Ethical Values Are Good For Business (Part 4)

By Linda Fisher Thornton

In Part 1 of this series “Ethical Values Are Good For Business” I shared the importance of clearing up the confusion employees have in balancing ethical values with bottom line profitability. In Part 2, we looked at the importance of aligning strategy with the organization’s values. Part 3 addressed the senior leader’s important role. In Part 4 let’s take a look at using values to guide us in challenging times.

Only If You Stick With Them In Challenging Times

Ethical values are good for business, but only if you stick with them and apply them consistently, even in the most challenging situations. It would be “easy […] for organizations and leaders to become frozen by the magnitude of the changes under way” (McKinsey & Co., Management Intuition For the Next 50 Years). Success in future leadership requires being nimble and adaptive, flexing with constant change, and being ready for anything.

How should we stay grounded as we avoid crises and manage our way through a maze of increasing expectations?

Without a place to stand where we know what we believe, without a center to which we can return, we are adrift and at risk from the strong winds of short-sighted opportunism and unethical leadership.

Our center needs to be firmly grounded in values.

Without attaching ourselves to ethical values, we risk being swept toward the next shiny, compelling opportunity that presents itself (but is ethically the wrong thing to do).

We are assaulted with information (overloaded doesn’t begin to describe it) and desperately searching for meaning.

To thrive as leaders in this unpredictable future, we need to create meaning for ourselves and those we lead in the form of ethical values. Those values which we hold tightly will guide us as we make difficult decisions. They will help us avoid mistakes.

Values will guide us and those we lead through difficult times.

Without ethical values to guide us, we can forget who we are creating value for, and what our responsibilities are to our constituents. To thrive in leadership future, we need to tether ourselves to ethical values and hold on for dear life as the storm rages on.