By Linda Fisher Thornton The most capable and ethically competent leaders reach for unity, which represents the highest levels of interpersonal and global responsibility. While it would be much easier, the best leaders don't just aim for "getting along" or "getting by."
Tag: what is ethical leadership
5 Things Money Can’t Buy (Even Now)
By Linda Fisher Thornton I had the opportunity a few years ago to hear Michael Sandel, a professor from Harvard and author of What Money Can't Buy, speak about "the sky-boxification of society." He talked about how in many cases now you can buy your way into a better situation (or a sky box). This week, I'm in the process of reading Tom Friedman's book Thank You for Being Late and in it Friedman refers to and builds on Sandel's observations. I started thinking about some of the qualities that are highly valuable and make leaders great that money can't buy - some of the priceless qualities that define great leadership.
Ethical Leadership: The “On Switch” For Adaptability
By Linda Fisher Thornton The post "Leader Competence: Will It Be A Multiplier or Divider?" generated some great discussion on social media. Here's a quote from the post: "Leader competence is either going to be a multiplier or a divider. When you have it, you multiply performance and trust, with exponential results. Without it, you divide your possible results by the incompetence factor." After reading it, one reader requested that I write more on the topic. This week I'm digging deeper into the multiplying and dividing effects of leader (in)competence, looking at how a leader's ethical competence impacts trust, people, bottom line results and organizational adaptability.
Top 10 Posts 2016: Leading in Context Blog
By Linda Fisher Thornton Of the 52 posts published on the Leading in Context Blog in 2016, these 10 were the most popular. See if you notice a theme that connects these topics that readers accessed most frequently:
20 Quotes To Inspire Leaders in the New Year (Part 2)
By Linda Fisher Thornton Are your leaders prepared for the year ahead? Each day will bring new challenges. To succeed within ethical boundaries, they'll need a clear picture of "good leadership." This series includes 20 quotes (linked to posts with leadership guidance) to inspire you and help you improve your leader development. Part 1 included the first 10. Here are 10 more:
20 Quotes To Inspire Leaders in the New Year (Part 1)
By Linda Fisher Thornton In the New Year, we will deal with leadership challenges we cannot predict in advance. To be ready, we need to set our leadership and learning on the path to success. This series includes 20 quotes (linked to posts with leadership guidance) that will help you leverage your leadership planning. Here are the first 10:
How Do You Recognize a Trustworthy Leader?
By Linda Fisher Thornton I'm hearing people talking about trustworthy leadership everywhere I go. We all crave it. We seek it out because trustworthy leadership allows us to be at our best so that we can make a meaningful contribution. To identify a trustworthy leader, look for all of these tell-tale signs:
Leaders Are Culture Caretakers: 10 Actions For Success
By Linda Fisher Thornton There are many ways to understand culture, and some of the definitions are very complicated. My favorite way to think about culture is as an infrastructure or scaffolding that supports the behaviors we want. Culture drives what people do, and is the setting and framework for great work.
What Does it Mean to Win?
By Linda Fisher Thornton What it means to "win" in business has changed. Driving this change is a greater awareness of the impact we have on each other.
Is Our Ethics Who We Are Or What We Do?
By Linda Fisher Thornton This week's question is about what defines our ethics - "Is our ethics based on who we are or what we do?" Some people would argue that we have a persona, a manner, either ethical or not. Others would say that it is our decisions and actions that define how ethical we are, and therefore our ethicality changes from moment to moment.
Ready to Change the Ethics Quo (For Good)? – Part 3
By Linda Fisher Thortnton The first post in this series addressed ACCOUNTABILITY. The second asked you to evaluate your IMPACT. These four ways to Change the Ethics Quo (For Good) focus on MANAGING THE SYSTEM.
What Is Organizational Integrity?
By Linda Fisher Thornton Individual integrity is the full alignment in what a person thinks, says and does. Taking that concept to another level, this post will explore the question "what is organizational integrity?" Clearly, organizational integrity is broader than individual integrity, but what does it include?
Leaders, Don’t You Care? (9 Red Flags That Tell Employees You Don’t)
By Linda Fisher Thornton One of the hallmark requirements of ethical leadership is that we CARE about people, about their success, and about creating a positive work environment. If leaders fail to demonstrate that they care, that harms the culture. The 9 behaviors below are red flags for employees - pointing out that a leader doesn't care.
What Does it Mean to “Be a Leader?”
By Linda Fisher Thornton Leadership is not about being "in charge" or standing "at the front of the room" or "exercising personal power." Authentic ethical leadership flips that paradigm.
What Does Genuine Respect Look Like?
By Linda Fisher Thornton There is no place for disrespectful behavior in a "good" society. We can disagree calmly in ways that help us solve problems together, or we can show our stripes by using aggressive behavior under the banner of "with all due respect." Whichever approach we use, how we interpret respect impacts the people around us.
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