Unleash the Positive Power of Ethical Leadership
This is a Themed Post featuring earlier Leading in Context™ Blog Posts about Respect. Each Post illustrates a different way that ethical leaders show respect. Enjoy!
Respect is the New Minimum Standard for Workplace Behavior
The Impact of the Unethical Senior Leader
Take the common case of many organizational leaders trying to create an ethical culture, with one or more of the Senior Leaders not bought in or even blocking their efforts. The distraction, fear and chaos created by an unethical Senior Leader can drain the company of engagement, creativity and productivity.
Is blocking a company’s efforts to create an ethical culture unethical? You bet. It can be the cause of company failure because of the negative systemic effects that it creates. The systemic effects created by even one Senior Leader leading unethically include loss of trust, loss of employee engagement, loss of customers, lowered productivity, increased complaints, failure of departments to work together, sabotage, blaming, etc…
Correct it Quickly
When a Senior Leader is operating against the best interests of the company and its stakeholders, the problem needs to be corrected by the other Senior Leaders as quickly as possible. How?
Thinking About Decision-Making and Choosing Filters : Should You Give Back Unused Budget Money?
If we don’t think about how we want to make leadership decisions, then the crisis of the moment becomes our filter for making decisions. When the economy is unpredictable and profits are lower, the budget is often the crisis that becomes the thinking filter.
It’s dangerous to make important strategic decisions just based on money and just based on a short-term crisis. In the case below, see how different the outcome is when using strategic long-term thinking versus crisis-response short-term thinking.
A collection of published articles written by Linda Fisher Thornton or featuring her insights. Future Shock, John Blackwell, Virginia Business (includes Thornton’s interview) EDUCAUSE SPECIAL REPORT: Artificial Intelligence: Where Are We Now? (Includes Thornton’s Article “Artificial Intelligence and Ethical Accountability…
When solving a difficult problem, it’s easy to get carried away and begin attacking people instead of the problem. When we attack issues, we are more respectful. When we attack people, our thinking narrows.
“Consumers are not particularly patient with companies found to be practicing greenwashing. They perceive it as an abuse of their trust and a violation of the customer relationship.”
Leading ethically requires staying competent as a professional and as a leader. The speed of change in today’s global economy may cause leaders to fall behind even while they are diligently working to stay on top of trends and industry knowledge. These 5…
The Ethics Resource Center has posted a collection of 5 well-written ethical leadership research briefs on its website. Ethics.org The research briefs address issues in ethical business leadership including employee engagement, trust, culture, risk management, and generational differences. For more, see new book 7 Lenses and…
A recent two-part article by Fast Company blogger Alice Korngold includes trends and predictions about how businesses are changing their corporate responsibility. Here is a small sample of the useful information you’ll find by reading the article: “Three interrelated predictions: First,…
Here is a website (called appropriately EthicsCrisis.com) where readers can confess their ethical misdeeds and have them rated by level from 1 to 10. Guess what? The ethical misdeed “We totally fabricated our numbers” is only rated a 6 out…
This is the first post in a new category called “Leadership and …” which will include research, trends and new ways of thinking that impact organizational leadership. One of the interesting things in our sector, if you look at media and technology and…
The Business Ethics Report 2009, published by the Ethics Resource Center at Ethicspoint.com, shows that while business ethics improved during the recession, there is concern about sustaining that improvement when the economy improves. 2009 Business Ethics Study by the St. James Ethics…
Collaborative leadership includes such broad skills as trust building and using systems thinking in solving problems. While it has been discussed primarily in public policy settings and science classes in the past, leadership programs around the world are now offering entire courses in collaborative leadership. The idea of collaborative leadership as essential in today’s complex business world is catching on. It is being seen as a source of competitive advantage for those organizations who are embracing it and using it well.
Beyond complying with laws and regulations, what should C-Suite leaders be doing about ethical leadership and responsible business practices? CEOs, CLOs, CHROs and other C-Suite leaders should be working together to ensure that every leader is doing business responsibly and ethically. But what does “doing business responsibly and ethically” look…
There are many forces making it difficult for good leaders to succeed. Increasing Pace of Work, Volatile Economic Times, Constant Change, Employees Seeking Meaningful Work, Leaner Staffing… Which leaders will successfully work through these problems in the new year? The ones that: Work Smarter,…
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