By Linda Fisher Thornton Our understanding of good leadership is advancing. In this video, I describe 4 powerful trends that are increasing leadership expectations and shaping what leaders need to be prepared to handle in the future. By Linda Fisher Thornton Our understanding of good leadership is advancing. In this video, I describe 4 powerful trends that are increasing leadership expectations and shaping what leaders will need to be ready to handle in the future. These 4 trends shaping the future of leadership are connected and accelerating. They give us a clear picture of where we need to take our leadership.
Category: Ethical Organization
Values Drive Business Success (But Only If They’re Clear and Applied)
By Linda Fisher Thornton Deloitte's 2016 Millennial Survey Executive Summary reported that according to responses from 7700 employed millennials from 29 countries, "the values that support long-term business success are people treatment, ethics, and customer focus. While people treatment, ethics, and customer focus may be the values that drive business success, that only works if they're applied across the organization.
9 Ethical Roles: Is Your Leadership Team “All In”
By Linda Fisher Thornton I blogged a while back about the Critical Roles of the (Ethical) CEO. I realized later that these important ethical roles apply not just to CEOs, but also to all senior leaders in an organization. And if the leaders they manage don't carry these roles throughout the organization, there will be gaps in the culture.
The “Less Than” Fallacy
By Linda Fisher Thornton Anytime we think about another person or group as "less than," or treat another person or group as "less than," we are unethical. It's very simple, really. We are all human, and as humans, we all have rights and dignity. We all have a right to be here and to be treated with respect and fairness.
5 Things Money Can’t Buy (Even Now)
By Linda Fisher Thornton I had the opportunity a few years ago to hear Michael Sandel, a professor from Harvard and author of What Money Can't Buy, speak about "the sky-boxification of society." He talked about how in many cases now you can buy your way into a better situation (or a sky box). This week, I'm in the process of reading Tom Friedman's book Thank You for Being Late and in it Friedman refers to and builds on Sandel's observations. I started thinking about some of the qualities that are highly valuable and make leaders great that money can't buy - some of the priceless qualities that define great leadership.
400th Post: The Journey to Meaning (Growth Required)
By Linda Fisher Thornton I didn't set out to become a top blogger or thought leader. I set out to answer a question. In the process of answering the question, I started a journey that has changed my life. There's no fairy tale story here (is there ever?). It wasn't all by conscious choice, and it wasn't always a logical progression. It happened the way that life happens to all of us.
Ethical Leadership: The “On Switch” For Adaptability
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 it, 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.
Inclusion: The Power of “Regardless”
By Linda Fisher Thornton Some inclusion statements begin with "we respect all people and treat them fairly, regardless of..." and then include a long list of differences that we should overcome. These lists are hard to communicate, difficult to remember and ever-changing as we expand our understanding of human rights.
Every Decision Changes The Ethical Culture Equation
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 "ethical culture equation" is changing in real time, every day.
Leader Competence: Will it Be A Multiplier or a Divider?
By Linda Fisher Thornton Ethical leadership competence is an issue that is gaining attention. Expectations of "good leadership" are increasing and leaders and organizations are scrambling to keep up. While sometimes people disagree about implementation, there is a strong consensus among scholars and research organizations that today's leadership requires broad, high level thinking. With expectations for good leadership continuing to expand, some organizations still do not have leader competence on their strategy agendas.
The Rise of Pay to Play
By Linda Fisher Thornton It is sometimes difficult to sort out "pay to play" awards (you pay someone to say good things about you and give you an icon to put on your website) from legitimate awards (the judging process is objective -- if you win you have actually earned it). "Pay to Play" is On the Rise
Trust Energizes Organizations
By Linda Fisher Thornton
How transformational is the power of trust in organizations? It increases capacity and improves performance. It improves work satisfaction and quality of life:
Ready to Change the Ethics Quo (For Good)? Part 4
By Linda Fisher Thornton
Leadership is not easy. Leaders need to be inspired to lead with positive values while dealing with the goals and expectations of multiple stakeholders.
Here are the previous posts in the series if you missed them:
Ready to Change the Ethics Quo (For Good)? Part 1 (Improve Accountability)
Ready to Change the Ethics Quo (For Good)? Part 2 (Improve Leader Impact)
Ready to Change the Ethics Quo (For Good)? Part 3 (Manage the System)
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.
Top 10 Posts 2016: Leading in Context Blog
By Linda Fisher Thornton
Of the 52 posts published on the Leading in Context Blog in 2016, these 10 were the most popular. See if you notice a theme that connects these topics that readers accessed most frequently:
20 Quotes To Inspire Leaders in the New Year (Part 2)
By Linda Fisher Thornton
Are your leaders prepared for the year ahead? Each day will bring new challenges. To succeed within ethical boundaries, they'll need a clear picture of "good leadership."
This series includes 20 quotes (linked to posts with leadership guidance) to inspire you and help you improve your leader development. Part 1 included the first 10. Here are 10 more:
Leading in Context 