13 Leadership Temptations (to Conquer in 2013)

By Linda Fisher Thornton 13 Leadership Temptations To Conquer In 2013 We're starting a new year, with fresh possibilities, and it is a good time to think about our leadership values. What do we believe? How do we treat others? What matters to us? Can people determine our values just by watching how we treat people? As we think about how we want to lead this year, we need to recognize that it is tempting to make easy short-term decisions that end up having ethical consequences in the long run.

10 Thinking Traps (That Ethical Leaders Avoid)

Avoid These 10 Thinking Traps What are some of the thinking traps that we fall into as leaders? I'm not referring to "correlation versus causation" and other logical reasoning problems. There are some common ways of thinking about business leadership that…

Honoring Human Rights is Essential

  by Linda Fisher Thornton Human Rights and Morality  Business leaders have a clear responsibility to honor universal human rights. In their article The Moral Foundations of Ethical Leadership in the Values Based Leadership Journal, Hester and Killian remind us that…

What is Conscious Capitalism?

By Linda Fisher Thornton What is Conscious Capitalism? In last week's post, I explored how Ethics Means Acting Beyond Self Interest. This week, I’ll explore the same question at the organizational level. What are an organization’s ethical responsibilities? How is conscious…

Differences or Inclusion – Which Are We Focusing On?

Diversity can be Divisive When we talk about diversity, we are noticing differences. That may not seem like a profound statement at first, but think about it for a moment. Diversity is about having different types of employees, right? And that's a good thing for productivity and innovation, isn't it? It is a good thing. But it's not enough. Managing diversity without inclusion as the ultimate goal can make a big difference in the way employees experience our organization.

5 More Ways to Avoid the “Rightness” Trap

By Linda Fisher Thornton 5 More Ways to Avoid the "Rightness" Trap The comments kept coming! Here here are 5 More Ways to Avoid the "Rightness" Trap based on social media responses to Is Needing to Be "Right" Unethical? They are each illustrated here with quotes.

10 Ways to Avoid the “Rightness” Trap

10 Ways to Avoid the "Rightness" Trap There were quite a few responses to last week's post about "rightness, Is Needing to Be "Right" Unethical?, which seemed to strike a chord with readers. These are just 10 of the themes raised by readers in their comment. Collectively, these themes represent 10 ways to avoid falling into the "rightness" trap.

Reflections on Respecting Differences

Quotations About the Importance of Respecting Differences I hope that you enjoy this collection of quotes about respecting differences. Notice how many different compelling reasons for respecting differences are included - some from unexpected sources! Toward no crime have men…

Leading For Ethical Performance

Discouraging Unethical Leadership The senior leaders in an organization need to work together to create an organization where ethical leadership is rewarded and unethical leadership is quickly corrected. To build an ethical organization over time, Chief Learning Officers can work with leaders throughout the organization to build ethical competence in areas that support effective communication and leadership.