Colleen K. Stone is currently seeking a literary agent to represent THE ETHICS NEEDED FOR EXCELLENCE, a self-improvement and inspiration reference booklet.
For a more information, visit https://ethicsforexcellence.com/.
About
How does one know how to do the right thing? We weren’t born ethical. Nor can we trust our conscience. Despite having lousy role models along the way, we are held accountable for our behavior and can be punished for honesty. When conflicts arise between ethical shoulds and our selfish wants – coupled with the demands from our family, teachers, and superiors – we all figure out ways to con our conscience or steer away from bad trouble.
THE ETHICS NEEDED FOR EXCELLENCE is a self-improvement and inspiration reference booklet, a welcome to – or rather, warning of – the self-responsibility club. A club one will never be able to leave alive and the only thing that will be left when one checks out is their reputation and the love others have for us.
Twelve principles for THE ETHICS NEEDED FOR EXCELLENCE are offered from a 7-page, 2200 word, letter Colleen’s step-dad, a police captain, wrote to her for her 18th birthday in 1997.
“Be the best you can be, ask for help before you need it, keep going forward, look at it from another perspective and you’ll be alright” – he’d say.
Target Audiences
THE ETHICS NEEDED FOR EXCELLENCE offers a family friendly way of teaching ethics to kids, new adults, and to people in positions of power, like law enforcement and elected officials.
As is, the original letter has two direct but different marketable audiences. Additionally, the letter has great potential to be adapted into an illustrated book as the lessons included are those we can all consider while hitting milestones, for example, facing the first day of school. Individual booklets should be printed to fit the standard greeting card stand and could be highlighted in bookstores, grocery stores and gift shops during annual events such as back to school and graduation ceremonies; and included among lists of best books to give a recent graduate (Cool Mom Pick’s) next to Dear Grad: Words of Wisdom and Encouragement for Your Next Journey (Penguin Random House, 2021).
THE ETHICS NEEDED FOR EXCELLENCE: a letter to a new adult would make a great gift from parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, case workers, foster parents, teachers and advisors to give to the young adults and students in their lives graduating from high school and college, scholarship and award recipients, and those aging out of systems.
The 2nd Edition, THE 12 ETHICS NEEDED FOR EXCELLENCE would make a great gift to law enforcement officers as they graduate training courses and public officials when taking office.
Additional editions would be adapted to younger audiences and make a great gift for those facing their first day of school and pre-teens entering and surviving middle school.
Why Now?
With the rise of mis- and dis- political information and manipulated news it is more difficult than ever to know what is true and who to trust. As people get paid to post personal details on social media platforms, the social expectations and pressures are greater than ever. Along with ourselves, our spouses, best friends, nieces and nephews, and incarcerated relative are driven into spirals of comparisons, depressions, and face multiple forms of morphea making it difficult to trust our instincts.
As these high-pressure positions come with stressful social situations and people can quickly burnout on “doing the right thing” it is more important than ever to help people address the challenges of becoming a responsible adult while finding a healthy work-life balance and purpose.