Senior leaders set the tone for the organization's ethics, but the senior leadership responsibility for values leadership includes much more than that. Today, I'll look at the senior leader responsibility for sharing clear expectations, and explore more important roles that go well beyond setting the bar for expected behavior.
Tag: The 7 Lenses of Ethical Leadership
Top 10 Posts 2019: Leading in Context Blog
By Linda Fisher Thornton
Of the 52 individual posts published on the Leading in Context Blog in 2019, these 10 were the most popular. See if you notice a theme that connects these new topics that readers accessed most frequently:
Ethical Thinking: 3 Questions to Ask in the New Year
By Linda Fisher Thornton Each year I raise questions that help leaders stay current as ethical expectations change. Here are 3 new questions to ponder as we head into a New Year. They are important questions about our ethical intentions, action…
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Ethical Thinking For Challenging Times
By Linda Fisher ThorntonAlbert Einstein said "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." Yet many leaders try to unravel increasingly complex issues using the same thinking process they have always used.
Mindset or Competency: Which is More Important?
By Linda Fisher Thornton
How we think about something will impact what we do about it. To be ready to handle difficult challenges, our thinking needs to stretch to help us adapt. Nick Petrie, Center For Creative Leadership, writes in Vertical Leadership Development Part I that "In terms of leadership, the stage from which you are thinking and acting matters a lot. To be effective, the leader’s thinking must be equal or superior to the complexity of the environment." An "Un-Fixed" MindsetThe environment is constantly changing and increasing in complexity. When we change our thinking, we change our capacity. Capability, or what we can do, is still important, but it won't get us far if we're using an outdated mindset.
Beyond Civility
By Linda Fisher Thornton Civility seems like a minimum standard or a fallback position, certainly not a desired end. We expect so much more from ethical leaders. Without civility, communication is chaotic and difficult (if not impossible). Civility adds choosing…
Your Culture is Not A Secret (So Protect Your Ethics)
By Linda Fisher Thornton
One of my favorite concepts for understanding how social media is changing the visibility of organizational culture is Trendwatching.com's report Glass Box Brands. As Trendwatching.com elequently explains, "In an age of radical transparency, your internal culture is your brand." The key point I take away from this important report is that we can no longer assume that our culture is private. In fact, it's completely public and it defines our brand.
Thinking Beyond Polarities To Both/And Thinking
By Linda Fisher Thornton
In this video, Michael DePass of CCL gives a brief introduction to polarity thinking and how it affects our communication and relationships with others.
Polarity Thinking Risks and Limitations
Thinking in an either/or way about a problem that has multiple sides/variables/perspectives limits our effectiveness. That kind of thinking:
Won't help us solve complex problems
Can lead to "stuck" thinking and stalemate
Can lead to arguing and conflict
Compounds misunderstandings (potentially leading to irreconcilable differences)
Respect, Interpreted Part 2
By Linda Fisher Thornton
This is the second post in a series called "Respect, Interpreted." Respect, Interpreted Part 1 described respect as a "structural beam" in organizations that holds the culture together. This week we'll look at how to take two very different kinds of leadership actions that are both required for building and maintaining a culture of respect.
Requiring respectful behavior (putting in expectations and support) AND
Eliminating negative behavior (stopping disrespectful behavior quickly)
Leading in Context 