Unethical Leadership: Selective Inclusion

By Linda Fisher Thornton

“Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilisation.”
— Mahatma Ghandi

I previously wrote about the problem of selective respect and today I’ll address it’s evil twin. It has been happening right in front of us and has been amplified by social media – leaders speaking from a perspective of selective inclusion. This week, I’m sharing a collection of posts that explain the importance of full inclusion and how to recognize examples that stray from it.

Pluralism: 9 Elements Required For Ethical Leadership

Leadership: Evaluating Ethical Awareness

Seeing Beyond Borders and Walls

On Patriotism, Nationalism, Globalism and Ethics

Inclusion: The Power of “Regardless”

Labels Divide, Values Conquer

Important Ethical Principles Selective Inclusion Violates:
Respect for Others (the ethical principle is not respect for certain others, it is respect for all others)
Respect for Differences (this requires moving beyond the “like me” bias)
Trustworthiness (this doesn’t mean “trustworthy with only certain others”)
Moral Awareness (includes an awareness that inclusion is required for ethical leadership and must be universally applied)
Ethical Competence (selective inclusion is a sign of failure to stay ethically competent)
Ethical Thinking (believing that some people are “not worthy” is unethical thinking)
Modeling Expected Behavior (selective inclusion shows others the route to an unethical path, multiplying the error and the harm it generates)

Be on the watch for behaviors that signal unethical leadership. When leaders speak and act from a perspective that excludes some portion of the human population, that is dangerous for all of us.