Leading in Context

Unleash the Positive Power of Ethical Leadership

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Proactivity, Performance and Potential

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By Linda Fisher Thornton
The Manifesto

This week, I want to continue to explore the mindset behind The Leading in Context® Manifesto. Here is an important quote from it about the positive impact of ethical leadership:

“Imagine the potential. What could we accomplish if we proactively developed ethical leaders and an ethical culture? Unleash the performance potential of our people? Transform our organizations? Improve lives and communities? Change the world?”

Managing Ethical Leadership as a Performance System

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

When we think about ethical leadership as a performance system, we get a higher level view of what it takes to develop ethical leaders. This graphic shows what an integrated ethical leadership performance management system might look like.

Leading For Ethical Performance

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Discouraging Unethical Leadership

The senior leaders in an organization need to work together to create an organization where ethical leadership is rewarded and unethical leadership is quickly corrected.

To build an ethical organization over time, Chief Learning Officers can work with leaders throughout the organization to build ethical competence in areas that support effective communication and leadership.

Ethical Leaders Care (Part 2)

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

Using an ethics of care changes how we think and act as leaders. It helps us remember that each person is important and that treating each other with care is part of our shared human experience. Caring shows that we know that people are more than task-doers and that leading is more than tactical, more than obligatory, more than just a job

What Drives Our Thinking?

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

When we talk about “ethical leadership” we are talking about the intersection of multiple connected variables that affect our choices. We choose our approach based on a number of variables that are influenced by our level of learning, growth and experience.

Here are some of the variables (which may be influenced by learning and development) that converge to define our sense of what “ethical leadership” includes.

Building an Ethical Culture (Part 4)

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

Ethical Culture is a System of Systems

Don’t assume that an ethical culture will just happen in your workplace. Even if you are a good leader, ethical culture is a delicate thing, requiring intentional positive leadership and daily tending. It requires more than good leadership, more than trust building, and more than good hiring.

Why does building an ethical culture require so much more than good leadership? Ethical culture is a system of systems, and just putting in good leadership, trust-building and good hiring doesn’t make it healthy.

Building an Ethical Culture (Part 3)

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

Ethics has a compounding effect on culture, and our leadership choices determine whether that effect will be positive or negative. Being diligent about ethics in every decision brings the culture ethics dividends. Being careless about ethics brings ethics penalties.

The tricky part about managing ethical culture is that every leader decision and action throughout the organization is changing the equation. The culture equation is changing in real time, every day.

Advancing Ethics in Your Organization (Part 4)

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

The focus of this week’s post is on Ways to Inspire Leaders to Lead With Positive Ethical Values. Here are 3 ways to inspire leaders to reach for positive values – that also help you “do good” in your organization, community and world. 

Ethical Leadership Fuels Adaptability

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

The post “Leader Competence: Will It Be A Multiplier or Divider?” generated some great discussion on social media. Here’s a quote from the post: “Leader competence is either going to be a multiplier or a divider. When you have it, you multiply performance and trust, with exponential results. Without it, you divide your possible results by the incompetence factor.”

After reading the post, one reader requested that I write more on the topic. This week I’m digging deeper into the multiplying and dividing effects of leader (in)competence, looking at how a leader’s ethical competence impacts trust, people, bottom line results and organizational adaptability:

The Danger of Us Versus Them

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

Any time you draw a line that excludes, you’re leaving ethical territory. That’s a bold statement, but when someone draws a dividing line that intentionally excludes people or groups, it can lead to an “us versus them” mentality. And from there, it’s a short slippery slope to this and more…

22 Quotes to Inspire Leaders in the New Year (Part 1)

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

Are your leaders prepared for the year ahead? Each day will bring new challenges, and to succeed within ethical boundaries, we’ll all need a clear picture of “good leadership.”

This series is an annual tradition and this year’s posts include 22 quotes (each linked to a post with leadership guidance) to inspire you to grow your leadership skills to be ready for whatever 2022 may bring. Part 1 includes the first 11.

Setting Stretch Goals? Build in Ethics

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By Linda Fisher Thornton

Employers using stretch goals to motivate employees to higher levels of performance need to take note of the ethical risk. If the push for higher performance doesn’t come with an emphasis on ethical behavior, it may be encouraging cheating.