Charisma is useful. Ethics are also useful in the same way that the rule of law is. Ethics are also beautiful in the way art is.
It's arguably easier and more profitable to do business with ethical people. I met one cocky dot-com bubble ex-startup CEO who thought that creating things of value is piffle and it's all about being cool and getting the payout so one can do nothing but lounge on the beach drinking mai tais in the company of prostitutes. (Sadly, this is not a stereotyped exaggeration, it's exactly what happened and what was said right up to the mai tais, and only the remainder is watered down a bit.)
I think there are 100's of ways one can reveal one's ethics to intelligent observers, especially in person, especially over an extended period of time. (Disturbingly, commenting on social news can be just as revealing.)
Something that occurred to me in the shower:
A useful but disturbing exercise is to start listing your heroes. After you're done with that, start being brutally honest with yourself about how you're not like them. (Then pick out the ways in which this could be turned around as achievable positive goals.)
Of all things, it was listening to Timothy Sykes on Mixergy a few weeks ago that's the soil from which this thought sprouted, in particular the part where he talks about meeting his fans and being disillusioned by that. His fans were mostly nothing like him. They were all just people who wanted pretend to be like him. I'm going to start thinking about this in relation to my professional life and with respect to music.
(I don't think Mr. Sykes would like me, nor I him, nor do I think I'd care for his writing, but I find I respect him as a perceptive human being.)
For what it's worth, I agree with you completely.[1] What I was trying to say is that it's probably difficult to convey these things in an application form, barring any obvious red flags. I assume the YC gang are pretty good at spotting such negative traits in person though.
[1] I tend to be principled to a fault, talking potential customers out of projects they don't actually need and turning down any deals that smell bad. Apart from the fact that I couldn't sleep at night if I didn't, I also think it's a rational strategy.
It's arguably easier and more profitable to do business with ethical people. I met one cocky dot-com bubble ex-startup CEO who thought that creating things of value is piffle and it's all about being cool and getting the payout so one can do nothing but lounge on the beach drinking mai tais in the company of prostitutes. (Sadly, this is not a stereotyped exaggeration, it's exactly what happened and what was said right up to the mai tais, and only the remainder is watered down a bit.)
I think there are 100's of ways one can reveal one's ethics to intelligent observers, especially in person, especially over an extended period of time. (Disturbingly, commenting on social news can be just as revealing.)
Something that occurred to me in the shower:
A useful but disturbing exercise is to start listing your heroes. After you're done with that, start being brutally honest with yourself about how you're not like them. (Then pick out the ways in which this could be turned around as achievable positive goals.)
Of all things, it was listening to Timothy Sykes on Mixergy a few weeks ago that's the soil from which this thought sprouted, in particular the part where he talks about meeting his fans and being disillusioned by that. His fans were mostly nothing like him. They were all just people who wanted pretend to be like him. I'm going to start thinking about this in relation to my professional life and with respect to music.
(I don't think Mr. Sykes would like me, nor I him, nor do I think I'd care for his writing, but I find I respect him as a perceptive human being.)