By Linda Fisher Thornton We know that to stay healthy, we have to move. Many of us wear wrist bands that track the number of steps we take daily to make sure we "stay in the healthy zone." I have been increasing my steps each year, and have enjoyed more energy and a sense of improved well-being. While we can easily track our physical steps, our mental steps are more elusive.
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Grey Areas: Our Choices Define Us (Part 3)
By Linda Fisher Thornton There will always be grey areas that aren't covered by the ethics code. In grey areas, leaders "paint the boundary" of ethical choices others will make by how they navigate the ethical complexity when the boundaries are not clear. Part 3 of this series Grey Areas: Our Choices Define Us includes cases to get you talking about interpersonal grey areas, and related articles for learning.
What is Meaningful Leadership? – 4 Common Threads
By Linda Fisher Thornton What is meaningful leadership? I recently wrote a 5 part blog series exploring different facets of that question... There are four common threads that emerged from exploring the topic that I want to share today.
Seeing Beyond Borders and Walls
By Linda Fisher Thornton When you make a commitment to ethical values and ethical choices, boundaries and walls only indicate the boundaries of new places to apply those ethical values and choices. Beyond them, ethical values matter just as much…
Where Ethics Should Be
By Linda Fisher Thornton We need to be talking about where ethics should be... how and where it fits into real life. Too many leaders and organizations have crossed ethical boundaries and that seems to be all we're seeing in the…
Grey Areas: Our Choices Define Us (Part 2)
By Linda Fisher Thornton This post is an updated version of a reader favorite. There Will Always Be Grey Areas There will always be ethical grey areas.  We see plenty of information about lying, cheating, stealing and other obvious ethical violations. It is more difficult to know what to do when we encounter behaviors that fall into ethical grey areas, particularly in term of relationships with other people. Grey areas are difficult for anyone to handle but leaders bear the additional weight of needing to set the tone for the organization. Each decision impacts the ethics of the organization.
What is Meaningful Leadership? (Part 5)
By Linda Fisher Thornton What is Meaningful Leadership? Making a Difference By Building a Better Society For the Future In Part 1 of this series we looked at how leaders generate meaningful environments where others can thrive. In Part 2 we explored a leader's own quest for authenticity. In Part 3 we looked at the role of powerful conversations and a focus on relational ROI. In Part 4, we examined how meaningful leadership requires truth-seeking based on ethical values. In Part 5 we'll take a look at how meaningful leadership makes a difference by building a better society for the future. Meaningful leadership sees the world in terms of building a better future together. The important focus on together requires not drawing lines around "better" or "worse" people or creating "in" and "out" groups.
What is Meaningful Leadership? (Part 4)
By Linda Fisher Thornton What is Meaningful Leadership? Seeking the Truth & Excavating Grey Areas Using Ethical Values In Part 1 of this series we looked at how leaders generate meaningful environments where others can thrive. In Part 2 we explored a leader's own quest for authenticity. In Part 3 we looked at the role of powerful conversations and a focus on collective success. In Part 4, we'll examine how meaningful leadership requires truth-seeking based on ethical values.Â
What is Meaningful Leadership? (Part 3)
By Linda Fisher Thornton In Part 1 of this series we looked at how leaders generate meaningful environments where others can thrive. In Part 2 we explored a leader's own quest for authenticity. In Part 3 we'll look at the role of powerful conversations and a focus on collective success.
What is Meaningful Leadership? (Part 2)
By Linda Fisher Thornton What is meaningful leadership? In Part 1 we explored how leaders create meaningful work settings so others can excel. In Part 2, we look at a leader's own quest for authenticity as a factor in meaningful leadership. What is Meaningful Leadership? A Quest For Authenticity Meaningful leadership is focused on authenticity, not just acquisition. That requires seeing beyond just portfolio growth to human growth. It means learning to see how the two are connected.
What is Meaningful Leadership? (Part 1)
By Linda Fisher Thornton In this 5-part "What is Meaningful Leadership?" series, we'll look at 5 different aspects of meaningful leadership, each one revealing opportunities for leader awareness and growth. In Part 1, we'll look at the importance of creating meaningful work settings.
The Future of Education: Ethical Literacy For Handling Global Complexity
By Linda Fisher Thornton We are not preparing students for success in the world where they will have to live and work. Some of the ways we currently think about "teaching" need to be scrapped and replaced. It will be increasingly important that teachers and other learning guides dig into complexity in order to help prepare students who need to handle increasing complexity in their lives and work. A focus on "knowing" must be replaced with a focus on "how to think, problem solve and successfully navigate global complexity using ethical values."
What is Ethics?
By Linda Fisher Thornton We are globally connected and becoming more aware of the complexity of our connections. We need a robust understanding of ethics - what it means, what it requires of us, and what we need to know and do to be ethical. As we learn about ethics, we need to understand it in a multidimensional way. One-dimensional definitions lead us down a single path and prevent us from seeing our broad responsibilities as citizens and leaders. Here is a quick tour of ways to think about ethics.
Ethical Leadership: Complexity, Context and Adaptation
By Linda Fisher Thornton Ethical leadership requires growth, a willingness to acknowledge complexity and an understanding of the broader context in which we lead. Use these resources to improve your ethical awareness, learn about how the leadership context is evolving and check for learning blind spots.
What Happens When You Ignore Complexity?
By Linda Fisher Thornton Ignoring complexity reduces the number of variables considered in a decision. That may seem convenient (see last week's post) but it also removes the nuanced thinking that is necessary for ethical decision making. With all the information available in a socially connected world, it is easy to fall victim to the quick oversimplified understanding of issues. This "quick glance" way of gathering information doesn't reveal the breadth and depth of what's really going on.
Leading in Context 