By Linda Fisher ThorntonMSJ-160130-08 This week Leaderonomics.com published "Understanding and Preventing Ethical Leadership Failures" as its Hard Talk Leadership Pick of the Week. This article explores ethical failures and their individual and organizational causes. It answers these leadership questions: What are the intentional and unintentional causes of ethical failures? What do you do when a senior leader isn't meeting ethical expectations? What culture gaps can lead to ethical failures?
Tag: ethical business leadership
What is Ethical Thinking?
By Linda Fisher Thornton Today I'm taking you inside the mind of the ethical leader to explore ethical thinking. Inside the Mind of an Ethical Leader “I make decisions based on values, not money pressures.” “I need to constantly learn in order to stay ethical.”
Take Positive Action When You See Unethical Leadership
By Linda Fisher Thornton While I specialize in positive, proactive ethical leadership, I frequently get asked questions about unethical leadership. In particular, readers ask about the damage that toxic leaders do in organizations and what situations and circumstances lead to ethical failures. Today I'm sharing posts about unethical leadership that may answer your deep questions about what leadership looks like when it is NOT ethical:
If Every Leader Cared
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?
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?
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?
5 Ways To Bolster Your Organization’s Ethical Immune System
By Linda Fisher Thornton I was thinking about organizational culture recently, and noticed an interesting parallel. Eating healthy foods, exercising and getting enough sleep all boost our individual immune systems. What actions can we take to boost our ethical immune systems? And how could doing that help us create more ethical organizations? Building a healthy ethical culture where people take steps to protect ethics and reputation takes intentional effort. It requires regular attention, similar to the way we must eat healthy foods and exercise daily to maintain our individual health.
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?
Prepare Now For The Future of Leadership
By Linda Fisher Thornton Leading with positive values and demonstrating care are becoming expected ways of doing business. Leading now is not as much about leaders as it is about bringing out the best in those they lead and serve.
Full Accountability For Ethics: The New Normal
By Linda Fisher Thornton I recently blogged about trends in ethical leadership, sharing 10 forces that are fueling a movement toward higher expectations for values-based leadership. Today I want to explore how those trends help explain what we are seeing in ethics cases in the news. Recent headlines have described more severe sanctions than people have seen in the past, in response to ethics problems in sports, politics, business and beyond. Some people may have wondered, "Why are people now being convicted for doing the same things that others before them have done?"
Using Negative Examples to Teach Ethics? Why It’s Not Enough.
By Linda Fisher Thornton How many times have we tried to teach people about ethics by explaining every detail of what it doesn't look like? We describe laws and regulations and ethics guidelines in great detail, then ask attendees if there are any questions. After learning in great detail how to stay out of trouble, the thought on their minds may just be "Okay, now I know what NOT to do." We can't teach ethics by giving people negative examples.
Critical Roles of the (Ethical) CEO
By Linda Fisher Thornton There have been many stories about unethical CEOs in the news, but not as many about the good ones. That's a shame, because the ethical CEO is a positive powerhouse - devoted to serving employees, customers, and communities. I thought it would be helpful to describe some of the critical functions of the ethical CEO that enable organizational success. Intentionally investing in these roles creates the kind of workplaces that attract top employees and devoted customers.
Ethics Isn’t “Out There”: It’s Us And Our Choices
By Linda Fisher Thornton Much attention is paid to the tactics of ethics - the ethics codes, compliance plans and such. We can easily begin to think that ethics is something we can see and touch. Something finite. Something written in stone. Something outside of ourselves. But that's not where ethics lives.
10 Ways Leading With Ethics is Transformational
By Linda Fisher Thornton What are some of the ways that ethical leadership transforms people and brings out their best? And how does bringing out people's best transform organizations? Here is a list of 10 ways, inspired by the participants in the Leading With Ethics #leadfromwithin Tweetchat that I co-hosted earlier this month. 10 Ways Leading With Ethics is Transformational
Leading to Bring Out Their Best
By Linda Fisher Thornton The purpose of leadership has been debated but most people would agree that it includes bringing out the best in people and organizations. Some of the ways we do this include trust building, supporting, guiding, coaching, team building and removing barriers to good work. While these leadership roles may seem low-key, they are the critical behaviors that lead to strong cultures and productive organizations.
Leading in Context 