By Linda Fisher Thornton Leaders may think that being decisive and "sure of things" helps them succeed, but if they do, they may be harboring an outdated view of leadership. What has changed about how we see leadership and certainty? Being certain carries with it the connotation of not engaging others in the conversation and using one-way communication. It evokes images of an iron fist pounding on a desk, not a leader who enjoys "working beside" a talented and diverse team.
Category: Ethical Thinking
Leaders: Does Your Values Equation Add Up?
By Linda Fisher Thornton Every leader has a values equation. It can be calculated by the day, week, year and lifetime. In the ideal situation, a leader's values equation is consistently positive. How do you calculate your values equation?
Adaptation and Controlling Leadership Can’t Coexist
By Linda Fisher Thornton Leaders who solve complex problems need a special blend of qualities - the curiosity to untangle the variables, the persistence to keep trying, and the openness to change beliefs and strategies as answers emerge from the chaos.
The Questions We Have in Common
By Linda Fisher Thornton On October 2nd, Krista Tippett gave a talk on "The Adventure of Civility" at the University of Richmond. One of the important things I gleaned from her talk was this recommendation: Instead of trading in "competing answers or statements made to catch, corner, incite or entertain" we should "share the questions we have in common" and "live into the answers." Here are my observations on her important words: The big questions we are trying to resolve together cannot be understood using one-way broadcasts.
Unraveling The Future State of The World
By Linda Fisher Thornton The Millennium Project is a global participatory think tank with a noble purpose - To "improve humanity’s prospects for building a better future."
Ethical Leaders Understand the Context
By Linda Fisher Thornton In a previous post, I addressed some of the risks of not taking time to THINK before making decisions. Today, I want to explore why it is so important for leaders to understand the CONTEXT before they make decisions.
Ethical Leaders Take Time To Think
By Linda Fisher Thornton What sets ethical leaders apart from other leaders? They take the time to THINK before making decisions. And that's not all they do that sets them apart.
The Missing Domain: Ethical Thinking (Part 2)
By Linda Fisher Thornton The first post in this series, "The Missing Domain: Ethical Thinking" explored WHY leaders need to fill the gap and help people develop ethical thinking. This post will begin to unravel HOW to do that. I included this guidance on ethical thinking in a previous post: Ethical thinking means we never lose sight of our positive purpose. We choose to be the sum of our values, not our challenges.
Credit Where Credit is Due
By Linda Fisher Thornton Author's Note: This post is in honor of the many people who have had to fight to get credit for their own work. Giving Credit and Taking Responsibility As our understanding of good leadership continues to advance, we are rapidly moving away from leaders "giving responsibility and taking credit" in leadership and moving toward "giving credit and taking responsibility." This change is overdue, and is part of a bigger change in our understanding of the purpose of leadership.
Reflections on Truth: Why Is It So Elusive?
By Linda Fisher Thornton Why Is The "Truth" So Elusive? Last summer, I explored what great thinkers have said about truth in this post: "Reflections on Truth: Are You a Seeker?" Today I'm going to dig a little deeper into the question "What is truth?"
The Missing Domain: Ethical Thinking
By Linda Fisher Thornton Using the commonly-taught types of thinking is very useful in life, and helps us be better professionals and business people. But there's a catch.
Ethics-Rich Leadership: Why We Need It
By Linda Fisher Thornton I was originally going to used the words "ethics-infused leadership" in this post, but I realized that would treat ethics a little bit like a lime twist in a cold drink. The drink would hint of lime, but it wouldn't be FULL of lime. So I chose to use "ethics-rich" leadership instead. I think you may already be looking for the ethics-rich leadership I'm talking about.
How You Can Stop The “Fake News” Madness
By Linda Fisher Thornton We all need to know how to tell what's real news and what's not. While a headline may be compelling, we can easily damage our personal reputation and brand if we share it and it turns out to be "fake news." It's our job to "check stories out" to be sure that what we share is real. Our "Human Software" is Buggy While it's important for us to tell the difference between the real and the fake, our "human software" comes with bugs. One type of bug we all have is cognitive biases, and one of our biases causes us to readily believe headlines we already agree with (confirmation bias).
5 Sites for Globally Responsible Business Leadership
By Linda Fisher Thornton It has become clear that a global economy requires more than local or regional thinking. Our information and commerce are globally connected. Our greatest human challenges are global and must be solved globally. We are connected…
Read More 5 Sites for Globally Responsible Business Leadership
How Balanced is Your Ethical Diet?
By Linda Fisher Thornton By Linda Fisher Thornton It's easy to understand that ethics has various "requirements." What isn't as obvious is that it takes effort on all of them to maintain the ethical well-being of people and organizations. Just as we need to eat from a variety of food groups to get balanced nutrition, we need to honor more than one ethical dimension to get balanced ethics.
Leading in Context 