Doppler’s Guide to Being Ethical
A guide to ethics sounds really… intense? Preachy? Holier than thou? But it’s essential for us to tell you all about our approach to ethics here at Doppler Effect. We want to add more good to the world and create more opportunities for the sparkly magic that comes from people loving what they do. And you can only open the space for that by sitting down and really considering what’s right and wrong, what’s important and what we truly believe in.
As many of you will know, we have recently gained B Corp accreditation, so not only must we sign up to work in a certain way, but we must be transparent and document our processes, values, and beliefs. So that’s what we’re doing here, and why we’re telling you all about our belief system and what we think it means to be a good human.
We could talk all day, and probably all night, about ethics, values and what we believe to be true. So, condensing it all down into an 800-odd word blog post was pretty tricky, but we hope it gives you a sense of what we believe in and Doppler’s guiding principles.
What’s important?
Relationships
We are all in a relationship with everything and everyone around us, understanding that helps us understand one another.
I am a human, and so are you, assuming the robots haven’t taken over yet. Humans make mistakes, and it’s what we do with those golden opportunities that make the difference.
The separation of tasks. Fully understand what is yours to take care of and what is someone else’s task, and ensure they do not cross over.
All problems are interpersonal relationship problems. This means if something is not working, that’s ok. It becomes a problem when we have expectations of ourselves and others that exceed our capabilities at this present time.
Understand your motivation and responsibilities. Why are you doing what you do? Why do you care about it, and what makes you do something versus not do something? A deeper understanding of yourself will help you improve and accept yourself.
Purpose
Walk with purpose, and when you lose sight of that purpose, rest, seek comfort, talk to friends and re-join when you are back on your path.
Love
Love each other or perish - not our words DH Auden, clever.
Focus on the differences; that is the key to love. The similarities will take care of themselves. Bowie said this, Bowie is great, all hail David Bowie. In fact, that was one of the founding thoughts that inspired Doppler. Imagine a world where everyone felt content and fulfilled in their contributions; imagine a world of people in their full potential. What would that world look like?
Preparing for a ‘you and me’ world
Our mission is to help everyone make a living doing what they love. When people are free to live their most fulfilling, meaningful lives, the world will be full of better mothers, lovers, sisters, and brothers. Once we feel we are contributing in a way that matches our unique qualities and skills, we will be liberated to help solve global problems such as protecting our planet, creating, and maintaining social peace and justice and helping one another achieve our enlightenment.
Practical application of Doppler’s ethics
Purpose above profit
Respect for one another
Collaboration
Set boundaries and communicate them clearly. For some, these are their standards; know what your standards are and make sure you know what is important to others that you work with.
Accountability - make sure you have someone you trust to be accountable to.
Clear intentions.
Understand your capabilities, accept your incapable self.
Empower yourself. You are creating your world, not anybody else.
Act with integrity.
Approach the world (and everyone in it) with thoughtfulness and compassion, considering our impact on the planet and its resources.
Recommended reading
If you’d like to think more about your own ethics and how you come to settle on what’s right and wrong, we’d recommend reading some of these books:
The Soul of Money - Lynne Twist
Forces for Good - Paul Hargreeves
Playing Big - Tara Mohr
The Courage to be Disliked - Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi
Givers and Takers - Adam Grant
The Power of Vulnerability - Dr Brene Brown
The Big Leap - Guy Hendrix
Beyond Religion - Dalai Lama
A note from Doppler’s founder, Danielle
As I sat down to write this, a million thoughts came to mind. I was reminded of the number of ‘mistakes’ I have made so far at Doppler. The poor choices, the things that I could have done better in hindsight. I don’t tell you this because I want to spend the rest of the afternoon beating myself up. I can do that all by myself :) but because this is the first thing I think about when I think of ethics... How could I have done better? And really, this is the beginning of a much more empowering set of questions.
How could I have done better?
What have I learnt so far?
We hope that this gives you an idea of what’s guiding us here at Doppler and provides some interesting reading material, which also helps you get to know our team and principles.