisationer, hvor de arbejder.

If you run an organization, you should be sure

Hvis du kører en organisation, bør du være sikker på

that none of the jobs -- none of the jobs --

at ingen af de job - ingen af de job, --

have job descriptions like the job descriptions of the janitors.

har jobbeskrivelser som jobbeskrivelsen for assistenter.

Because the truth is that

Fordi sandheden er, at

any work that you do that involves interaction with other people

enhver form for arbejde, du udfører, der indebærer interaktion med andre mennesker

is moral work.

er moralsk arbejde.

And any moral work depends upon practical wisdom.

Og ethvert moralsk arbejde afhænger af den praktiske visdom.

And, perhaps most important,

Og måske vigtigst af alt,

as teachers, we should strive to be the ordinary heroes,

som lærere, bør vi stræbe efter at være den almindelige helt,

the moral exemplars, to the people we mentor.

det moralske forbillede, for de mennesker, vi underviser.

And there are a few things that we have to remember as teachers.

Og der er et par ting, som vi er nødt til at huske som lærere.

One is that we are always teaching.

Det ene er, at vi altid underviser.

Someone is always watching.

Nogen holder altid øje.

The camera is always on.

Kameraet er altid tændt.

Bill Gates talked about the importance of education

Bill Gates talte om vigtigheden af uddannelse

and, in particular, the model that KIPP was providing:

og især den model, Kipp udbyder.

"Knowledge is power."

"Viden er magt."

And he talked about a lot of the wonderful things

Og han talte om en masse af de vidunderlige ting

that KIPP is doing

som KIPP gør

to take inner-city kids and turn them in the direction of college.

for at tage børn fra midtbyen og lede dem i retningen af college.

I want to focus on one particular thing KIPP is doing

Jeg vil gerne fokusere på én bestemt ting Kipp gør

that Bill didn't mention.

som Bill ikke nævnte.

That is that they have come to the realization

Det er, at de er kommet til den erkendelse

that the single most important thing kids need to learn

at de vigtigste ting børn skal lære,

is character.

er karakter.

They need to learn to respect themselves.

De skal lære at respektere sig selv.

They need to learn to respect their schoolmates.

De skal lære at respektere deres skolekammerater.

They need to learn to respect their teachers.

De skal lære at respektere deres lærere.

And, most important, they need to learn to respect learning.

Og vigtigst af alt: de har brug for at lære at respektere indlæring.

That's the principle objective.

Det er hovedmålet.

If you do that, the rest is just pretty much a coast downhill.

Hvis man gør det, er resten bare ned ad bakke.

And the teachers: the way you teach these things to the kids

Og lærerne: den måde, I lærer børnene disse ting,

is by having the teachers and all the other staff embody it every minute of every day.

er ved at få lærere og alle de andre ansatte, til at rumme det hvert minut hver eneste dag.

Obama appealed to virtue.

Obama appellerede til dyd.

And I think he was right.

Og jeg tror, han havde ret.

And the virtue I think we need above all others is practical wisdom,

Og den dyd jeg tror, vi skal have over alle andre, er praktisk visdom,

because it's what allows other virtues -- honesty, kindness, courage and so on --

fordi det er hvad der tillader andre dyder - ærlighed, venlighed, mod og så videre --

to be displayed at the right time and in the right way.

at blive vist på det rigtige tidspunkt og på den rigtige måde.

He also appealed to hope.

Han appellerede også til håb.

Right again.

Rigtigt igen.

I think there is reason for hope.

Jeg tror der er grund til at håbe.

I think people want to be allowed to be virtuous.

Jeg tror, folk gerne vil have lov til at være dydige.

In many ways, it's what TED is all about.

På mange måder er det netop, hvad TED handler om.

Wanting to do the right thing

At ville gøre de rigtige ting

in the right way

på den rigtige måde

for the right reasons.

af de rigtige grunde.

This kind of wisdom is within the grasp of each and every one of us

Denne form for visdom er inden for rækkevidde af hver og en af os

if only we start paying attention.

hvis bare vi begynder at være opmærksomme.

Paying attention to what we do,

Være opmærksomme på hvad vi gør,

to how we do it,

på hvordan vi gør det,

and, perhaps most importantly,

og, måske vigtigst,

to the structure of the organizations within which we work,

på strukturen i de organisationer, vi arbejder i,

so as to make sure that it enables us and other people to develop wisdom

for at sørge for, at det giver os og andre mennesker mulighed for at udvikle visdom

rather than having it suppressed.

i stedet for at undertrykke den.

Thank you very much.

Mange tak.

Thank you.

Tak.

(Applause)

(Klapsalve)

Chris Anderson: You have to go and stand out here a sec.

Chris Anderson: Du skal gå derover og stå der et par sekunder.

Barry Schwartz: Thank you very much.

Barry Schwartz: Mange tak.

(Applause)

(klapsalve)