By Linda Fisher Thornton Senior leadership teams and boards have a choice. In their ethics strategy, they can focus on prevention or cure. The cure approach is reactive and messy. It involves waiting for something bad to happen, then scrambling to do damage control. Then you have to build an ethical support system (perhaps at the insistence of a regulatory body) to prevent it from happening again. The prevention approach is proactive and positive, and it helps prevent those messy problems. It involves building the ethical support system up front, while things are going well.
Category: Ethical Organization
Leaders Are Culture Caretakers: 10 Actions For Success
By Linda Fisher Thornton There are many ways to understand culture, and some of the definitions are very complicated. My favorite way to think about culture is as an infrastructure or scaffolding that supports the behaviors we want. Culture drives what people do, and is the setting and framework for great work.
What Does it Mean to Win?
By Linda Fisher Thornton What it means to "win" in business has changed. Driving this change is a greater awareness of the impact we have on each other.
Ready to Change the Ethics Quo (For Good)? – Part 3
By Linda Fisher Thortnton The first post in this series addressed ACCOUNTABILITY. The second asked you to evaluate your IMPACT. These four ways to Change the Ethics Quo (For Good) focus on MANAGING THE SYSTEM.
Ready to Change the Ethics Quo (For Good)? – Part 2
By Linda Fisher Thornton The first post in this series addressed ACCOUNTABILITY. In this second post we'll take a look at IMPACT. Here are 3 ways to Change the Ethics Quo (For Good) that improve the impact of your organization and your leadership.
Ready To Change the Ethics Quo (For Good)? – Part 1
By Linda Fisher Thornton Each day brings new challenges for leaders. They struggle to deal with uncertainty and complexity and sometimes the most ethical choices are not obvious. In this kind of environment, we can't assume that things are going well even when there are no lawsuits or imminent ethical crises. What we need to do is build an ethical workplace that will discourage ethical problems. This week the focus is on Ways to Improve Accountability For Ethics. Here are 3 ways to avoid relying on the status quo - that also help you "do good" in your organization, community and world.
5 Signs Your Culture is FAILING
By Linda Fisher Thornton Building a positive ethical culture is a long-term process. It involves much more than just company trappings and perks - leaders must make a commitment to people and to creating a positive work space. When things seem to be going well, it's easy to miss signs that the culture may be off track.
What Is Organizational Integrity?
By Linda Fisher Thornton Individual integrity is the full alignment in what a person thinks, says and does. Taking that concept to another level, this post will explore the question "what is organizational integrity?" Clearly, organizational integrity is broader than individual integrity, but what does it include?
5 Insights Into Leadership Development Future (Part 5)
By Linda Fisher Thornton This is the 5th post in a series called 5 Insights Into Leadership Development Future. Here are the 4 previous posts in the series in case you missed them: Part 1 on Global Trends Part 2 on Wholeness Part 3 on Growth and Human Development Part 4 on Positive Ethical Values and the Search For Meaning This final post will build on the previous 4 posts in this series and discuss how to prepare leaders for the workplace of the future.
Leaders, Don’t You Care? (9 Red Flags That Tell Employees You Don’t)
By Linda Fisher Thornton One of the hallmark requirements of ethical leadership is that we CARE about people, about their success, and about creating a positive work environment. If leaders fail to demonstrate that they care, that harms the culture. The 9 behaviors below are red flags for employees - pointing out that a leader doesn't care.
5 Insights Into The Future of Leadership Development (Part 1)
By Linda Fisher Thornton In this series called "5 Insights Into the Future of Leadership Development" I will be sharing trends and learning resources that give us the broad picture of how to prepare leaders for success in a complex, connected global society.
What Does Genuine Respect Look Like?
By Linda Fisher Thornton There is no place for disrespectful behavior in a "good" society. We can disagree calmly in ways that help us solve problems together, or we can show our stripes by using aggressive behavior under the banner of "with all due respect." Whichever approach we use, how we interpret respect impacts the people around us.
No Shortcuts WIll Get You There
10 Ways the Leadership Relationship is Changing (Part 2)
By Linda Fisher Thornton Previously, I blogged about the first 5 of 10 Ways the Leadership Relationship is Changing, and today I want to explore 5 more.
10 Ways The Leadership Relationship is Changing (Part 1)
By Linda Fisher Thornton A convergence of positive trends is changing leadership expectations, and today I want to explore how those trends are changing the leadership relationship.
Leading in Context 