Temperance
Other names:
Self-ControlSelf-regulation, being able to control one's thoughts, emotions and behaviors in order to achieve certain goals or live up to certain standards. Related to self-control, which is often defined more narrowly as control over one's impulses specifically.
Definition:
Appropriate management of physical desires
The “virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods” (CCC 1809)
Advice:
Empirical Research:
A review by Baumesiter et al. (1994) finds that lack of self-regulation is central to a wide variety of social problems, including drug addiction, alcoholism, crime, unwanted pregnancy, personal debt and financial troubles, anger issues, lack of exercise and overeating. High self-regulation is linked to better personal adjustment and self-esteem (Tangney et al., in press) and to better relationships with one's romantic partner (E.J. Finkel & Campbell, 2000; Vohs , Ciarocco, & Baumeister, 2003).
Self-awareness, or consistent attention to one's own behavior, is crucial for self-regulation (Kirschenbaum, 1987; Carver & Scheir, 1981). Mischel et al. treat self-regulation as primarily linked to delayed gratification, the ability to forego immediate temptations for the sake of a larger reward in the future (Mischel & Ebbesen, 1970).
Case examples:
Gifts of the Spirit:
Further reading:
Vices opposed:
Case Study
ReplyDelete"Consider Wells Fargo in contrast to Bank of America. Carl Reichardt never doubted that Wells Fargo could emerge from bank deregulation as a stronger company, not a weaker one. He saw that the key to becoming a great company rested not with brilliant new strategies but with the sheer determination to rip a hundred years of banker mentality out of the system. 'There’s too much waste in banking,' said Reichardt. 'Getting rid of it takes tenacity, not brilliance.'
"Reichardt set a clear tone at the top: We’re not going to ask everyone else to suffer while we sit on high. We will start by rinsing our own cottage cheese, right here in the executive suite. [See Dave Scott case study, under Perseverance] He froze executive salaries for two years (despite the fact that Wells Fargo was enjoying some of the most profitable years in its history). He shut the executive dining room and replaced it with a college dorm food-service caterer. He closed the executive elevator, sold the corporate jets, and banned green plants from the executive suite as too expensive to water.14 He removed free coffee from the executive suite. He eliminated Christmas trees for management. He threw reports back at people who’d submitted them in fancy binders, with the admonishment: 'Would you spend your own money this way? What does a binder add to anything?' Reichardt would sit through meetings with fellow executives, in a beat-up old chair with the stuffing hanging out. Sometimes he would just sit there and pick at the stuffing while listening to proposals to spend money, said one article, '[and] a lot of must-do projects just melted away.'" (Collins, Good to Great, p.128)
Case Study (Revised)
ReplyDeleteIn Good to Great, Jim Collins discusses how Wells Fargo learned to exercise the virtue of temperance to weather the deregulation of the banking industry.
"Consider Wells Fargo in contrast to Bank of America. Carl Reichardt never doubted that Wells Fargo could emerge from bank deregulation as a stronger company, not a weaker one. He saw that the key to becoming a great company rested not with brilliant new strategies but with the sheer determination to rip a hundred years of banker mentality out of the system. 'There’s too much waste in banking,' said Reichardt. 'Getting rid of it takes tenacity, not brilliance.'
"Reichardt set a clear tone at the top: We’re not going to ask everyone else to suffer while we sit on high. We will start by rinsing our own cottage cheese, right here in the executive suite. [See Dave Scott case study, under Perseverance] He froze executive salaries for two years (despite the fact that Wells Fargo was enjoying some of the most profitable years in its history). He shut the executive dining room and replaced it with a college dorm food-service caterer. He closed the executive elevator, sold the corporate jets, and banned green plants from the executive suite as too expensive to water. He removed free coffee from the executive suite. He eliminated Christmas trees for management. He threw reports back at people who’d submitted them in fancy binders, with the admonishment: 'Would you spend your own money this way? What does a binder add to anything?' Reichardt would sit through meetings with fellow executives, in a beat-up old chair with the stuffing hanging out. Sometimes he would just sit there and pick at the stuffing while listening to proposals to spend money, said one article, '[and] a lot of must-do projects just melted away.'" (Collins, Good to Great, p.128)