By Linda Fisher Thornton I wonder what our workplaces would be like if every leader cared. Most leaders care about their own well-being. But what if every leader cared about others? How would things be different? In an organization where every leader cared, wouldn't we experience improved employee engagement and customer retention? Wouldn't it be easier to recruit and retain talented and dedicated employees? Wouldn't we be able to get more done?
Category: Ethical Leader
How Does Struggle Shape Us as Leaders?
By Linda Fisher Thornton On the journey to ethical leadership, we all struggle. We struggle to make ethical choices when there are multiple stakeholders to consider. We struggle to balance competing interests, high expectations, information overload and overbooked schedules. We struggle to be at our best in difficult circumstances.
The Power of Trustworthy Leadership
By Linda Fisher Thornton Why is trustworthy leadership so powerful? How does it set a positive tone and lead organizations to better performance? These 5 reasons quickly come to mind.
Leadership Development S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-S To Prepare for the Future
By Linda Fisher Thornton In a recent post, I acknowledged that "leaders face information overload, globalization and increasing complexity. And they hold the key to your organization’s future. Make it a priority to help them be ready." How can we prepare leaders to succeed in a socially and globally connected world? What are the strategies that will help them handle a wide variety of unpredictable situations while making ethical choices?
Helping Young People Become Ethical Leaders
By Linda Fisher Thornton How do we help young people become ethical leaders? This is an important question because our long-term future depends on how well we prepare young people to make positive ethical choices and honor multiple dimensions of ethical responsibility.
Three Questions – Are Our Leaders Ready For The Future?
By Linda Fisher Thornton Our future success is in the hands of our leaders. They will be the ones to notice and remove roadblocks, mentor employees and foresee future opportunities. They will be the ones to tackle the seemingly unsolvable problems of the future. Are they ready?
300th Blog Post: Answering Big Questions About Ethical Leadership
By Linda Fisher Thornton I have spent the last six years answering the big leadership question "What does it mean to do the right thing?" The support, the unsolicited testimonials and the social shares of this work have been widespread and global. Could it be that the world is ready for a clear answer to this important question? I wrote the book 7 Lenses because I believed that we needed a clear answer to what it meant in a global society. I believed that the answer had to be there, somewhere, if studied the question across disciplines, religions and geographic boundaries. It was a question worth taking on. With a clear understanding of leadership responsibility, and a common language for talking about it, we could get down to business in ways that also improved lives and communities. We could make a powerful positive difference through our leadership.
40 Ways to Build an Ethical Culture (An Ethical To Do List)
By Linda Fisher Thornton Last week I blogged about 40 Ethical Culture Gaps to Avoid. This week, I'm sharing a 'What To Do" list of 40 Ways to Build an Ethical Culture. This list includes many ways to incorporate ethical values into daily organizational leadership. Each one of these 40 Ways to Build an Ethical Culture can improve an organization. Leaders paying attention to all of these factors will reap rewards that include improved employee engagement, better financial performance, increased productivity and job satisfaction, improved competitive position and more. Use this "ethical to do list" to assess your culture. Put a check mark beside the positive ethical actions that you have observed in your organization. Any that you leave unchecked are opportunities for improvement.
40 Ethical Culture Gaps To Avoid
By Linda Fisher Thornton Leaders set the tone for how ethical values are applied. They mentor those they lead, and serve as positive role models. It is not enough, though. for them to talk about ethical values and model what they look like in action. They must also fiercely protect the ethics of their organizations. They are the caretakers of ethical culture.
What is Authentic Leadership?
How Do We Define Authenticity in Leadership? Most people would agree that authentic leadership is a good thing. But what does it mean? What qualities do authentic leaders possess that set them apart from other leaders?
There Are No Quick Fixes For Ethics
By Linda Fisher Thornton I have been thinking about how lightly some leaders take the subject of ethics. Some ignore ethical issues altogether or think ethical issues are unimportant compared to money concerns. It’s a risky choice to take ethics lightly. Why? There are no “ethics transplants” for people who have made bad ethical decisions. We are responsible for our choices. If an ethics transplant did exist and we could easily start over, imagine how long the waiting list would be for that procedure! Since there is no quick fix for failed ethics, we need to protect our ethical reputations carefully, and choose to stay on an ethical path. In our global society, where almost anything can be obtained for a price, you can’t buy ethics.
Leaders: Is Respect Enough?
By Linda Fisher Thornton Respectful behavior makes it possible for people to work together successfully. But when we ask the teams we lead to be respectful, I wonder if we're aiming too low. Shouldn't we be asking for more?
11 Paths To Ethical Leadership Competence
By Linda Fisher Thornton Developing competent ethical leaders is a huge challenge. Why is it so difficult? We live in a globally-connected society, and are expected to be globally-aware. We are dealing with catastrophic change and uncertainty. We fill roles in many different settings including in our organizations, industries and communities. Competence in all of these areas is not simple to achieve.
Trust is a Relationship (Not a Commodity)
By Linda Fisher Thornton Waiting For Trust to Be Earned I sometimes hear leaders say that they think "trust is earned" and that we should not trust others until they have earned our trust through their behavior and choices. I see several big problems with this way of thinking about trust.
Why Do People Lead?
By Linda Fisher Thornton Have you ever thought about why people lead? If you could look into the window of their motivations, what would you discover? I have noticed that people want to be in positions of leadership for very different reasons. Some of those…
Leading in Context 